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Samuel Little - The Killer of Women /// Part 1 /// 585

October 22, 2022 / 51:48

This episode covers the crimes of Samuel Little, the most prolific serial killer in American history, who confessed to 93 murders. The discussion includes the tragic story of Mary Brasley, a victim whose life was marked by struggle and abuse, and the circumstances surrounding her disappearance in 1970. The hosts detail the discovery of her body in the Florida Everglades and the subsequent investigation that led to her identification decades later.

The episode also highlights the violent attacks on Lori Barros and Tanya Jackson in San Diego in 1984, detailing the police response and the eventual arrest of Samuel McDowell, who was later identified as Samuel Little. The hosts discuss the challenges faced by the victims in court, which ultimately affected the prosecution's ability to secure convictions.

As the narrative unfolds, the hosts connect Little's earlier crimes to a series of murders in Los Angeles in the late 1980s, where the bodies of three women were found. The episode emphasizes the lack of justice for many victims, particularly sex workers, and the systemic failures that allowed Little to evade serious consequences for his actions.

Finally, the hosts recount the efforts of detective Mitzi Roberts in 2012 to link Little to cold cases, leading to his eventual arrest and recognition as a serial killer. The episode concludes with a reflection on the impact of Little's crimes and the importance of addressing the issues surrounding victims of violence.

TLDR

Samuel Little's crimes and victims are examined, revealing systemic failures in justice and the tragic stories of those affected.

