FBI Sketches Samuel Little drew of some of the women he killed. All of these victims are unidentified.
Samuel Little may be the most prolific serial killer in history. He confessed to killing 93 women. Investigators are using his sketches to identify the women who died at his hands in murders spanning 25 years, from Los Angeles, California to Miami, Florida.
Many of the murders remain unsolved, and the victims remain unidentified. He is providing sketches to authorities, which investigators hope will help them to identify the victims and close cold cases spanning the country.
Little began confessing to the murders in 2018, and eventually gave authorities a list of 93 victims. Later, he began sketching the women.
FBIOne of Samuel Little’s victim sketches. The woman in the portrait was described as a Black female age 25 killed in 1996. She has not been identified.
The case is featured on Investigation Discovery’s Serial Killer Week in a four-hour special, “The 93 Victims of Samuel Little.” Part 1 airs at 9 p.m. EST Monday, August 31, 2020, and continues at 9 p.m. EST Tuesday, September 1, 2020.
The FBI is cataloging Little’s sketches of unknown victims in attempts to identify them. FBI analysts, working with Texas Rangers, compiled a database and an interactive map which links his confessions to sketches, locations, dates, and known information about the victims. The “unmatched confessions” are removed as the information is corroborated. The data set was last updated October 1, 2019. You can view the data here.
Little would target women who were vulnerable and marginalized. Many of the victims were involved in prostitution or struggling with drug addiction. Little’s favored method of killing – beating and strangulation – did not leave obvious signs of homicide. Sometimes, the murders were ruled as drug overdoses, accidental deaths or deaths from natural causes, and the cases were closed without further investigation. Many of the victims were never identified and their deaths were not thoroughly investigated. Most of the murders occurred in the 1970s and 1980s, before DNA profiling was available. Once DNA evidence became a part of the law enforcement practice, the women’s work as prostitutes often complicated the DNA profiles, according to the FBI.
Here’s what you need to know:
Samuel Little Drew Portraits of Victims Who Remain Unidentified
FBIOne of Samuel Little’s sketches of an unidentified victim. According to the information Little gave authorities, he killed her in Los Angeles, California in 1996. Her name may have been Sheila. He described her as a black female between 23 and 25 years old.
The FBI compiled a map with points marking murders stretching from Los Angeles to Miami. Those data points mark 49 murders, and 30 of those include sketches by Little. The data and sketches is being used to identify his victims, many of whom were marginalized women.
Each of the data points include some basic biographical information, including race and approximate age and a year or estimated year of their death, along with a location. Some are listed along with their possible names and other cursory details.
“Unmatched Confession: Black female, age 50, killed in 1987. Victim possibly called ‘Granny,'” one says.
#SamuelLittle, America’s most prolific serial killer, murdered 93 people. He sketched portraits of some. Help us honor 6 of his victims with a new final image:
1. Select a photo(s) from this post
2. Create an artistic tribute to your subject(s)
3. Post using #RememberTheVictims
“Unmatched Confession: Black female, age 28, killed in 1971 or 1972. Victim possibly worked on Homestead Air Force Base,” says another, along with a sketch that could been a glamour shot.
Another accompanies a sketch of a young woman with piercing eyes and red lipstick.
“Unmatched Confession: Black female between 23-25 years old killed in 1996. Victim possibly called ‘Sheila,'” it says.
The goal of the database is to share information so that dozens of women who died at Little’s hands can be identified.
“The biggest lesson in this case is the power of information sharing,” Kevin Fitzsimmons, ViCAP’s Supervisory Crime Analyst, said in an FBI article about the case. “These connections all started in our database of violent crime.”
If you recognize any of the women in the sketches, or have information that may be relevant to any of the murders, contact the FBI tipline through tips.fbi.gov or 800-CALL-FBI.
Samuel Little Was Convicted of Killing 8 Women & Suspected in Dozens of Additional Murders
These six women were victims of #SamuelLittle, America’s most prolific serial killer. Little murdered 93 people, targeting women. He also sketched portraits of some of his victims. We want to honor those we know and those still unknown by redrawing their final picture.
Little was convicted of killing 8 women: three in Los Angeles, 1 in Texas, and four in Ohio. He is suspected in dozens of other murders, although it is likely the cases will never go to trial because of Little’s age and health. Still, investigators are hoping to close the cases and identify the dozens of unknown women.
