tonight on "nightline" -- the women and the killer. 180 photographs all taken by the serial killer suspect known as the grim sleeper, but who are they and how many of them were his victims? "nightline" goes behind the scenes of shacking investigation. standing naked as she takes on her most revealing role yet, michelle williams talks about fame, co-star ryan gosling and the loss of former partner heath ledger. and holiday bake-off. star tv chef lydia recalls christmases past and shows us how to bake the perfect holiday treat.

good evening. i'm terry moran and we begin tonight with a crime. the dimensions of which are still unknown. police believe that lonny franklin junior murdered at least ten people, all african-american women from south central los angeles beginning in 1985. authorities have been hard put to explain however a seeming gap in franklin's alleged crimes between the years 1988 and 2002. this apparent hiatus earned franklin the grim sleeper. but now new evidence has come to light and david wright reports. >> reporter: their faces from the past. 180 of them. some smiling. some sleeping. some may even be dead. images collected by a suspected serial killer. >> all of these people are potential victims?

>> i hope not, but they -- they interacted with lonny franklin at some point in their life. >> reporter: detective dennis kill coin of the lapd homicide unit says all of these images were taken from the home of lonnie franklin jr., the man suspected to be the grim sleeper serial killer. >> we searched every nook and cranny of this residence and the big commercial building that it had in the backyards. vehicles, glove boxes, underseats, everywhere. we gathered cameras, videos and all types of stuff from all over the property. we're dealing with probably decades of photography by this guy because he is obviously the cameraman. >> reporter: and because lonnie franklin seems to have been the cameraman, police are treating each of these these images as a mystery that needs to be solved. >> referee oevery one of these

will be another story as to the life and times. >> reporter: he was arrested last year. most of them black women from south central l.a. the murderer was nicknamed the grim sleeper because he was dormant for 14 years. until 2002 when he started to murder again. is your working theory that this grim sleeper, as he's known, who was quiet, it seems for 14 years may not have been quiet for those years? >> i don't believe for a minute he was quiet. he was here, he lived in the same place. >> you think he kept on killing? >> i don't know if he was killing. but i don't think lonnie franklin changed his stripes over a period of years. i think he's the same man he was 30 years ago. >> reporter: franklin's attorney strongly objects to the release of the photos on the grounds that making them public will prejudice the jury pool. and against him. >> it's not just the photographs that were released to the

public. that's the problem. it's also the commentary that went along with the release by the public officials. >> mr. franklin is accused of murdering at least ten young women and one man in south los angeles sending fear and terror throughout the streets of south l.a. >> reporter: at the news conference last week the mayor and the police chief both spoke as though lonnie franklin had already been proven guilty. >> these people are not suspects. we don't even know if they're victims but we do know this, lonnie franklin's rain of terror in the city of los angeles will span well over two decades. >> reporter: but there are significant questions heading into the trial. in part because the dna that led police to franklin's doorstep wasn't his, it was his son's. >> it's called familial dna because it is not the dna of at

suspect but of a very close relative. >> reporter: authorities in the cold case unit process dna from the crime scenes and looked for a match in the state's dna database. in california anyone arrested for a felony must give a dna sample whether or not they're ever charged or convicted. in this case the match came back positive for a relative of the suspect. police then narrowed down the list of possible relatives before zeroing in on lonnie franklin. it's the first time familial dna has ever been used to try and solve a murder case but they had no sample from franklin so they staked him out until they got one. >> a slice of pizza, a fork, a napkin. i think there was a total of eight different items that they submitted to us. >> reporter: and that was enough? >> it turned out to be enough. >> reporter: enough allegedly to match dna from the crime scenes. but will it hold up in court? >> mr. simpson, would you show your hands to the jury? >> reporter: anyone who followed

the people versus o.j. simpson can tell you, even when the dna seems like a slam dunk, that doesn't guarantee a conviction. in the era of "csi," juries have become more comfortable with dna evidence. >> that was fresh when it hit the shirt. >> reporter: if lonnie franklin is convicted, it could mean a nationwide expansion of familial dna. >> this will change the way that policing is done in the united states. >> reporter: and if the case suddenly becomes much bigger with new victims identified among these women, then the foe lust will be more intense than ever. as soon as the lapd posted these photos last week, the response was huge. >> a million hits. it was pretty mind-boggling to me. >> reporter: there have been hundreds of phone calls, too. each of them providing a lead that now needs to followed up. each one a potential clue into the mind of a serial killer.

