CA CA/OH/LA/MS/TX - SAMUEL LITTLE, aka Samuel McDowell, 1970's thru 2012, Serial Killer

[Gardener1850]

Confessed Serial Killer Provides Sketch of Woman He Says He Killed in 1972 | Southern Maryland News Net

Earlier this week, convicted serial killer, Samuel Little, sketched this drawing of a young woman he confessed to killing in Prince George’s County in 1972. The department’s Cold Case Unit hopes this image will finally lead detectives to uncovering the victim’s name

According to Little, he picked up the victim at a bus station on New York Avenue in the District of Columbia. Little says the victim indicated she was recently divorced and from the Massachusetts area. She may also have been a mother.

I wonder if it could have been 1973 instead of 72?

Carol Rodriguez called her roommate to say a person driving a beige sedan would drive her home to Framington, Massachusetts, and she'd be home by 7:00 p.m. She has never been heard from again. Few details are available in her case: MA - MA - Carol Louise Rodriguez, 29, Spencer, 4 Aug 1973

 

[j_in_c]

I wonder if it could have been 1973 instead of 72?

Carol Rodriguez called her roommate to say a person driving a beige sedan would drive her home to Framington, Massachusetts, and she'd be home by 7:00 p.m. She has never been heard from again. Few details are available in her case: MA - MA - Carol Louise Rodriguez, 29, Spencer, 4 Aug 1973

It's definitely possible he got the year wrong, but the article states he picked his victim up in Washington DC and her body was recovered in Maryland in Dec of 1972. In the comments of the article someone mentions they found a likely NAMUS case and submitted it as a possible match - but they didn't state the name of the NAMUS Jane Doe from Mass. I hope his confessions give all these does their names back!

 

[LookingForClues]

Gardener, I just re-read the article j_in_c posted. It says the woman's skeletal remains were found by a hunter in December 1972. So Carol disappeared 8 months after the remains were found. Circumstances were a bit different too. Carol was trying to get from Spencer, MA, to her home in Framingham, MA, only an hour apart and told her roommate she'd be home by 7 pm. Little says he picked up his victim in DC at a bus station.

*NOTE: NAMUS says Framingham, Charley Project says Framington, since there is no Framington in MA, I suspect Framingham is correct.

 

[LookingForClues]

Oops, I was posting at the same time as j_in_c! LOL

 

[Gardener1850]

It's definitely possible he got the year wrong, but the article states he picked his victim up in Washington DC and her body was recovered in Maryland in Dec of 1972. In the comments of the article someone mentions they found a likely NAMUS case and submitted it as a possible match - but they didn't state the name of the NAMUS Jane Doe from Mass. I hope his confessions give all these does their names back!

Oh, I see. Thanks for the correction/clarificarion. I guess I read the article too late at night-- I missed that they had her body.

 

[Murkywaters]

Missing Person Case

Patricia Ann Smith who vanished from Pascagoula, Mississippi in 1988 has just been added to NamUs. According to her case synopsis, Her family recently reported her missing due to the investigation in Samuel Little. They wondered if she is a victim.

Patricia is described as light skinned Black female, medium size. She had perfect teeth except one tooth protruding outward believed to be on the left side of mouth. She was 19 years old at the time of her disappearance.

 

[Al Ka]

Just adding WS thread here for his Jane Doe victim found in 1972 in Laurel, Maryland

MD - MD - Laurel, WhtFem UP2334, 17-25, in woods near Rte 197, Dec'72

 

[Gardener1850]

Missing Person Case

Patricia Ann Smith who vanished from Pascagoula, Mississippi in 1988 has just been added to NamUs. According to her case synopsis, Her family recently reported her missing due to the investigation in Samuel Little. They wondered if she is a victim.

Patricia is described as light skinned Black female, medium size. She had perfect teeth except one tooth protruding outward believed to be on the left side of mouth. She was 19 years old at the time of her disappearance.

Here's a thread for Patricia: MS - MS - Patricia Ann Smith, 19, Pascagoula, 1 Sept 1988

 

[PastTense]

The Serial Killer and the ‘Less Dead’
The only reporter who’s talked to Samuel Little tells how he was caught — and why he almost got away.
The Serial Killer and the ‘Less Dead’

 

[Owutatangledweb]

The Serial Killer and the ‘Less Dead’
The only reporter who’s talked to Samuel Little tells how he was caught — and why he almost got away.
The Serial Killer and the ‘Less Dead’

Excellent article. Thank you!

