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A MAN WHO confessed to the murders of 93 women in the US has been labelled the most prolific serial killer in the country’s history, but how did he get away with it for so long?
Samuel Little claims to have murdered 93 people, mostly women, between 1970 and 2005.
In 2014, the 79-year-old was jailed for life for the murder of three women with no possibility of parole. He has been in jail in Texas ever since.
Why did it take more than 40 years for him to be caught and prosecuted?
What did he do?
In November 2018, Little confessed to the murders of 90 people across the US, which has since increased to 93 people over a 35 year period.
Federal crime analysts believe all of his confessions are credible and officials have been able to verify 50 of the confessions so far. Little says he strangled all of his victims.
Many of his victims were originally deemed as having overdosed, died accidentally or died of undetermined causes. Some bodies have not yet been found.
What is his history?
Little moved around a lot during his life and had his first run-in with the law in 1956.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said there are “clear signs of a dark, violent streak” among his charges for shoplifting, fraud, drugs, solicitation and breaking and entering.
Little had been charged with killing women in Mississippi and Florida in the 1980s, but escaped indictment in Mississippi and conviction in Florida.
He had previously served sentences for assaulting a woman in Missouri and assaulting and falsely imprisoning a woman in San Diego.
How did he not get caught sooner?
Little confessed to 90 murders in 2018 after already spending four years in prison for the murder of three women.
The main reasons to explain the 44-year-gap between his first murder and his first murder prosecution are the fact that his victims were mainly marginalised black women, his killing methods were often undetectable and he travelled around the country a lot, never staying too long in one place.
Little more often than not chose to kill marginalised and vulnerable black women, many of whom were involved in prostitution or were drug addicts. Some of his victims were male and some were white.
His method of killing didn’t always leave obvious signs of homicide. He was a former competitive boxer, and as a result he was able to stun or knock out his victims with a powerful punch before strangling them, a method he used frequently.
As this doesn’t leave any stab marks or bullet wounds, many of these deaths were attributed to other causes.
DNA profiling wasn’t used as part of law enforcement in the 1970s and early 1980s. DNA analysis developed over time, but the FBI say that because many victims were prostitutes, this complicated the ability of police to gather telling physical evidence.
“For many years, Samuel Little believed he would not be caught because he thought no one was accounting for his victims,” FBI crime analyst Christie Palazzolo said on the FBI website.
“Even though he is already in prison, the FBI believes it is important to seek justice for each victim – to close every case possible.”
The bodies of some of his alleged victims have not yet been found. Some victims have not yet been identified and a few of his confessions have not been corroborated by law enforcement yet.
How was he caught?
Little was arrested at a homeless shelter in Kentucky in 2012 before he was extradited to California facing drug charges.
Once there, DNA evidence linked him to three cold cases which eventually lead to his murder conviction. All three women had been beaten and strangled and their bodies had been left in an alley, a skip and a garage.
When a background check was run on Little, the FBI found an “alarming” pattern and many links to other murders around the country.
The man asserted his innocence throughout the murder trial, even as many women testified about narrowly surviving similarly violent encounters over the years.
The FBI said Little is now in poor health and will likely remain in the prison in Texas until his death. The organisation posted an extensive piece on their website on 6 October seeking assistance connecting victims to Little’s confessions.
The FBI also said Little’s recollection of dates and the exact clothing worn by victims is not always accurate, but potential links should not be dismissed by these factors. He has drawn pictures of many victims which may help with their identification.
With reporting by Press Association and - © AFP 2019
A knee jerk reaction like this is madness, we need to protest. Show the government we want enforcement of the laws we already have rather than more nanny state laws to catch out people on their way to work. If I’m in a stolen car all I need do is drive the wrong way down a duel carriageway and the Guards can’t follow for fear of loosing their job
@Stephen Allen: I read many years ago that Ireland is one of the most legislated countries in europe, apparently you dont know what law you’ve broken until your charged. Its the easy option to put laws in place and prosecute rather than enforce laws that are in place
@Stephen Allen: Well said and 100% correct
McEntee, one of the most incompetent ministers in a generation. Not to mention how important the Justice portfolio is yet here she is. Completely out of her depth. She’s not alone though. Varadkar, Harris, Madigan etc. Woefully incompetent. No wonder our little island is banjaxed.
