LOS ANGELES, Calif. — A 72-year-old man made his first court appearance today in connection with the slayings of three women in the late 1980s.
Samuel Little to remain jailed without bail while he awaits arraignment, which was postponed at the defense’s request to Feb. 7.
Little, who was extradited to California from Kentucky back in September, is charged with three murder counts and special circumstances for multiple murder.
No immediate decision has been made whether to pursue the death penalty against Little.
LAPD Detectives Mitzi Roberts and Rick Jackson, who investigated the case, said there is DNA evidence linking Little to the Los Angeles slayings but would not elaborate, citing the ongoing investigation.
The crimes are all sexually motivated strangulations, they said.
Police identified the Los Angeles victims as Carol Alford, 41, found dead on July 13, 1987; Audrey Nelson, 35, whose body was discovered Aug. 14, 1989; and Guadalupe Apodaca, 46, from Sept. 2, 1989.
Their bodies were discovered in the Central Avenue-Alameda Street corridor, just south of downtown.
The bulk of Little’s arrests — which numbered in the dozens — were for crimes such as drunk driving, shoplifting and burglary.
But detectives said he had a far more sinister side that included bursts of violence such as murders, robberies and assaults directed at those with “high-risk lifestyles” including prostitutes and substance abusers.
“It was theft by day and murder by night,” Jackson said of Little.
Little, also known as Samuel McDowell, committed crimes in 24 states but served relatively little time in state prison or county jail, the detectives said. In the early 1980s, Little was accused of a two murders and two attempted murders in the Gainsesville, Fla., and Pascagoula, Miss., areas.
Little was acquitted by a Florida jury in the strangulation murder of 26-year-old Patricia Ann Mount, whose body was discovered Sept. 12, 1982.
He was never brought to trial in the three Mississippi cases, including the strangulation death of Melinda LaPree, 24, on Sept., 14 1982. That case has been reopened by the Pascagoula Police Department in light of new evidence, authorities said.
Little served limited prison time relative to his crimes and kept a step ahead of authorities by constantly moving among states. According to LAPD detectives, he had an arrest record in nearly every region of the continental U.S. except the north central states.
After avoiding convictions in the South, Little headed to California, where he lived in the mid- to late 1980s in the San Diego and Los Angeles areas.
He served more than two years in state prison after being convicted of assault and false imprisonment of two San Diego women in separate cases, police said. Shortly after being paroled, detectives say, he killed the three Los Angeles women.
His exact movements after leaving Southern California are not entirely clear, but detectives say they believe Little is responsible for further violent crimes, including murders.
“We believe he is good for many more crimes — including murders — throughout the United States,” Roberts said. “If any law enforcement agencies have similar killings that occurred between 1960 and the present, they should contact LAPD Cold Case Detectives.”
20 Comments to “Suspected Serial Killer Makes First Court Appearance”
January 7, 2013 at 10:16 PM
All of these negroes are suspects!….none of them should even be able to travel freely throughout america……remember,,the wider the nose,the more evil they are…..never ever trust one of these thangz!,,,,,theres no telling how many violent crimes in america these creatures are responsible for…..i beleive that this s**t is in their dna………..Have you seen the massive amount of out of control violent crime these creatures are doing in africa right now?……if your ever confronted by one or more of them,never ever hesitate to take them out!
January 8, 2013 at 7:21 AM
Mark, you're are 100% correct. Just look up the anything to do with "Somali" When the US went in to help (Example) Watch the movie "Black Hawk Down" and watch how these savages, monsters, creatures killed and cut up these US soldier's and dragged them through the dirt in Somali. Ni!@#$$ were dropped off on this planet a long time ago from some asteroid made out of another planets waste like shit and they crapped all the N@%$@^s down here to earth. Why do you think they are all Black. They all got charred that color from entering the earth's atmosphere!
January 8, 2013 at 11:07 AM
Well at least he wasnt white then maybe he woulda shot a bunch of children b***h
January 8, 2013 at 11:38 AM
Oh such a good comeback! NOT!!!! Side by side, there are more blacks killing other people than whites. If I had to guess, probably 75% Blacks, 20% Mexicans, 4% here from Europe and 1% white.
