Samuel Little

Samuel Little (June 7^th, 1940 - December 30^th, 2020) was an American serial killer who was convicted of the murders of three women in California between 1987 and 1989 and one woman in Texas in 1994. He claims to have killed as many as 93 people, and investigators have linked him to over 60 murders. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has confirmed his involvement in at least 60 murders, which makes Little the most prolific serial killer in United States history, surpassing Gary Ridgway, who had 49 confirmed murders to his name; he allegedly murdered women across 19 states over a quarter of a century ending around 2005.

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Samuel Little Full Name: Samuel Little Alias: Samuel McDowell The Choke and Stroke Killer Origin: Reynolds, Georgia, United States Occupation: Cemetery worker (former) Ambulance attendant (former) Skills: Fighting skills Evasion from the law and detection Mastery of deception and manipulation Charisma Murder methods Driving skills Hobby: Killing young women Drawing pictures of his victims Goals: Strangle as many young women as possible to fulfill his homicidal urges (succeeded). Escape the law to continue his killing spree (failed) Crimes: Serial murder Rape Fraud Theft Armed robbery Aggravated assault Kidnapping Sodomy Burglary Misogyny Type of Villain: Sadistic Serial Killer

“	Believe it or not, you only see evil a few times in your career. But looking into his eyes, I would say that was pure evil.	„
	~ LAPD detective Tim Marcia describing Little.

He was known as the Choke and Stroke Killer due to his preferred killing method of strangulation as well as his tendency to masturbate over his victims' bodies.

Biography

Samuel Little was born on June 7^th, 1940, in Reynolds, Georgia, to a mother he claimed was a a “lady of the night” (a prostitute). Soon after his Little's family moved to Lorain, Ohio, where his mother walked out on him and was brought up mainly by his grandmother. He attended Hawthorne Junior High School, where he had problems with discipline and achievement. In 1956, after being convicted for breaking and entering into property in Omaha, Nebraska, Little was held in an institution for juvenile offenders.

Little moved to Florida to live with his mother in his late 20s, working at various times as a cemetery worker, and an ambulance attendant (by his own account). As Tami Abdollah reported in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser (based on a 75-minute interview with Los Angeles detectives), Little has said he then "began traveling more widely and had more run-ins with the law”; Abdollah said he had been arrested in eight states for crimes that included driving under the influence, fraud, shoplifting, solicitation, armed robbery, aggravated assault, and rape. By Little's description to these interviewers, he took up boxing during his stints in prison, referring to himself as a former prizefighter.

In 1961, Little was sentenced to three years in prison for breaking into a furniture store in Lorain; he was released in 1964. By 1975, he had been arrested 26 times in eleven states for crimes including theft, assault, attempted rape, fraud and attacks on government officials.

In 1982, Little was arrested in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and charged with the murder of a 22-year-old woman named Melinda LaPree, who had gone missing in September of that year. A grand jury declined to indict Little for the murder of LaPree. However, while under investigation, Little was transferred to Florida to be brought to trial for the murder of 26-year-old Patricia Mount, whose body was found in September 1982. Prosecution witnesses identified Little in court as a person who spent time with Mount on the night before her disappearance. Due to mistrust of witness testimonies, Little was acquitted in January 1984.

Little moved to California, where he stayed in the vicinity of San Diego. In October 1984, he was arrested for kidnapping, beating and strangling Laurie Barros, 22 years old, who survived. One month later, he was found by police in the backseat of his car with an unconscious woman, also beaten and strangled, in the same location as the attempted murder of Barros. Little served ​2 1⁄2 years in prison for both crimes. Upon his release in February 1987, he immediately moved to Los Angeles and committed more than ten additional murders.

Little was arrested on September 5^th, 2012, at a homeless shelter in Louisville, Kentucky, after authorities used DNA testing to establish that he was involved in the murder of Carol Elford, killed on July 13^th, 1987; Guadalupe Apodaca, killed on September 3^rd, 1987; and Audrey Nelson, killed on August 14^th, 1989. All three women were killed and later found on the streets of Los Angeles. He was extradited to Los Angeles, where he was charged on January 7^th, 2013. A few months later, the police said that Little was being investigated for involvement in dozens of murders committed in the 1980s, which until then had been undisclosed. In connection with the new circumstances in Mississippi, the LaPree murder case was reopened. In total, Little was tested for involvement in 60 murders of women committed in the territory of many US states.

The trial of Samuel Little for the murders of Elford, Nelson, and Apodaca began in September 2014. The prosecution presented the DNA test results as well as testimony of witnesses who were attacked by the accused at different times throughout his criminal career. On September 25, 2014, Little was found guilty and was sentenced to life imprisonment without possibility of parole. On the day of the verdict, Little continued to insist on his innocence. As of 2020, Little was serving his sentence at the California State Prison, Los Angeles County until his death on December 30, 2020.

