CA CA/OH/LA/MS/TX - SAMUEL LITTLE, aka Samuel McDowell, 1970's thru 2012, Serial Killer

[imstilla.grandma]

Detectives across US grill serial killer Samuel Little, close cold cases

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Psychologist describes Samuel Little as 'serial sexual' killer

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Ohio woman's mother among serial killer Little's known victims

 

[imstilla.grandma]

FBI confirms Samuel Little is most prolific serial killer in U.S. history

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Memphis mother gets answers decades after daughter’s death at hands of serial killer

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Serial Killer Strangles 93, FBI Working to Identify Victims

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Police still trying to solve 2018 murder of Colleton County High School senior

 

[imstilla.grandma]

He started murdering women in South Florida — then became the worst serial killer in US history

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Family questioning if 2001 cold case is connected to infamous serial killer

 

[otto]

Samuel Little, the most prolific serial killer in U.S. history, sketched startlingly detailed likenesses of his victims. Now the FBI is hoping that someone will recognize their loved one among the killer’s portraits

I only read a few of the unmatched confessions, but it seems that he spent a few days with the victims before murdering them, almost as though he waited for them to do something that disagreed with him and then murdered them. I wonder how many barely got away - there must be a few.

Samuel Little: Confessions of a Killer | Federal Bureau of Investigation

 

[imstilla.grandma]

I only read a few of the unmatched confessions, but it seems that he spent a few days with the victims before murdering them, almost as though he waited for them to do something that disagreed with him and then murdered them. I wonder how many barely got away - there must be a few.

Samuel Little: Confessions of a Killer | Federal Bureau of Investigation

I concur.

 

[otto]

I concur.

The other interesting point is that most of his victims are black. Instead of grabbing women off the street, he met them in bars and befriended them over a period of a few days. Maybe it was easier for him to gain the trust of black women. His car was the big attraction. He offered them rides and gave the impression that he was helping them when he murdered them. It seems that the victims went with him willingly.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

The other interesting point is that most of his victims are black. Instead of grabbing women off the street, he met them in bars and befriended them over a period of a few days. Maybe it was easier for him to gain the trust of black women. His car was the big attraction. He offered them rides and gave the impression that he was helping them when he murdered them. It seems that the victims went with him willingly.

Low-riders were beginning to emerge in the AA culture during this time. What vehicles did he use to entice? Do you know?

 

[otto]

Low-riders were beginning to emerge in the AA culture during this time. What vehicles did he use to entice? Do you know?

I closed the FBI link, but I think a Continental was mentioned. He probably used a lot of different vehicles over the years. Since some women were assaulted in his vehicle, he may have had cars with a back seat that appealed to him.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Samuel Little: Confessions of a Killer | Federal Bureau of Investigation
*1992–1994* According to Little, he was released after approximately three hours so that he could move his vehicle, a *1978 yellow Cadillac El Dorado (or possibly a yellow Dodge)*, off the grocery store’s property. Little stated that when he returned to his vehicle, the woman was sleeping inside.


*1993* Little was driving a *1978 yellow Cadillac Eldorado* to Los Angeles when he met a black woman on Owens Avenue or Jackson Street in Las Vegas.


*1984* Little stated that in approximately 1984, possibly in the summertime, he was driving his *Lincoln Continental Mark III* from Loraine, Ohio, to Cincinnati. She approached him and asked for a ride to Miami, Florida, saying her mother lived there


*1982* Little left with the woman in his vehicle, a *Lincoln Continental Mark III*. The woman told Little that she lived with her mother, who was sickly and possibly an invalid.


*1971 or 1972* When they arrived there, one of Marianne’s roommates asked them to buy a can of shaving cream, so they returned to Little’s car—a *gold 4-door Pontiac LeMans*. Little drove Marianne north on Highway 27 and killed her on a driveway, possibly near a sugarcane field. A few days later, they met again at a bar in Overtown, where Little offered to give her a ride home.