Episode

51:48
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[Music] thank you [Music] [Music] thank you foreign garage wherever you are whatever you're
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doing thanks for listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always is a man who
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is 100 concentrated no pulp here is the captain it's good to be seen good to see
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you thanks for listening thanks for telling a friend [Music] this week we are excited to be featuring
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business all right everybody gather around grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true crime
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[Music] the most prolific serial killer in American history Samuel little has confessed to 93
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murders [Music] it's disturbing to listen to but investigators want to hear it all and
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more laughing while I was killing them the most prolific serial killer in American history
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[Music] little says he has a photographic memory and has drawn sketches of his victims
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bronze sketches Mary brasley was a woman that intimately knew the real life meaning of the word
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struggle sadly she had first-hand knowledge of what it meant to struggle and she fully understood the continued
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Battle of struggling for Mary life was far from Easy her childhood was difficult
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and her early adult years were far worse she kept finding herself falling into the arms of abusive and uncaring Men
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[Music] falling for and falling in love with men that just beneath the surface or anything but desirable
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they say that life is a journey and not a destination and for Mary it was a journey of
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hardships and strife the road map of that Journey was not an easy one for Mary to navigate
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she was broken by the husband and boyfriend that abused her and through injury ailment and addiction found
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herself unable to care for her children Mary's roads on her life's road map if there ever were such a thing had
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collapsed to a single dark and damp tunnel the light at the end of that tunnel was
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so dim that she was convinced that the fairy man blew out the flame on his Lantern when she wasn't looking
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she had many physical complications and challenges a physically abusive boyfriend injured
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her so badly that she had to have hip surgery which left her with metal Parts in her body in a limp
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there was also a self-inflicted injury from a kitchen accident when Mary nearly cut off her finger
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while chopping vegetables and then refused to have it treated she let the severed portion dangle until
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it eventually fell off leaving her with a stump at the end of the digit by 1970 Mary brasley was 33 years old and she
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was struggling not struggling to make it she was struggling to exist [Music] some of her troubles were roadblocks set
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up by others and some were obstacles that she created herself [Music] by now she was a severe alcoholic
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she suffered from cirrhosis of the liver it was nearly anorexic standing five foot four inches tall and weighing a
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very unhealthy 80 pounds she was pretty much estranged from her family sometime in June of 1970
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Mary walked away from her life in Massachusetts without so much as a single goodbye to anyone
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her kids were already in foster care and she didn't care for any of the men in her life
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the last reported sighting of Mary is from a story that came from a family member
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one of the very few who had not turned their back on Mary this was Mary's sister Claire
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Claire says that on June 12 1970 she was told that the night before police picked
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Mary up walking along a highway told police she was walking the highway because two men had pushed her out of
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their car in Palmer Massachusetts and she hurt her shoulder it's unclear where Mary slept that night
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but her family was told that she was planning to take a bus back to Boston where she was staying with her parents
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Mary never showed up in Boston she never returned to her parents home Claire later told the media that Mary
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would often rely on and get around by taking rides with strangers and Mary could often be found in the company of
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anyone that would provide her with alcohol Mary's family never heard from her again
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roughly seven months later on January 24 1971. a father and son were out on a Hunting
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Expedition what they will find certainly is not what they went out looking for one of the two spotted a leg sticking
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out of the ground they reported this immediately to the authorities and as you guessed it the leg was
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attached to the rest of the body buried in a shallow six-inch deep makeshift grave
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but the Father and Son were not hunting in Massachusetts no they were in the Florida Everglades
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one thousand miles away from where Mary was last seen the body was badly decomposed and
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detectives could locate no form of identification from the body recovery site this was a homicide
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the victim was a female with highly probable sexual assault suspected based on the fact that the body was
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found with both legs through one leg hole of the victim's panties detectives believed that Mary's killer
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dressed her after the assault and murder before burying her body since investigators could not identify
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the victim the county gave the victim a new name one that no one wants in 1971 Mary became another Jane Doe
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Mary simply disappeared and decades passed with not one indication of her faith life moved on
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children grew up and the body remained at Jane Doe for 47 years but thankfully one day this Jane Doe
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would get her birth name back and sadly her family would learn what they may have feared all along
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Mary didn't just disappear she was taken taken far away and killed Mary brosly was located after all of
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these years and her killer was too Mary might have been this killer of women's first kill
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but she was far from his last this is true crime garage oh foreign [Music] San Diego California Thursday September
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27 1984. San Diego PD received a complaint of a violent crime Lori Barros called
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9-1-1 from her sister's house she told police that a man whom she did not know beat her up raped her and strangled her
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and then left her for dead on the side of the road she was able to provide police with a detailed description of
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the events that took place as well as the assailant and the vehicle he was driving at the time
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according to the report Laurie told police that the man abducted her she was walking and this man pulled up in a
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large American car he got out ran up to her and he pulled her by the throw into his car
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once inside the vehicle the man threatened her repeatedly all the while driving to a more secluded location once
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he arrived at a spot that he found to be satisfactory for whatever it is that he
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planned to do he put the vehicle in park and then proceeded to brutalize the woman choking and punching her the LA
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Times described portions of the attacks as follows quote with his arm still wrapped around her neck he drove to a
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deserted trash strewn lot at the top of a steep hill he pulled her into the back
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seat and tied her hands behind her back with her nylons he tried to kiss her and
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when she tried to shove him off he began choking her he asked her to swallow he did this over and over again Captain
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Lori finally played dead and the man opened the car door and dumped her out onto a pile of garbage
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she believes that the man intended to kill her and that he actually thought that he had succeeded when he discarded
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her she was not dead however but she lay right where he dumped her She lays still
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taking extremely short breaths even though she wanted to gasp for air and fill her lungs with the oxygen that he
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had just denied her she laid there not moving a muscle she was afraid he was watching
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as the minutes passed she started to convince herself that he had gone but she laid there
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still because now the fear was that he would return and find her alive and if so he would most certainly finish the
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job Lori believes that she laid there for over 30 minutes or so before she finally
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got up stumbled to the nearest pay phone there she called her sister who immediately rushed out to get her
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once she finally felt safe when she was back at her sister's house she called the police and reported that she was
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attacked and luckily she was able to provide police with a detailed description of the vehicle and her
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attacker that's correct a good amount of detail in fact in regard to the events the attack
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that took place the attacker and his vehicle or the vehicle he was driving at the time
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the man that she described to police she described him as African-American approximately 40 years of age about six