Confirmed victims

Name	Date of murder	Date of conviction	Location of murder
Anna Stewart	October 11, 1981	August 23, 2019	Cincinnati, Ohio
Mary Jo Peyton	July 3, 1984	August 23, 2019	Cleveland, Ohio
Carol Elford	July 13, 1987	September 25, 2014	Los Angeles, California
Guadalupe Abodaca	September 3, 1987	September 25, 2014	Los Angeles, California
Audrey Nelson	August 14, 1989	September 25, 2014	Los Angeles, California
“Jane Doe”	1980–99	August 23, 2019	Cincinnati, Ohio
Rose Evans	August 24, 1991	August 23, 2019	Cleveland, Ohio
Denise Christie Brothers	February 2, 1994	December 13, 2018	Odessa, Texas

Other suspected victims

Name of victim	Date of murder	Location of murder	Notes
Mary Jo Brosley	December 31, 1971	Homestead, Florida	White female, approximately 33, Little provided a sketch of this victim.
"Linda"	1971	Miami, Florida	Black female, approximately 22. Little provided a sketch of this victim.
"Marianne/Mary Ann"	1971–72	Miami, Florida	Black transgender female, approximately 18. Little provided a sketch of this victim.
Unnamed black female	1971–72	Miami, Florida	Possibly affiliated with the air force.
Unnamed white female	1972	Prince George's County, Maryland	Approximately 20–25. His confession was matched to a known Jane Doe case. Possibly from Massachusetts. Little provided a sketch of this victim.
Unnamed white female	1973	Kendall, Florida	Approximately 45, possibly from Massachusetts. Both 1973 victims are described to possibly have the first name "Sarah".
Sarah Brown	1973	New Orleans, Louisiana	Age unknown. Worked at a local restaurant on Canal Street.
Unnamed black female	1974	Savannah, Georgia	Approximately 22 or 23. Little provided a sketch of this victim.
Unnamed black female	1974	Cincinnati, Ohio	Age unknown and dumps her body in Columbus, Ohio. Little provided a sketch of this victim. Authorities working on case.
"Emily"	Mid 1970s	Miami, Florida	Black female, approximately 23 or 24. Possibly worked at the University of Miami.
Unnamed black female	1975	Knoxville, Tennessee	Approximately 25.
Unnamed black female	1976–77	Wichita Falls, Texas	Age unknown. Disposal location of body unspecified, stated to be near this city. Little provided a sketch of this victim.
"Jo"	1976–79	Granite City, Illinois	Black female, approximately 26. May have picked her up in St. Louis, Missouri. Little provided a sketch of this victim.
Unnamed black female	1976–79	East St. Louis, Illinois	Age unknown. Possibly picked up in St. Louis, Missouri.
Unnamed black female	1976–79 or 1993	Houston, Texas	Age unknown. Little provided a sketch of this victim.
Unnamed black female	1977	Macon, Georgia	Approximately 30–40. This confession was matched to an existing Jane Doe case.
Unnamed black female	1977	Pascagoula, Mississippi	Approximately 35 to 45. Possibly met in Gulfport but native to Pascogoula and worked at Ingalls shipyard. Confession matched to an existing Jane Doe case. Little provided a sketch of this victim.
Unnamed black female	1977 or 1978	Cleveland, Ohio	Unknown age which authorities are still working on that case.
Unnamed black female	1977–78	Plant City, Florida	Age unknown. Apparently met in the Clearwater, Florida. Little provided a sketch of this victim.
Unnamed black female	1977 or 1982	Charleston, South Carolina	Approximately 28. Little provided a sketch of this victim.
Patricia Parker	1980–81	Dade County, Georgia	Approximately 25–30. This confession was matched to a known Jane Doe case. On October 8, 2020, Hamilton County (TN) Sheriff's Department positively identified Patricia Parker by a DNA match.
Unnamed black female	1980–84	Gulfport, Mississippi	Approximately 22.
Unnamed black female	1981	Atlanta, Georgia	Approximately 35–40. Little provided a sketch of this victim.
Unnamed white female	1982	New Orleans, Louisiana	Little provided a sketch of this victim. Confession Matched to a Jane Doe: White female between 33-44 years old. Killed in 1982
Unnamed black female	Autumn 1982	New Orleans, Louisiana	30-40 years old, 5’8”-5’9” tall, weighing 160 pounds, with “honey-colored” brown skin and medium-length straight hair. He remembers that she was wearing a pretty dress with buttons on the front. Little said they met in a club where she was attending a birthday party with a group of friends and one of her two sisters.. Little provided a sketch of this victim.
Unnamed white female	1983–84	Atlanta, Georgia	Approximately 26 and may have been from Griffin, Georgia. Little provided a sketch of this victim.
