Samuel Little confessed to 93 murders and became the most prolific serial killer in the United States
Samuel Little, an American, went down in U.S. history as a serial killer who confessed to 93 murders. The FBI confirmed dozens of his confessions and called Little the most prolific serial killer in the country’s history.
His crimes spanned decades, and many of the deaths were not initially considered murders. It was only after Little’s arrest that investigators were able to gradually piece together the full extent of his crimes.
Samuel Little was born on June 7, 1940, in Reynolds, Georgia. His parents neglected him, so he was sent to live with his grandparents in Lorraine, Ohio. His trouble with the law began as early as his teenage years. At age 13, Little was sent to a juvenile detention center after stealing a bicycle. Subsequently, he was arrested multiple times for theft, fraud, assault, and other crimes.
In 1957, Little smashed the window of a dry cleaner’s and stole clothes from inside. When he realized he might get caught by the police, he tried to return the items. But the owner had already notified the police. Little was sentenced to prison in Mansfield, Ohio. Later, this very prison became famous thanks to the movie *The Shawshank Redemption*.
In prison, he took up boxing
Behind bars, Little began boxing. He claimed to have fought in the professional ring, but law enforcement was unable to confirm his professional boxing career. In boxing, he was known for his aggressive style. Investigators later determined that physical strength played a significant role in his crimes.
Little would sometimes beat women first and then strangle them. Due to the absence of gunshot or stab wounds, some of the deaths were not initially treated as homicides. Some of the cases were attributed to drug overdoses, accidents, or undetermined causes. After his release from prison, Little did not abandon his life of crime. For many years, he moved from city to city and regularly came to the attention of the police.
He committed his first murder in 1970
Little himself claimed that he began killing women in 1970. According to him, his first victim was Mary Jo Brosley, whom he met at a bar. After that, according to his confessions, the attacks continued for more than three decades. The FBI believes that Little murdered women in various U.S. states from 1970 to 2005. The geographic scope of the crimes proved to be vast. Investigators found cases linked to Little from California to Florida. Some of the victims remained unidentified.
He was exposed thanks to DNA
Despite years of run-ins with the law, Little wasn’t sentenced for the murders until 2014. In 2012, he was arrested at a homeless shelter in Kentucky. He was initially sought on drug charges and was later handed over to California law enforcement.
There, the police obtained a DNA sample from him. Analysis showed that Little was linked to three unsolved murders of women in Los Angeles that occurred in 1987 and 1989. In 2014, he was found guilty of these three murders. The court sentenced Little to three life terms without the possibility of parole. But it was only after this that the investigation really began to gain momentum.
Little began to talk about his crimes
In 2018, Texas Ranger James Holland began questioning Little in detail about his past. In total, law enforcement officials conducted hundreds of hours of interviews with him. Little described where he met the women, what cars he used, where he drove, and where he left the bodies. He also drew portraits of some of his victims. This helped investigators review old cases and search for people who might recognize the victims.
At first, Little spoke of 90 murders. Later, the number of his confessions rose to 93. In 2019, the FBI officially stated that it considers Little to be the most prolific serial killer in U.S. history. At that point, law enforcement had already confirmed 50 of his confessions, while the other cases were still being investigated. The FBI noted that it considered his confessions to be credible.
Why It Took So Long to Find His Victims
One reason was the lack of modern technology during the years when Little committed most of his crimes. Many of the murders took place in the 1970s and early 1980s. At that time, DNA analysis was not yet used as extensively as it is today. As a result, the police often were unable to link different cases to one another.
In addition, some of the victims were women who lived on the margins of society. As a result, their deaths may not have received the attention they deserved, and in some cases, the cause of death remained unclear. The FBI discovered that some of the deaths were initially classified as overdoses, accidents, or cases where the cause of death could not be determined. Some bodies were never found.
“It was like I was in bed with Marilyn Monroe”
During his conversations with investigators, Little spoke about his crimes with a chilling detachment. He described the murders as a special state that allegedly brought him pleasure. He explained one of his confessions with the words: “It was like being in heaven. It was like being in bed with Marilyn Monroe.” According to the FBI, Little claimed that he strangled his victims. Investigators also determined that his strength as a former boxer may have helped him quickly render the women unable to resist.
Investigators continued to search for his victims even after his death
Samuel Little died on December 30, 2020, at the age of 80. He was in custody, serving a life sentence. However, his death did not bring the investigation to a close. Law enforcement continued to verify his confessions and attempted to identify the women whose deaths might have been linked to Little.
The FBI emphasized that the main goal of this work was not simply to determine the final number of crimes. It was important for investigators to identify the victims, determine the circumstances of their deaths, and provide answers to their families. Little’s case became one of the most extensive examples of how old cold cases can be linked together through DNA, databases, and follow-up interviews. Dozens of crimes that had remained separate from one another for years were ultimately linked to a single individual, according to the Daily Mail.