>> these guys, they do strange things, and, you know, sometimes they take pictures, sometimes they leave a mark. sometimes they do -- they call the police and tell on themselves. it's just a whole science to that, i'm sure, but not for me. >> reporter: right, right. so far 29 of photos have been removed from the website. their subjects identified. eight were duplicates. some are alive and well. others died of natural causes. but one was a known victim of the grim sleeper identified by her family. the lapd says its goal is to know what happened to each and every one of them. >> time is on our side now because mr. franklin is sitting in a jail. and he's not going to hurt anybody, and we've got all the time in the world to track down these -- the names to these faces now. >> reporter: hoping to build a complete picture of the career of an alleged killer. i'm david wright for "nightline" in los angeles. a massive and grim investigation.

thanks to david wright for that report. when we come back -- we'll turn the corner. a revealing new role for actress michelle williams who sits down to talk to us about enduring love and sudden loss. ooh, a brainteaser. how can expedia now save me even more on my hotel? well, hotels know they can't fill every room every day. like this one. and this one. and oops, my bad. so, they give expedia ginormous discounts with these: unpublished rates. which means i get an even more rockin' hotel, for less. my brain didn't even break a sweat. where you book matters. expedia.

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her new film ""blue valentine" is on revealing it was initially given a nc-17

rating. later downgraded to "r." actress michelle williams has been nominated for a golden globe and now she speaks with my co-anchor cynthia mcfadden in her first network interview since the death of the father of her child, heath ledger. ♪ >> reporter: michelle williams has been famous for half of her long life. perhaps she couldn't imagine at 15 as one of the young stars on dawson's creek, that she would turn into one of her generation's top talents. >> i didn't dream big. in a way. at every point, that's enough for me. then, i was give an little bit point. >> reporter: the stunning success of brokeback mountain, which she acted opposite of the late heath ledger.

earned her an oscar nomination. what was that like in. >> that was happy. >> for a reason we both understand. >> you fell in love in that movie. >> i did. i did. maybe that's the secret. >> reporter: that off-screen love affair with ledger only deepened the love on screen. who could forget moments like this. >> i remember that day. i remember standing in the hallway and thinking, water. water. i want to be like water. strong enough to hold up a ship but able to slip through your fingers. it's unforgettable. for me. thankfully. i hope not to forget it. >> reporter: it was a golden

time in her life. her pregnancy the birth of their daughter matilda in 2005. but their relationship faltered and by 2007 the couple had separated. >> sad news out of hollywood, actor heath ledger is dead. >> reporter: the next year came heath ledger's death from an accidental overdose of prescription medication. do you understand why people are so curious about your tragedy, the tragedy that happened to you? >> do i understand? sure. yeah. i do. i relate to it. >> reporter: publically, she's not to dwell on the sadness. stayed busy at work. lately co-starring with ryan gosling in a love story, "blue valentine."

a couple that keeps coming together and falling apart. >> i got nothing left for you. nothing. i think i was 21 when i first read it. now i'm 30. >> reporter: she's very proud of the result. much of the story is improvised and she and gosling lived in house that served as the set. >> i moved into the house in normal working hours. 9 to 5. >> reporter: you decorated the place and went grocery shopping for the place? >> and all of that stuff. we were trying to make memories basically and then have it as dean and cindy would. >> reporter: an intimate gut-wrenching feel with a documentary feel. >> i let myself be far more

brave and confident and risk taking in my work than i ever would be in my life. >> reporter: gosling joined us for the last part of our c conversati conversation. the portrait of a troubled marriage -- >> i can't stop. you can't stop. i can't stop. i don't know what else to do. >> reporter: i asked them what they thought about each other after such an intimate experience? >> sit's like bridget bardot meets clint eastwood. >> reporter: how about those rumors that the attraction just wasn't on the screen? you're not an item. >> creatively are doing it. creative tli. >> reporter: you were not at any time dating? >> we're professionals. >> he looks like he's lying, but he's not. >> reporter: you do look like you're lie zblg i know, that's

