Deadliest Serial Killer in the US, Samuel Little, Passes Away
Samuel Little, the deadliest serial killer in American history, passed away at the age of 80 on Wednesday, while police nationwide are still searching for many of his victims. Little claimed to have murdered 93 people in 19 states between 1970 and 2005. For over four decades, he managed to elude the police. Little's victims were predominantly prostitutes, drug users, and impoverished women.
DNA Evidence
In 2014, Little was convicted of three murders thanks to DNA evidence but continued to claim innocence. It wasn't until 2018 when he suddenly confessed to his crimes to a Texas Ranger. He boasted about being so clever that he could avoid targeting "people who would be immediately missed," making it impossible for him to be caught. "I’d go back to the same city sometimes and pluck me another grape. How many grapes do you all got on the vine here?” he said in an interview. Little stated, “I’m not going to go over there into the white neighborhood and pick out a little teenage girl.”
Out of the 93 murders Little confessed to, the FBI has now definitively verified 60. The police find the other confessions so credible, as Little recounted them in detail, that they assume they are also accurate. Despite Little eventually confessing to his crimes and providing extensive details, almost half of his victims remain unidentified. Little's death will further delay clarification for the families.
Drawings of Victims
Little struggled to remember dates and names but had a chillingly accurate memory when it came to recalling details. He could vividly describe the scenes of his crimes. An assistant at the Department of Justice mentioned that in one case where they couldn't find physical evidence, Little accurately described the victim's last meal. This description exactly matched her stomach contents in the autopsy report. Little also hand-drew each of his victims entirely from memory.
Patricia Parker
On October 10, 2020, after 40 years, Patricia Parker was finally identified as one of Samuel Little's victims. In 1981, Parker's body was found in Dade County, Georgia, but she couldn't be identified at the time. When Samuel Little confessed to 93 murders in 2018, detectives talked to him, hoping to get more details and identify this woman. Last year, a forensic reconstruction of her skull was made, and the police sought help in identifying her. A family came forward, and DNA confirmed that it was indeed Patricia Parker. Parker was murdered by Little at the age of 30.
According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Little was declared dead early Wednesday morning in a hospital. No immediate cause of death was given.