@Andrew Kenny: I have to agree worst in history….i would assume its also going to cost an absolute fortune to change all the speed limit signs around the country or am i wrong ?do they leave it to each county council to change the signs in their district?
@Andrew Kenny: wait for the sf bashers to come out. They cant be much worse than these guys whose parties have a long pedigree in mismanagement of the nation. Lets pretend its a night out and see if we can get screwed by someone other than the usual same old same.
@Andrew Kenny: She’s a possible future leader of FG and therefore, a possible future Taoiseach, believe it or not !
@Spanner: The SF bashers are at work!
@Andrew Kenny:
At least they show up , unlike McEntee -” works ” from home .
@Sean Walsh: oh that’s actually a horrific taught because its actually true….that could be the future of Ireland…. only thing is she would probably do the same as she has done as a minister and only do it part-time between maternity leave and holidays stuff like that….so we might get a capable deputy running the show for at least 2 years of her tenure if she was in charge of the country….
Something strange about this person McEntee.
She has the aura of someone who has been compromised. Comes across as an automaton, no soul, just a monotonous programmed response to every question as if she does not fully comprehend her ministerial brief and is preoccupied with trying to remember the script her advisors have given her
She’s an inept malleable appointee ideal in modern political circles.
I would imagine that if an advisor playing a practical joke told her that anarchy was to be the new establishment approach to social order she’d stand before the cameras and repeat the same.
She hasn’t a clue what’s going on.
@Tommy Haze: well said, a wooden puppet!
@Tommy Haze: Helen McEntee is more suitable for the camera lense than the Minister for Justice. She is a F joke .
They’re fixated to speeding as the main cause of road fatalities . We already have enough laws but not being enforced.
Speed is not the main factor behind most road fatalities.
@Fintan Stack: however if life was prioritised over speed van revenue we might see them on roads where accidents typically occur.
@Fintan Stack: what is then if not speed?
@M To The B: Crap driving.
More traffic guards needed not replacing traffic signs at what cost there not enough traffic guards to enforce traffic violation
A blanket lowering speed limits is a knee jerk reaction. If people are going to break the current limits, they will break the new ones. Enforcement is the real issue. Once that is sorted, then review the speed limits and adjust as needed, both up and down. Until then they are wasting time!
@Joe x: They’re not though Joe, there’s money to be made right now. The sooner they lower the limits the sooner it starts rolling in. Ching Ching.
@Regular John: They don’t have to even do anything. The hermeneutic cycle of tricking ourselves completes another turn.
Wait until after the devastating election sure.
Imagine the cost alone of changing all the road signs
Not really. Simple respray? Better than leaving them to rust on the poles!
Helen McEntee go now. Dustin the turkey would do a better job.
I’m curious to know, if accidents causing death are up or down? A single bus crash causing 70 deaths is a completely different situation to 70 single vehicle deaths. Are there more accidents, or just more passengers in the vehicles, in those accidents?
@TheBolt: Sure a bus isn’t a plane.
“These are the facts that are emerging”… they’re not exactly emerging. They’ve been known since cars needed to be tested, but a great soundbite nonetheless! No mention of why as usual.
@Thesaltyurchin: the nebulus facts that only the relevant minister gets to see. We just have to go on blind faith that our government are doing whats right and we’ve seen how thats worked out for us. No imagination in the top echelons of our state just dumbing down reactionary tactics, sound bytes and brute force tactics that treat the citizens like children instead of treating us like we have a brain
“Legislation takes time and unfortunately, it comes down to making sure that you make the right decision. I know he’s talking about reducing speed limits in certain areas. That’s borne by facts,” she said.”
What are these facts exactly?
No question, some driver see the speed limit not as such, but a target. That’s down to driving behaviour.
How do they get the numbers and come to the conclusion that recent peak in fatal accidents is down to speed?
