Ector County Jail
Samuel Little, a 78-year-old man who was already serving a life sentence at Ector County Jail in Texas, has confessed to allegedly committing 90 murders, making him one of the most prolific serial killers in the nation’s history.
What Happened?
According to a report released earlier this week by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Little — who was already serving a life sentence for beating and strangling three women to death in Los Angeles between 1987 and 1989 — told investigators that he is responsible for the murder of 90 additional people.
At the time of this writing, the FBI says that they currently have evidence of ties to 34 of the murders he claims to have committed.
Little was originally was arrested at a homeless shelter in Kentucky in 2012 and extradited to California to face drug charges. Once in police custody, DNA evidence linked him to the Los Angeles murders.
He was then tried, convicted, sentenced to life in prison, and transferred to Texas in connection with the investigation into another murder.
According to ABC, when Little was interviewed Texas Ranger James Holland (who was accompanied by Department of Justice and FBI officials) last spring, Little began talking and authorities began “unraveling the true extent of his crimes.”
via ABC:
The FBI said it is now working with the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Texas Rangers and dozens of other state and local law enforcement agencies to “to match Little’s confessions with evidence from women who turned up dead in states from California to Florida between 1970 and 2005.”
Little’s life of crime spanned decades, according to the FBI. After dropping out of high school in Ohio, Little “lived a nomadic life” and was first arrested in 1956, according to the FBI. He displayed a “dark, violent streak” in his many crimes, which included shoplifting, fraud, drug charges, solicitation, and breaking and entering, the FBI said.
The FBI is currently “racing to identify as many of his victims as possible and help close these unsolved cases”, as Little is in poor health and will likely die in Texas prison.