Serial killer sketches woman he claims to have murdered in Las Vegas
Serial murderer Samuel Little, who confessed last year to 90 homicides, has sketched a portrait of a woman he claims to have killed in Las Vegas in the early 1990s.
Since the FBI’s announcement in late November, nine of the Texas prisoner’s confessions, which he offered while trying to obtain a prison transfer, have been confirmed or matched to open cases, including one Jane Doe victim who has not been identified, according to the FBI. The 78-year-old has said the killings occurred in states from California to Florida between 1970 and 2005.
The most recent confirmations are in addition to 36 killings that the FBI said had already been confirmed by the time of the November announcement.
The possible Las Vegas victim has been described by the FBI only as a “black female, age 40, killed in 1993.” But Little’s drawing adds more context, depicting a light-skinned black woman with long, light-brown hair. In the portrait, she is wearing a green shirt.
A Las Vegas FBI spokeswoman has said police departments across the country will take the lead on the respective investigations.
On Monday, Metropolitan Police Department homicide Lt. Ray Spencer confirmed the case was an active investigation and that detectives were still working to identify a potential victim.
“We have extensively searched and cannot find any case that is similar to what he is describing,” Spencer told the Review-Journal.
In a statement in November, FBI crime analysts characterized Little as “among the most prolific serial killers in U.S. history.”
The FBI has said it is working with the U.S. Department of Justice, the Texas Rangers and dozens of state and local agencies to corroborate all 90 of Little’s confessions. Convicted in 2014 of three counts of murder, Little is serving three consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.
He was linked to three unsolved homicides between 1987 and 1989 after Los Angeles Police Department detectives obtained his DNA sample while he was in custody on an unrelated narcotics charge, according to the FBI. In all three cases, the FBI has said, the women were beaten and strangled before their bodies were dumped.
The FBI’s Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (ViCAP) conducted a full background check on Little, and found an “alarming pattern” and links to many more killings, including a cold case homicide in Odessa, Texas, the FBI said.
Anyone who believes they may have information connected to Little is urged to call the ViCAP tip line at 800-634-4097 or at vicap@fbi.gov.
Contact Rio Lacanlale at rlacanlale@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @riolacanlale on Twitter.