If a car is hitting a wall at 80km/h, passengers died, is speed automatically the cause,
because nobody can explain what happened in the car, that might have cause this accident?
@Wolfgang Bonow:
You are assuming this is about road safety ? It’s all about the $$$, nothing more. The placement of the cameras shows that. In the UK they put cameras on dangerous roads and inform drivers, here we put them on the safest roads and hide them behind bushes. Ching Ching.
Road repairs please, its costing a fortune for car owners to get steering and suspension issues resolved.
I suppose that’s one way of slowing them down.
Reducing the speed limit in Dublin to 30 kilometres per hour because people are speeding in Donegal or Tipperary is ridiculous.
I hope McEntee gets booted out at the next general election.
@Nestor: The lads on scooters will be overtaking us !
@Regular John:
I’ve just had a vision of a 15 year old in a black hoody tailgating me on a battery powered scooter… Frustrated by my slow speed he’s flashing a hand held torch into my rear view mirror (to compensate for not having headlights), before overtaking me and giving me the finger as he overtakes at 35 km/h ! It’s on the way folks !
Ffg messaging systems out of kilter.. ff action taken by Christmas. Fg indefinite time frame… No wonder we get feck all done correctly or on time in Ireland. They have ruled the roost for a century and they still can’t coordinate their messages. Government by sound byte.
Ask Eamonn (cabbage head) Ryan and he’ll tell you when to do it. He directs everything else!
This is the sort of window dressing governance I deplore, trying to take easy wins just to give the illusion that you’re doing something. It’s all too common in our low rent politicians, I guess you get the idiots you idiotically vote for!
Not a peep from SF lately, they know the governors are doing more damage to themselves than SF could anyway.
If folks won’t stick to the current limits, what makes anyone think lower limits will be effective? Nonsense!
@Chutes: A reformed Chutes, pleasure to witness and behold. You see, common sense always prevails, it just needs to be dragged out of folk with sheer force. Welcome to the party pal.
Are they aware that in town 30km/h is easy achieved by a drunk cyclist riding down the hill?
Lowering speed limits won’t stop speeders. If they can travel 100km+ on a road then they will do so regardless of the speed limit in place. All this will do is punish the vast majority of sensible drivers. Encourage people to buy dashcams, set up a database for reporting bad driving and increase punishments for offenders.
What ever happened to the announcement by RSA last January that all school road’s were to have 30 km speed limits imposed starting the 1st off June last ???.
any idea how fast you were….ooh howiya minister, thanks for sorting out that with the bins btw. a ticket? nah yer grand there. right you are…say hello to the mrs for me.
Speed is not the issue. 40mph on open roads is dangerous. It will cause more overtaking and that will cause more accidents. Single car accidents are caused by lack of concentration and not paying enough attention to the road. Lowering speed limit won’t help that. What needed is educate people of the dangers of not paying enough attention to the road
Are they going to change the speed signs during this period??
Danny Healy Rea says drunk driving is ok his brother says fast driving at 80k ph is ok on country roads is fine as long as the hedges are cut don’t know who to believe
@Fran Riley: In 1974, the drink driving limit went from 24 pints to 12 pints, and people took to the streets protesting. It looks like the Kerry men are still living in that decade, but they know their audience. Yes, that was pints, not points. The law was changed at europes insistance..
P45
Can’t or won’t bring legislation,quickly,because it has to go through ,both the Dail and Shanad,yet they were able to nationalise the banks,a couple of years ago,overnight,pull the other one Minister,every time I see her on TV,it’s like looking at something created by AI
Just ban Audis!
Knee jerk nonsense.
This woman said on morning Ireland that legislation takes time and can’t be done overnight. They didn’t take long to pass legislation to make sure she was entitled to her ministerial pension Entitlement accruing while she was out on maternity leave on full pay and keeping her as minister without portfolio. Of course if it doesn’t benefit a minister or TD it’s going to take time
It’s more Gardai we need not lower speed limits and also a more up to date Driving test as the level of drivers out there is just shocking these days… a new speed limit will fix nothing they’re some bunch of clowns in that Government
That’s a terrible headline folks!
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