Serial killer says he killed 90 women. It is possible because they were all sex workers and women of color
Samuel Little, a boxer who traveled the nation abusing and killing women, is now saying he killed at least 90 women from 1970 to 2005. Little’s victims were always women sex workers and drug addicts. In his own words, he targeted “women that wouldn’t be missed.”Although Little was arrested for murder twice in 1980, he walked away both times. Little was also linked to the murder of three women in Los Angelos in 2014. LA police grew convinced he had killed more women, but as time passed, many witnesses left or died.
However, earlier this year Little admitted to a Texas Ranger who had gained Little’s trust to killing about 90 women throughout the country. Investigators state he specifically targeted and murdered sex workers and drug addicts as to not draw attention to their disappearance. Little’s details have been supported by police in over 19 states, linking Little to the murder of at least 30 women so far.
According to the LA Times, Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Beth Silverman, who spearheaded Little’s 2014 conviction said, “I think he made a mockery of the justice system up and down the United States.”
Both Silverman and LAPD Det. Mitzi Roberts, who led the 2012 case against Little, believe that Little’s continuous murder of women—particularly vulnerable women—gave him sexual gratification. As such, he abhorred both deputies for having the power to imprison him.
In California, tracing Little’s claims to the 1980 murders proves to be more difficult as Little’s crimes overlap with other serial killers during this time. This particular time also saw a dramatic increase in the drug industry which ended the lives of many women.
“During the time period that he was convicted of murdering three women here in L.A., we were in the middle of a crack cocaine epidemic,” Silverman said. “During that time period, there were more than 100 women of color who wound up dead in alleyways in South L.A.”
Little is not the first serial murder to target vulnerable groups of women. Earlier this year, a 10-year border patrol veteran killed 4 women who he believed were sex workers. According to a 2006 study, a third of all sex worker deaths is due to serial murders. Law enforcement also poses serious threats to sex workers as all 50 states allow police to engage in sexual misconduct with their suspects.