my face. >> reporter: one topic remains, one she's been deeply reluctant to discuss, her grief over ledger's death. in the wake of heath's death, read the year of magical thinking by john didion. >> in a strange way, i missed that year, because all of those possibilities that existed then are gone. it didn't seem unlikely to me. that he could walk through a door or could appear from behind a bush. it was a year of very magical thinking. and in some ways, i'm just sad to be moving further and further away from him. >> reporter: the emotion that your life can change in an inabout the. >> i got kind of obsessed with that for a while, before and after. i mean, a lot of things died. there's a line from a book that

gave me so much comfort. it said when you truly lost everything at least you can become rich in loss. >> reporter: i'll give you the greatest tragedy is to have the experience and miss the meaning. have you figured out the meaning yet? >> i found meanings around the circumstance. the actual event itself i can't find -- i can't find it. i can't find a meaning for it. i can find meanings in things and people and friendships that have sprung up and friendships that have strengthened. i have found a lot of meaning in that. but not in why, you know. >> reporter: she's clearly found meaning in being a mother to her now 5-year-old daughter. clearly the joy in her heart. you have said publicly, you wanted her to have a plain-old

childhood, how is that going? >> it's going well. it's more importance to me than anything else in my life. i would re-arrange anything to make that possible. if something starts to encroach on that, then it's going to be removed from the equation. >> you're in a hard profession. >> they are at odds at each other. >> reporter: happily, so far at least, she's found a way to balance motherhood with movie-making michelle williams, best of luck to her. "blue valentine" opens in theaters across the country december 31st. up next -- better than virgins of sugar plum fairies dancing in your head. right now, there's a nurse saving a life in baltimore.

20 minutes later, she'll bring one into the world in seattle. later today, she'll help an accident victim in kansas. how can one nurse be in all these places? through the nurses she taught in ths place. johnson & johnson knows, behind every nurse who touches a life... there's a nurse educator... who first touched them. ♪ you're a nurse ♪ you make a difference 66% of new products have some kind of intelligence built in... refrigerators order groceries from the store. washing machines run when energy prices are lowest... and dryers call for service before they break down. air conditioners respond to local weather reports. software gives businesses new ways to connect to customers. by making things smarter, life gets better. that's what i'm working on. i'm an ibmer. i'm an ibmer. i'm an ibmer. let's build a smarter planet.

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li you can stop that heartburn cold: (sssssssss!!!) "nightline" continues from new york city with terry moran. snickerdoodles. the arrival of the holidays, the sudden appearances of tins of delicious cookies everywhere you turn. not a bad predictment to be in. especially if they come from the kitchen of one of the beloved chefs. here's john berman. ♪ >> reporter: if christmas has a global food headquarters, a headquarters with a sweet

kitchen and an italian accent. it might be here. the new york home of lidia bastianich. i feel like i'm being knighted here. thank you so much. >> you got to be comfortable the kitchen. >> reporter: lidia bastianich, she's cook book author and the italian grandmother that i never had. she had me over to help cook. >> one of our favorites -- >> reporter: she also talked about her new book and tv special. >> this is my grandmother's house. >> reporter: about her growing up in italy. >> my grandparents, you know, they grew everything. dry figs, dry apricots. all for the winter. and then when christmas came around, that's what we decorated. >> reporter: for lidia

bastianich, christmas isn't about presents, but food and family. i'm surrounded by marvelous women here. >> this is julia, one of my granddaught granddaughters. >> reporter: 90 years old, to cross cultures still ka veling over everything. how many christmas have you cooked for? >> i started to work very early. >> i help sometime. >> sure, absolutely. >> reporter: did you teach lidia bastianich how to cook this? >> i think i did. couple of years ago. >> lots of years ago. culture is your identity. it's really expressed by food. i know at your house, i'm sure there are certain dishes that always come out for the holidays. and today in today's world, we're all kind of running and

what are we doing, i think continuing this tradition, are so special. >> we didn't have fancy colored lights back then. we made all of the decorations ourself. there was fresh fruit as well. >> reporter: did i do okay? >> perfect. perfect. thank you very much. >> john do you want to decorate the tree with us? >> reporter: i would love to help. everything from cooking to decorating, a delicious experience. very nice. >> grandma, when you were a little girl, what did you hang on your tree? >> anything that grew around the house.

>> reporter: anything that grew around the house. natural and totally yummy? how do you say merry christmas in italian? >> buon natale. john berman's christmas with lidia and family. thanks for that report. when we come bash -- a record falls. but here's jimmy kim mel. tonight mila kunis is here and social distortion for the first time on network television. lllllllllllllllllllll