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U.S. NEWS Friday 16 November 2018

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Inmate confesses to 90 deaths;

investigators corroborate 30

By DAVID WARREN for at least 40 killings since sault, burglary, armed rob-
Associated Press 1980. Authorities at the time bery, shoplifting and drug
DALLAS (AP) — A man were looking for possible violations.
convicted of three Califor- links to deaths in Florida, Those detectives deter-
nia murders and long sus- Georgia, Kentucky, Loui- mined that Little often de-
pected in numerous other siana, Mississippi, Missouri, livered a knockout punch
deaths now claims he was Ohio and Texas. to women and then pro-
involved in about 90 kill- Bland said Little recently ceeded to strangle them
ings nationwide spanning provided details to Texas while masturbating, dump-
nearly four decades, and Ranger James Holland that ing the bodies and soon af-
investigators already have showed Little was in Odes- ter leaving town.
corroborated about a third sa, Texas, when Denise Little, who often went by
of those, a Texas prosecu- Christie Brothers was last the name Samuel McDow-
tor said Thursday. seen in 1994. Her body was ell, grew up with his grand-
Ector County District At- found about a month later mother in Lorain, Ohio. His This undated photo provided by the Ector County Texas Sheriff's
torney Bobby Bland said in a vacant lot. Holland criminal history shows his Office shows Samuel Little.
78-year-old Samuel Little eventually elicited a con- first arrest came at age 16 Associated Press
was booked into jail this fession from Little and ad- on burglary charges. confessed after the ap- "People for years have
week following his indict- missions to dozens of other For years he had denied peals to his life sentence in been trying to get a confes-
ment in the 1994 death of killings from about 1970 to to investigators in different California were ultimately sion out of him and James
a Texas woman. Investiga- 2005, Bland said. states that he was respon- rejected and he no longer Holland is the one who fi-
tions are ongoing, but Little The rangers are an elite sible for any killings. Bland had any reason to hide his nally got him to give that
has provided details in more team of investigators within speculates that he finally role. information," Bland said.q
than 90 deaths dating to the Texas Department of
about 1970, Bland said.Lit- Public Safety. DPS did not
tle was brought to Texas in respond to requests Thurs-
September, and investiga- day to speak with Holland.
tors with law enforcement Little was being held with-
agencies in several states out bond Thursday in the
traveled to speak with him Ector County jail on a
about unsolved homicides. murder charge relating to
"They're able to match up Brothers' death. Jail records
over 30 cases so far," Bland don't indicate whether he
said. "So far we don't have has an attorney. He has a
any false information com- court appearance sched-
ing from him." uled for Nov. 26.
If the number of killings Little was brought to Texas
Little claims to have com- for questioning in the case
mitted proves true, it would from California, where he
make him one of the most was convicted in 2014 in
prolific killers in U.S. history. the deaths years earlier
Ted Bundy confessed to 30 of the three women in Los
homicides from about 1974 Angeles County. DNA evi-
to 1978. John Wayne Gacy dence collected from old
killed at least 33 boys and crime scenes was used to
young men in the 1970s. match samples of his stored
Arguably one of the dead- in a criminal database.
liest globally was an Eng- Los Angeles cold-case de-
lish general practitioner tectives at the time sus-
named Harold Shipman, pected Little was a serial
who an investigative panel killer, a transient and former
determined was respon- boxer who traveled the
sible for the deaths of 250. country preying on drug
He was convicted in 2000 in addicts, troubled women
the deaths of 15. and others. His criminal his-
During his 2014 trial in Los tory includes offenses com-
Angeles, prosecutors said mitted in 24 states spread
Little was likely responsible over 56 years — mostly as-