 

[WilsonVB]

Thanks for posting that article above. After reading so many about the wrongly convicted, you can't help but be upset that they couldn't get this one sooner.

 

[SeekingJana]

The Serial Killer and the ‘Less Dead’
The only reporter who’s talked to Samuel Little tells how he was caught — and why he almost got away.
The Serial Killer and the ‘Less Dead’

This should be a huge sticky on the WS home page. It is a blueprint of what a psychopathic serial killer is, how he came to be a petty criminal as a young boy, then a rapist who got 3 months for one rape and 4 months for another brutal near- fatal assault.
His crimes escalated from rape to murder, and he loved every murder he committed. I think the total number is likely to be much higher than he remembers in his 70's! He has to have forgotten some.

Also, it's possible that some of the women had children, and although it doesn't fit with his M.O., there may have been some surprise children killed because they could tell what happened to mommy and what he looked like. We don't know, but likely, he won't confess to any non-adult murders.

The redemption in this extremely horrifying true recounting of some of his victims' killings is Texas Ranger James Holland.

Little says he was the devil.
Holland is a shining beacon in Little's dark world, proving that goodness does triumph evil.
He's my idea of a true hero.

 

[SeekingJana]

Things I wonder just because I'm the one who always asked " Why". I've a history of wanting to know and understand more than what info I have. It may be a serious flaw, but it's mine and I own up to it:

How, exactly, did Little know the victim's first and last names? I doubt they all had driver's licenses or ID on them, or that he kept it. I doubt he ASKED their first and last names, as most prostitutes will have a name like " Sugar" or " Baby" or the like.

I read that the Texas Rangers believe he has an" almost photographic mind." I understand this part perfectly well. He remembers what's important to him- their murders. BUT---
How did they match him to the specific women?

Did they show him photographs of UIDs and long- missing women fitting his preferred victimology?

Did they hand him lists of missing women with descriptions from every year and every state he traveled through, year by year?

Maybe some ID'd through DNA on retrieved clothing items? I'd expect this to be a factor maybe in the last segment of his life of destroying women, the 1980's and maybe early 90's.

Why did he stop killing? Did he go to prison or did he just get too old to overpower younger strong women? Did he decide he was ready for his fame and a nice warm prison cell for the rest of his life?

Would all this have happened differently if the victims had been children or cute secretaries or lawyers' wives? Would he have been caught with the first brutal assault and given a long prison sentence and a thorough psych. exam for serious mental illness? This question makes me cry! God help the judges who let him loose.

And, to me, the most important question of all:
How many are still unidentified? How many women never reported missing need a name and proper burial with their names?

I think we are probably naive if we believe every Jane Doe has been ID'd and all murders he committed have been solved and all cases closed.
He was not a regional killer. He was a country-wide killer. It's also possible he committed murders of people reported missing by worried husbands and mothers, as SKs hardly ever tell the worst of the worst crimes they've committed.
IF they match him to one woman who wasn't picked up by him as a prostitute, his game changes for law enforcement.

 

[SeekingJana]

One last thought after reading the interview with him on www.thecut.com, " The Serial Killer and the Less Dead", so moving and tragic.

Here's what Sam Little failed to recognize in the victims of his brutal slayings. He lacked the ability to understand that other people have DREAMS and HOPES that are GOOD, and that if a human being who's not a classic sociopath tries and want to climb up out of bad circumstances, they will grab hold of the good resources and people to help every one of them.

All life has meaning and worth, and every one of those women * and every woman currently living a hard street life* has or had, in the cases of the murdered, a chance of redemption; to get off the streets and achieve sobriety and an education. Every woman had an inner core personality with self- esteem and the likelihood of great personal and spiritual growth..

Every single one of them had a chance to be a wife, a mother, or whatever their dreams had been before life got rough, then went dark forever. No one who's ever lived has wanted to be a prostitute.