Resources

• FBI Confirms Samuel Little is Most Prolific Serial Killer in U.S. History
• ViCAP Links Murders to Prolific Serial Killer
• Violent Criminal Apprehension Program, Part 1
• Violent Criminal Apprehension Program Part 2

Videos

• Samuel Little Confession: Covington, Kentucky, 1984
• Samuel Little Confession: Miami, Florida, 1972
• Samuel Little Confession: New Orleans, Louisiana, 1982
• Samuel Little Confession: Las Vegas, Nevada, 1993
• Samuel Little Confession: North Little Rock, Arkansas, 1992/1993

*Little sure had a passion for those big luxury Cadillacs, Lincolns and Pontiacs. Impressive and inviting to victims.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Prince George's County police sent the 19-year-old woman's femur to a lab in Virginia for DNA testing.

Last year, 79-year-old Samuel Little sketched a drawing of the young woman he says he killed, but she remains unidentified.

Little and the woman are believed to have met at a Greyhound bus station on New York Avenue in Washington, D.C., in May or June 1972. Over a three-day period, Little and the woman had interactions and at one point, left the station in Little's car, Little told authorities. They drove on what investigators believe was the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, left the parkway in the area of Beltsville, Maryland, and had sex, Little told authorities. He then strangled the victim, he said.

The woman's remains were found in December of that year by a hunter who was walking through a wooded area. A medical examiner concluded that the remains had been there for about six months.

Little was in the D.C. area at the time of the killing and was arrested on a handgun charge in May 1972 at the same bus station where he said he met the victim.

She may have been from the Massachusetts area and had recently gotten divorced, Little told investigators. Her height was between 5-foot-2 and 5-foot-6. She was Caucasian and may have had a child.

Little told investigators that the Prince George's County victim was his only victim in the Washington, D.C., area.
Bone of Unidentified Victim of Serial Killer Gets DNA Tests

 

[digitective]

Unmatched Confession: Black female killed in 1977 or 1978. Met victim in Clearwater, Florida.
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Could this Jane Doe be Margaret Dash? She went missing from Clearwater, FL in 1974.

 

[digitective]

Los Angeles, California. Unmatched Confession: Black female between 26-27 years old killed in 1987.
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This Jane Doe reminds me of Lillian Rochelle Holmes (missing from Pasadena, CA in 1984 at age 19) or Cathern Davis (missing from LA in 1982 at age 32).

 

[elvissolves]

this is honestly the absolute worst showing of 3 things of all time.... Police inebtitude .... not any care for black murders ...... not any care for prostitute or people whom live on the so called fringes of society.... i dont know the full case what i did watch sickened me as he said over and over how he met them hung out met roommates etc... before killing and moving on.... how he could do this over and over without becoming number one on the wanted list is devastating and an embarrassment to humanity..... no matter what everyone should be treated as a human especially in death and/or murder.......

 

[MadMcGoo]

Little seems, IMO, to be the epitome of everything HLL claimed to be. His reign of terror combined with the literal jaw dropping number of confirmed victims, is almost unbelievable! JMO. He obviously offended all across the nation yet really didn’t seem to have a specific “victim type” other than women who were living high risk lifestyles or seemed alone and vulnerable. I mean, even his MO wasn’t consistent.

I haven’t read too much into each specific crime, only a couple that occurred near me. I thought it was pretty brazen of him to pick up a female and a male, with witnesses around and no attempt to hide his identity, and then go to a motel where the three of them did drugs together. And this occurred in the 80’s IIRC so by then he was already that confident in his ability to get away with his crime!

Does anyone think it’s possible he had an ‘accomplice’? When I say accomplice I don’t mean the type that HLL had. I mean someone(s) in one (or more) of the states where he had more victims. Maybe an old friend or someone he met throughout the years who he could “trust”. Not necessarily help him commit the rapes/murders but more of a wingman, I guess. If that’s the right word.

IDK, just something I’ve thought about every time I see the articles pop up - “America’s most prolific serial killer”.