Here are the women Little was convicted of killing:
Denise Brothers
Not only will the family of Denise Brothers get answers, but so will hundreds of family members know the truth after decades of questions. Justice for the victims of Samuel Little may have been delayed, but due to law enforcement’s efforts, justice is no longer denied.
Denise Brothers was 38 when she was killed in Odessa, Texas in 1994. Brothers was the mother of two young boys, Dustin and Damien. They were 9 and 12 at the time of her death. Brothers led a difficult life. She was married at only 15 years old, and she was abused in the marriage. She escaped the abuse to fall in love with another man and marry him, but he was addicted to drugs. She eventually became addicted to drugs herself, and eventually became involved with prostitution, according to a profile published in New York Magazine.
Carol Alford
Carol Alford was the first of Little’s victims where authorities connected his DNA to a victim. Alford was 41 years old when she was murdered by Little in Los Angeles. DNA matching Little was found under her fingernails and on her bra.
Alford’s body was found July 13, 1987, in an alley. She was nude from the waist down, and her daughter identified her body. An autopsy revealed she was strangled to death through manual force. An autopsy also revealed other injuries, including a blunt injury to her head, which seemed to be caused by a punch, according to an appeal filed in Little’s case.
Audrey Nelson
Audrey Nelson’s fight for her life left Little’s DNA under her fingernails. Her body, which was nude from the waist down, was left in a dumpster behind a Los Angeles night club, according to an appeal filed in his case. She was found August 14, 1989. She had no identification or anything to confirm her identity, but she did have multiple tattoos. Across the knuckles of both of her hands, she had tattooed letters spelling “True Love,” according to a New York Magazine profile.
An autopsy showed she was punched repeatedly in the head and then manually strangled. She suffered other injuries including a crushed spinal bone and bruising on her abdomen, which were also indicative of punching, and “road burns” that indicated she had been dragged on a hard surface, probably before she died, Little’s appeal filed in California said.
Dr. Eugene Carpenter testified the injury to her stomach and strangulation injuries were significant and showed “a sign of considerable force.”
He added, “these signs of force are the greatest that I have seen in a 27-year practice in a county which has its share of strangulation cases.”
Guadalupe Apodaca
Apodaca’s body was found by a boy kicking a soccer ball outside an abandoned auto repair shop September 3, 1989. He was kicking the ball against the building when he happened to peer into the windows and spotted her body, according to a New York Magazine profile.
Authorities believe she died as Little knelt on her chest while strangling her with his hands. She suffered a seizure in the process, authorities believe. She was nude from the waist down, and Blood was also found in her anal cavity. DNA linked Little to the murder, according to the appeal filed in Little’s case.
Anna Stewart
Anna Stewart was only 32 when she was murdered. Her body was found in a field near Queen Ann Place in Grove City, Ohio on October 12, 1981. It would take 37 years for the murder to be solved. Little was convicted in June, 2019, according to the Scioto Post.
Mary Jo Peyton
🖤 Martha Cunningham: singer in a gospel choir and sister to six siblings
🖤 Mary Jo Peyton: found murdered after missing for three weeks
Mary Jo Peyton was 21 years old when she encountered Little at a Cleveland bar in 1984. They left the bar together and he drove her to an abandoned factory where he strangled her and threw her body down a basement stairwell. Her body was found several weeks later on July 3, 1984, by two employees who worked at a nearby business. Little was convicted of the murder in May, 2019, according to Fox 8 Cleveland.
Rose Evans
Here’s how you can help:
1. Select a photo or photos from this post
2. Create an artistic representation that pays tribute to your subject(s)
3. Share using #RememberTheVictims
🖤 Rosie Hill: mother to a 2-year-old daughter
🖤 Denise Brothers: mother to four boys
Rose Evans was 32 when she encountered Little sometime on or around August 24, 1991, in Cleveland. He offered her a ride and drove her to a vacant lot, where he strangled her in his car. He placed her body under two tires in the vacant lot. Little was convicted of the murder in May, 2019, according to Fox 8 Cleveland.
Jane Doe
Jane Doe has still not been identified, but she was among the victims Little was convicted of killing during his Ohio murder trial. Her body was never found. Jane Doe died in 1982. In Little’s confession, he described her as a black female between 20 and 35 years old.
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