January 8, 2013 at 9:45 AM
Interesting that you had nothing negative to say about Rodney Alcala who was also a serial killer in California, that isnt Afrikan American…what to say of that piece of vomit??? Perhaps you should continue to sit in silence and fester in your aloneness.
February 7, 2013 at 10:26 AM
WOW !!! you must be prejudice .. your RACE has nothing to do with your character. But apparently you are very ignorant and in need of a hug. Have a nice life…
January 8, 2013 at 6:08 AM
I just got paid $6784 working off my laptop this month. And if you think that's cool, my divorced friend has twin toddlers and made over $9k her first month. It feels so good making so much money when other people have to work for so much less. This is what I do, Rich45.ℂOM
January 8, 2013 at 7:05 AM
Wow! This is amazing how they could figure out it was this guy who committed all those rapes and murders in the 80's with today's technology. It says above in the article "There is DNA evidence linking Little to the Los Angeles slayings but would not elaborate, citing the ongoing investigation." Because all these Porch Monkeys and all N!@#$$% have the same DNA! They are all SAVAGES!!!!
January 8, 2013 at 8:17 AM
Well I am glad you have this POS behind bars and that he gets whats coming to him behind those bars in the BEHIND dirt bag piece of S__T.
January 8, 2013 at 9:31 AM
Too bad he got caught. Out here in VA we love beating and hurting hookers. We even do it in my church
January 8, 2013 at 9:52 AM
I would imagine your mosque/church knows the rules for beating it's women?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp3Eam5FX58
January 8, 2013 at 11:43 AM
Is this what you do to your wife, sisters and daughters too? I was told in the church we both go to that they were….
January 8, 2013 at 10:30 AM
I could just 'growl' at that insult. But you're not worth it.
January 8, 2013 at 2:46 PM
That's how you do things in VA? Really? Well up here in Canada, we do things a little differnetly. Come up north and see what we do to misogynistic troglodytes like you WTE!
January 8, 2013 at 3:43 PM
Angela, WTE is well, challenged by a lot of hate.
I used the word growl because this morning he was banned for a site with that word in it's name. And no, they don't do things like that in VA. That was WTE being insulting.'
It goes back to that 'hate' issue of his.
January 8, 2013 at 3:13 PM
I'm Canadian, and I have to say that I am absolutely stunned and disgusted by the comments I've read on this site. Your ignorance and lack of tolerance for your fellow Americans is shocking! This is not to say that there is no racism in Canada, but the depth and breadth of your ignorance saddens me. Being black does not make you a violent predator…being white does not make you above reproach. This is a time when you should be pulling together as Americans, not perpetuating the racial divide.
January 9, 2013 at 8:18 AM
Nikki, I'm Canadian as well, but when you look at the statistics it's true, sorry to say. If we could get an exact count of how many (Let's just use Whites and Black) are in the USA, you would probably have a ratio of I'm guessing here, 75% White and 25% Black. Then when you hear about crime on websites, TV or whatever. It's like 4 crimes by Blacks a 1 by a White person. Also, that's why we don't let them play Hockey. Well, there are a couple of them in there….
January 10, 2013 at 10:48 AM
Sambo, I'm saddened that you are a fellow Canadian. Savages, monsters, creatures? These are the words you used to describe our fellow human beings. Let's talk about some other savages, monsters, creatures…David Berkowitz, Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacey, Jeffrey Dahmer, James Holmes, Adam Lanza, Charles Starkweather….ALL WHITE! Or how about some Canadian savages…Clifford Olson, Paul Bernardo, Robert Pickton! You talk about the atrocities suffered by US soldiers in Somalia…what about the crimes of war perpetrated by white soldiers around the world? Killing 16 civilians in Kandahar, torturing prisoners in Abu Ghraib.
Evil like this AND the horrible things done to the soldiers in Somalia are not a race issue…this is a human issue! And the problems are only perpetuated and exacerbated by uninnformed, ignorant bigots. Maybe someone who thinks an entire race was crapped out by an asteroid needs to do a little more reading, research and reflection before spewing forth his venom. Oh yeah, and the goalie for the Canadian Junior Hockey Team is Malcom Subban…and he's black! And he's amazing!
January 11, 2013 at 5:21 PM
is there no moderator to monitor this vitriol?
January 12, 2013 at 7:05 AM
I was wondering the same thing…