FBI releases portraits serial killer drew of his victims, including one in Granite City
The man the FBI has said is “the most prolific serial killer in U.S. history” has drawn portraits of 30 of the 93 victims he said he murdered over three decades. The FBI is now releasing these sketches in hopes the public will help them identify the victims.
Almost a year ago, Samuel Little, 79, told authorities that between 1976 and 1979, he met two women in St. Louis that he later killed across the river in Illinois: one in Granite City and one in East St. Louis. The women have not been identified, but Little has drawn a portrait of the woman he believes he killed in Granite City.
She is described as a 26-year-old black female possibly named “Joe.” The woman he says he killed in East St. Louis is described only as a black female whose likeness is not among the portraits Little has drawn. According to the FBI, all of Little’s victims were strangled.
According to the FBI, Little’s recollection of dates is not always accurate and he struggles to remember the exact clothing worn by a victim, but law enforcement has been able to verify 50 of his confessions, with many more pending final confirmation.
“We are seeking information from that era,” said Brad Ware, a media representative for the FBI. “We want to see if we can figure out who these gals were.”
Many of Little’s victims’ deaths were originally ruled overdoses or attributed to accidental or undetermined causes, the FBI says. Some bodies were never found.
Little committed murders across the country, “everywhere from California to Florida,” Ware said. He has been convicted of four murders in Ohio, one in Texas and three in California, where he was sentenced to consecutive life sentences.
Little offered confessions to numerous other murders so he could be transferred to another prison, the FBI has said. He is now serving his sentence in Texas.
“At this point all we have left is to appeal to the public to help us resolve these cases,” Christina Palazzolo, an analyst with the bureau’s Violent Criminal Apprehension Program, told the Associated Press. “It was just in an effort to try to get as many eyes as possible on the unmatched confession details.”
The two cold cases are being handled by the Illinois State Police, which could not comment Monday afternoon.
Anyone with information linked to Little’s confessions can contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or submit a tip at tips.fbi.gov.
This story was originally published October 15, 2019 at 3:43 PM.
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