The most prolific serial killer in United States’ history, Samuel Little
In 2019, after confessing to murdering 93 people, the FBI announced that serial killer Samuel Little was America’s most prolific serial killer. For over four decades, Samuel Little terrorized women across the country until his capture in 2012.
Samuel Little was born in Reynolds, Georgia on June 7, 1940. After his birth, Little moved to Ohio, Lorraine, where he was raised by his grandmother. While attending Hawthorne Junior High School, Little had problems with discipline and eventually dropped out.
Little began his crime spree at a young age. He was arrested over 20 times on charges, including armed robbery, aggravated assault, kidnapping, and rape.
Samuel Little was specific when it came to choosing his victims. Little chose women who would be easily susceptible, like sex workers and drug addicts, who lived in areas with high crime rates. Little assumed their deaths would not be thoroughly investigated because of societal biases that were present at the time.
At a young age, Samuel Little developed a fetish for women’s necks. According to AP News, he remembers becoming sexually aroused when he would see his kindergarten teacher touch her neck.
Samuel Little’s modus operandi (MO) was strangulation. According to the FBI, Little confessed to always strangling his victims, except for two women who were drowned. In some cases, Little would rape the victims to receive sexual gratification from the murders.
Samuel Little began getting arrested in the 1950’s, but his first display of violence against women was recorded in 1966. In Cleveland, Ohio, Little was arrested for battery and assault after beating a woman.
The Timeline of Victims
January 31, 1970 -- After moving to Miami Beach, Florida, Little murdered his first known victim, 33-year-old, Mary Brosley. Little strangled her and buried her in a shallow grave, according to Oxygen.
September 1976 -- Samuel Little was arrested and sentenced to three months in jail for raping a woman in Louis, Missouri. The woman told police, Little walked up behind her and choked her with an electrical cord, threatened her to enter his car, beat her until she became unconscious, then drove her to a different location.
November 1982 -- Samuel Little was arrested in Pascagoula, Mississippi, for the murder of Melinda Lapree. The jury ruled that there was not enough evidence to charge Little with the murder of the 22-year-old, and he was released.
August 1982 -- The body of 20-year-old Rosie Hills was found after being raped and strangled. In January 1984, Samuel Little was arrested on suspicion of her murder, but he was released due to a lack of evidence.
October 1984 -- Samuel Little was arrested for the assault and rape of two women in San Diego. Little pleaded guilty to assault and spent two and a half years in prison.
1987 -- Samuel Little moved to Los Angeles. In July, he murdered 41-year-old, Carol Alford, and left her body in an alleyway at South Central.
August 14, 1989 -- Samuel Little murders 35-year-old Audrey Nelson Everett and, a month later, murders Guadalupe Duarte Apodaca.
August 2005 -- Little murdered his last known victim, Nancy Carol Stevens, in Tupelo, Mississippi.
The Capture
In 2007, Samuel Little was arrested in Los Angeles for cocaine possession and pleaded guilty but failed to attend court. A warrant was issued for Little’s arrest, and he was arrested at a homeless shelter in Louisville, Kentucky on September 5, 2012.
In January 2013, Los Angeles Police Department detectives matched Little’s DNA to the murders of Carol Alford, Audrey Nelson Everett, and Guadalupe Duarte Apodaca.
In September 2014, the jury found Samuel Little guilty of three counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of Carol Alford, Audrey Nelson Everett, and Guadalupe Duarte Apodaca. The Los Angeles Times reported that Little was sentenced to three consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole.
Five years after Little’s arrest, Texas Ranger James Holland, FBI analysts Christie Palazzolo and Angela Williamson, were able to get Samuel Little to confess to 93 murders. According to the FBI, law enforcement was able to validate 50 of his confessions and more are pending.
In August 2019, Samuel Little pleaded guilty to the murders of Anna Stewart, Mary Jo Peyton, Rose Evans, and an unknown woman in Ohio and was sentenced to four consecutive life terms in prison.
Texas Ranger James Holland continued to work with Samuel Little until Little’s death, attempting to identify as many of his victims as he could.
On Wednesday December 30, 2020, 80-year-old Samuel Little died in a California hospital. Little’s cause of death was never released. There were no reports of foul play in Little’s death; he suffered from diabetes, heart problems, and other ailments, according to the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
The FBI asks for the help of the public in identifying the remaining unconfirmed victims. If you have any information, contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL FBI or submit an online tip at tips.fbi.gov.
