evidence
«White female, 20—25 years old, murdered in 1972. Likely Massachusetts victim.» Photo: FBI
The first time, in 1976, a young woman told police that Little had tried to strangle her and had brutally beaten and raped her in his car before doing so. Samuel, 36, was arrested, and the complainant’s clothes and jewelry were found in his car.
True, Little spent only three months in prison because his victim appeared to the court to be an unreliable witness, a girl who had engaged in
prostitution and drug use.
Similar cases have been repeated with Little many times. And each time the jury or the court acquitted Little for the same reason: the unreliability of the victims. In 1984, in Florida, he was acquitted of the murder of Patricia Ann Mount, a young mentally retarded woman, even though Little’s hair was found on her body.
In the 1980s Little began committing serial murders of women who were often homeless, prostitutes or drug addicts. He sought out his victims in various U.S. cities, moving from place to place, and killed them by strangulation or blows to the head.
Black female, 26 years old, murdered between 1976 and 1979. Met the victim in the city of St. Louis, Missouri. Apparently the victim’s name was Joe.» Photo: FBI
In 1982 Little was arrested in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and charged with the murder of 22-year-old Melinda Rose LaPree, who disappeared in September of that year. A grand jury refused to indict him on the murder charge, and he remained free.
During the investigation, however, Little was extradited to Florida and stood trial for the murder of Patricia Ann Mount, 26, whose body was found in September 1982. Prosecution witnesses identified Little in court as someone who had spent time with Mount the night before she disappeared. According to the investigation, Little met Mount at a bar where she worked and suggested she go for a walk with him.
They went to the beach, where Little attacked Mount, raped her, and then killed her. According to the official version, Little strangled Mount to death and threw her body into the sea.
Due to distrust of the testimony of witnesses, Little was
acquitted in January 1984
Samuel Little after another detention in 1972 Photo: FBI
CHAPTER 3. MOVING TO CALIFORNIA AND THE NEW MURDERS
Little moved to California, where he settled near San Diego. In October 1984 he was arrested for kidnapping, beating and strangling 22-year-old Lori Barros, who survived. A month later, he was found by police in the back seat of his car with an unconscious woman, also beaten and strangled, in the same spot where Barros had been attempted murdered.
Little served two and a half years in prison for both crimes. After his release in February 1987, he immediately moved to Los Angeles and committed at least ten more murders
Samuel Little murdered 15-year-old Laurie Ann Stallings of San Pablo, California, in 1987. He kidnapped, raped and murdered the girl. This was the beginning of a series of murders that continued until his arrest in 2012.
According to Little’s story, he saw the girl and decided to take her for a walk and then bring her home. However, once they were in the woods, Little forcibly knocked Lori down, raped her, and then strangled her. The girl’s body was found the next day.
But unfortunately, Samuel Little escaped punishment for the murder of Laurie Ann Stallings as a result of insufficient evidence, witnesses, and physical evidence. Even then, Little had a reputation as a drug addict and criminal, and his word was not trusted because he often lied and twisted the facts.
Little was saved by the fact that he lived with a woman who provided him with an alibi for when the crime was committed. As a result,
the case remained unsolved for more than 20 years until Little was caught and pleaded guilty to this and other murders.
Photo: FBI
In this case, as in the other case of Laurie Ann Stallings’ murder of another victim, and in some other cases, witnesses to the crime who saw, for example, Little raping and murdering the girl were afraid to report it because they feared for their lives and the lives of their loved ones.
In another case, a witness, for example, did not report his observations for fear of being arrested for drugs. The general silence and fear unleashed Samuel Little and he begins to kill more and more often.
Another high-profile murder involving Samuel Little occurred in 1985 in Gadsden, Alabama. The victim was 31-year-old Tiffany Harley.
Little confessed to the murder in 2018 and was charged in 2019. According to the investigation, Harley was one of Little’s first victims, whom he killed back in 1985, but the case remained unsolved for years.
Little kidnapped her and raped her before strangling her to death. Witnesses noted that they saw Little and Tiffany together, but refused to testify because they were afraid of him.
Tiffany Harley’s murder, like many of Samuel Little’s other crimes, was described in great detail by witnesses. Some witnesses, including Harley’s neighbors, reported hearing screams outside on the night of her murder. One witness reported seeing a man running from Harley’s house that same day.
However, none of the witnesses could accurately identify Samuel Little as Harley’s killer, and many of them refused to testify for years after the crime was committed. As a result, Little was not punished for this murder and continued his crimes for many years. As in other cases, Little managed to escape punishment for this murder until his arrest in 2012
Portraits of Samuel Little’s victims he painted / Photo: fbi.gov
There are many instances in which witnesses did not testify incriminatingly and thereby helped Samuel Little escape punishment for his crimes.
Here is a prime example of such indifference. Samuel Little killed Rosemund Gehring in 1998 in San Francisco, California. «it was an elderly woman who lived next door to Little. However, a witness who saw Samuel Little on the day of the murder did not report it to police. Little escaped punishment for the murder until his arrest in 2012.
According to the evidence, Goring was the heiress to a fortune and had a rather large sum of money in her bank account. Little learned of this and decided to rob her, but when he tried to do so, she began to scream and he strangled her to shut her up.
A witness, who lived in the same building as Goering, stated that he had heard shouting that night, but had not paid attention to it, because he thought it was an ordinary conflict between neighbors. However, after the murder the witness gave the police a description of the man he had seen that evening in the stairwell