Unnamed female	1984	Near Columbus, Ohio	Age unknown. Authorities are still working on the case. Disposes of her body in Northern Kentucky.
Unnamed black female	1984	Atlanta, Georgia	Approximately 23–25 and possibly a college student. Little provided a sketch of this victim.
Unnamed white female	1984	Northern Kentucky	Age unknown. Possibly picked up from Columbus, Ohio. Little provided a sketch of this victim. 25-year-old white female outside a strip club. He remembers her as being 5’6” - 5’7” tall and 130-170 pounds. Little describes her as having short blonde hair and blue eyes with a “hippie” appearance.Alleged to have a mother in Miami, Florida
Priscilla Baxter-Jones	1984 – mid 1990s	West Memphis, Arkansas	Approximately 28 or 29. May have been picked up in Memphis, Tennessee. Little provided a sketch of this victim. Confession matched to a known Jane Doe case. The family of Zena Maria Jones recognized this sketch as their missing relative. A man named Anthony Jones stated the sketch resembled his mother, Priscilla Baxter-Jones, who was killed in 1997. Samuel Little confessed that he killed this woman and dumped her body in the Mississippi River.
Unnamed black female	1984	San Bernardino, California	Approximately 18–23.
Unnamed black female	1984	Fort Myers, Florida	Age unknown.
Unnamed black female	1984	Tampa, Florida	Age unknown. Little provided a sketch of this victim.
Frances Campbell	1984	Savannah, Georgia	Approximately 23. Little is suspected of asking Campbell for a date at a bar near the intersection of Montgomery Street and Victory Drive in 1984. Campbell's body was discovered in 1985 on top of a pile of debris from the construction of Interstate 516. Savannah police matched Little's description of Campbell to a missing person's case. A Chatham County, Georgia Grand Jury indicted Little in December 2019 for Campbell's murder.
Unnamed black female	1987	Los Angeles, California	Age unknown.
Unnamed black female	1987	Los Angeles, California	Age unknown.
Unnamed black female	1987	Los Angeles, California	Approximately 19.
"Granny"	1987	Los Angeles, California	Black female. Approximately 50.
Unnamed black female	1987	Los Angeles, California	Approximately 22 or 23.
Unnamed black female	1987	Los Angeles, California	Approximately 26 or 27. Little provided a sketch of this victim.
Unnamed black female	1987 – early 90s	Monroe, Louisiana	Approximately 24. Little provided a sketch of this victim.
Unnamed Hispanic female	1988 or 1996	Phoenix, Arizona	Approximately in her 40s. May have been native to the area. Little provided a sketch of this victim.
Jolanda Jones	1994	Pine Bluff, Arkansas	Age 26.
"Alice"	1990–91	Los Angeles, California	Black female. Approximately 40–45.
Roberta Tondarich	1991	Akron, Ohio	Age unknown. Authorities working on case, IDed in October 2019.
Unnamed black female	1991–92	Los Angeles, California	Approximately 20–22. May have been from San Francisco.
Unnamed black female	1992	Los Angeles, California	Age unknown..
Unnamed black female	1992–93	Los Angeles, California	Age unknown. Little provided a sketch of this victim.
Unnamed Hispanic female	1992–93	Los Angeles, California	Approximately 24 or 25. May have been from Phoenix.
Unnamed black female	1992–93 (April 21,1994)
Unnamed black female	1993	LAs Vegas, Nevada	Dark-skinned woman who was approximately 40 years old. She was about 5'5” tall and 110-120 pounds. Little believed the woman had naturally short hair but wore a long-haired wig (as depicted in his drawing). He remembered the woman pointing out her son, a black male who was approximately 19-23 years old.
Unnamed black female	1996	Los Angeles, California	Approximately 23–25.
"T-Money"	1996	Los Angeles, California	Black female. Approximately 23 or 24.
Unnamed white female	1996	Los Angeles, California	Approximately 23–25. Little provided a sketch of this victim.
Unnamed black female	1996	Los Angeles, California	Approximately 25.
"Ann"	1997	Phoenix, Arizona	White female, age unknown. Little provided a sketch of this victim.

Personal life and death

Little had a long-term girlfriend, Jean, since deceased, who supported them both through shoplifting for years.

Little passed away from an unspecified health condition on December 30, 2020 in a Los Angeles County area hospital. Although California Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation sources indicate no final determination as to specific cause of death on this writing date, Little suffered from diabetes, heart problems, and other health conditions, and was wheelchair-bound during the last few years of his life.