They wanted to be safe and be loved, as these are our basic needs after food and shelter, and HE took that away from them. It's not a matter of race or being pimped and forced into addiction and living on the streets, it's a matter of humanity. Serial killers can't comprehend the concept of humane, humanity, or any other good redeeming value, as they have none. Literally none.

 

[Al Ka]

How, exactly, did Little know the victim's first and last names? I doubt they all had driver's licenses or ID on them, or that he kept it. I doubt he ASKED their first and last names, as most prostitutes will have a name like " Sugar" or " Baby" or the like.

Simply answer - he did not. He did not know their full names and therefore so many are still unidentified.

I read that the Texas Rangers believe he has an" almost photographic mind." I understand this part perfectly well. He remembers what's important to him- their murders. BUT---
How did they match him to the specific women?

Did they show him photographs of UIDs and long- missing women fitting his preferred victimology?

Did they hand him lists of missing women with descriptions from every year and every state he traveled through, year by year?

Maybe some ID'd through DNA on retrieved clothing items?

He told them his stories, where he met them, in which approximate years, in which manner he murdered them and where he dispose of them. He draw pictures for investigators how women looked.

Only after that investigators searched and tried to match his stories to unsolved homicides or unidentifed victims. I am sure many are not matched yet and some from his stories have not been found yet either.

Why did he stop killing? Did he go to prison or did he just get too old to overpower younger strong women? Did he decide he was ready for his fame and a nice warm prison cell for the rest of his life?

I don't know enough about him to answer this one. I don't think he ever stopped killing though.

Would all this have happened differently if the victims had been children or cute secretaries or lawyers' wives? Would he have been caught with the first brutal assault and given a long prison sentence and a thorough psych. exam for serious mental illness? This question makes me cry! God help the judges who let him loose.

We all know answer to this one - absolutely.

 

[madamx]

So these are the drawings he did of the women. Did he copy them from actual photosof the real women and added more to the images to make them look like what he remembered ? The BLUE woman on the bottom left is creepy..

 

[Al Ka]

So these are the drawings he did of the women. Did he copy them from actual photosof the real women and added more to the images to make them look like what he remembered ? The BLUE woman on the bottom left is creepy..

Link!?

 

[madamx]

Link!?

Oops I thought I posted it when I posted the photo. The Serial Killer and the ‘Less Dead’


I found this one has a slight different version in black and white https://www.imgrumweb.com/hashtag/samuellittle

 

[Al Ka]

Oops I thought I posted it when I posted the photo. The Serial Killer and the ‘Less Dead’


I found this one has a slight different version in black and white https://www.imgrumweb.com/hashtag/samuellittle

Thank you. So many drawings, so many women . And some of them are not even there. I don't see '72 victim drawing included in this hmm collage. Looking at it, I don't think I know even one of those portrait cases.

 

[SeekingJana]

Simply answer - he did not. He did not know their full names and therefore so many are still unidentified.



He told them his stories, where he met them, in which approximate years, in which manner he murdered them and where he dispose of them. He draw pictures for investigators how women looked.

Only after that investigators searched and tried to match his stories to unsolved homicides or unidentifed victims. I am sure many are not matched yet and some from his stories have not been found yet either.



I don't know enough about him to answer this one. I don't think he ever stopped killing though.


We all know answer to this one - absolutely.

Thank you, because the articles I've read about this monster killer almost elevate his status to something worthwhile because he's working with LE towards the last part of his life, after so many women have been destroyed forever.

I looked for, but did not find, any details of how the presumptive IDs have been made. I thought it had to be a matter of showing photos and him saying " Sure, I did that", or " Nope, never touched her".. and so on.

I also know the Texas Rangers have verified many of the victims' remains were found where he said they would be, and details match up in other ways, but still, one has to wonder about the factor of human motivation, which is very strong on both perp. and LE sides.
LE and all who care about victims want remains to be found and names given because this is the very least that can ever be done for his victims, some of whom were likely young women.

Little wants to be the biggest, baddest SK so he will be in psych. textbooks and maybe mainstream media ( for a while).
I hope LE never brings up the GSK to SL for that reason.

Yes, my last question was rhetorical and I decided to post an honest and open post about how each of their lives could have gone a completely different way at any point in the future if they'd HAD a future and a helping hand up and out of their pain.