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foot one inches tall 230 to 240 pounds with a dark complexion dirty unshaven and he had a gold pinky ring with two
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diamonds in it now she said that the attacker was driving a two-door large American-made car with a maroon colored
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interior the passenger side window of this vehicle was broken and there was white tape on the window
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so this making this vehicle very distinct and possibly easy for police to spot he had foam dice hanging from the rear
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view mirror she said the vehicle did not run well so that's a pretty good description of
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everything right Captain well the key thing there is the broken window with the white tape well that description
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from Lori will in fact lead us to this later event the following month on Wednesday October
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24th San Diego Patrol officers happened upon a black Thunderbird parked on a street this was in an area of the city
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known for stolen vehicles sex workers and drugs the Thunderbird fit the description of
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the car reported by the victim of the September attack the one that we just covered so of course they stopped to
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check it out the police now as the officers were shining their lights on the T-bird a black man emerged from the
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car zipping up his trousers flicky flicky hands are sticky according to the officer's statements the man quote
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appeared to be very nervous one officer said of the man he kept looking at us kept looking at the car then looking at
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us and then looking at the car they approached him and asked him what he was doing
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the story he gave was that he had had a fight with his wife but they had now made up and they were making love in the
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back of that car but the cops could see bloody scratch marks on the man's neck right they took
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a look inside the vehicle and saw his I'm using air quotes here Captain wife she was stuffed on her back behind the
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driver's seat leg splayed on the back seat naked her eyes rolled back in her head bleeding and bruised the officer
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thought the woman was dead at first but then she started gasping for air so the officer could see fresh choke marks on
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the woman's throat and remember he saw the scratch marks on the man you don't have to be on the job
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too long to have a good idea what you think took place so obviously this guy's lying and obviously he's trying to choke
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this lady to death and good thing they were there to stop it and arrest him yeah there's a few things that work out
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here in our favor right first we have the great detailed description given by the first victim we have the good police
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work by these two officers by spotting this car in a area that it sounds to me like if you're looking to bust somebody
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or issue a ticket you can just drive to this area any time of day and find somebody to put the back of your car
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somebody that's up to no good but they check on this vehicle and like you said they they see that there's
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something strange going on here this woman appears to have been assaulted very badly this man's story doesn't make
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sense of course they arrest him and they are told by the man that his name is Samuel McDowell
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so Sam's story well his original story will start to fall apart very quickly and he started to admit some truths to
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the officers although of course he was not going to be entirely truthful Sam said that he was angry because he
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had not gotten his money's worth from his victim So This Woman's name is Tanya Jackson and she is a sex worker at this
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time Sam said that he met Tanya at a bar in downtown San Diego where the two of them
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agreed that she would perform a sex act for him for twenty dollars he said she directed him to the location
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where the officers would later discover the two and his vehicle he says they got
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into the back seat of his car and Tanya started fooling around with him Sam says
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that he wanted more but then she started to refuse this upset Sam so Sam says that he threatened her and told Tanya
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that she wasn't going anywhere until he got what he wanted Sam says Tanya attacked him
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and he grabbed her around the throat in self-defense and he's telling the officers this is why the officers are
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driving him back to the station after they arrested him they're still asking him what happened back there it's
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hard to believe him on anything when he said when he said the victim was his wife and not a sex worker well and then
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you have the situation of he's saying now yeah I grabbed her by the throat yeah I was choking her but this was in
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self-defense and he's I mean he's not making any buts about it he's telling the officers I did this and you know
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what she deserved it so while the officers are driving him back to jail Sam asked them several times quote how's
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the [ __ ] is she going to make it with a douchebag then they accused him of raping Tanya
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Sam continued to deny raping her but admitted that quote I did kick the [ __ ] out of her he also told police I should
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have killed that [ __ ] in both of these cases the September case and the October
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case rape exams and kits were conducted this included collecting Sam McDowell's DNA
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so Sam was quickly connected to the attack on Lori Barros the previous month because their findings are going to
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match up in both of these cases and this is back in the day when police officers
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have billy clubs it'd be nice if they would have just pulled over on the side of the road and he never made it back to
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the station for the attacks on Lori and Tanya Sam McDowell was charged with several charges including attempted
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murder in both cases the state's best evidence in these cases were the two victims themselves of course right their
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statements to the police and then later what would be their testimony in front of a jury
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but Sam ended up only being convicted on lesser crimes this is due to some complications with
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the trial the two victims were both sex workers that complicated things and we'll get into that here in a minute
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and little argued that his only crime was hitting one of them in a payment dispute after she tried to
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cheat him now this Sam McDowell in court also produced an alibi witness this was a
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respectable looking woman carrying a Bible who said that the two of them were out of town on the night of one of the
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attacks so the one where he's caught red-handed he can't do much about other than to to claim that he was acting in
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self-defense but the one where he wasn't caught he's able to produce an alibi for
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right so what we have here Captain is the situation yes those rape kits and exams were conducted in both of these
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cases they also connect they also collected this Sam McDowell's DNA but keep in mind
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this is 1984. they're not able to go oh well this is the same guy in both of these cases
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so he can come up with a defense for the first one saying that one wasn't me even
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though you picked me up a month later for about the same thing and now this Lori Boris is picking me out of a lineup
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I'm telling you I'm not this guy and on top of that I have a witness who comes in she's carrying a Bible saying you
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know what the two of us we are together we're in a relationship and we were both
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out of town on the night of the September attack so he's got a somewhat decent defense
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here for what should be an easy conviction of two accounts of attempted rape well and also you can make an
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argument that the second attack that he's caught red-handed that that's an attempted murder charge yeah but in both
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cases he was charged with attempted murder now per the Washington Post uh it says that this Sam McDowell was
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convicted of falsely imprisoning the second victim but acquitted of kidnapping and sexually assaulting the
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woman in the first attack and the jurors were deadlocked on a host of other charges
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so this trial all of a sudden it looked like a slam dunk wasn't going so well for the prosecution
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so prosecutors were not very anxious to retry Sam so they allowed him to plead guilty to
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two counts of assault with great bodily injury and one count of false imprisonment now I want to read to you a
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portion of Lori bars's testimony this will kind of describe our attacker here and his method and what he was like in
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that attacking situation her testimony says quote he liked to feel me swallow with his thumb on my
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neck it became a game right before I'd go unconscious as my eyes started rolling
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back he'd let go and asked me to swallow again he loved when I swallowed it excited him
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and he had a smile on his face so she's talking about while this man is choking her strangling her to death
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that when she would start to black out he's letting go so she can breathe and come too so he can do it again to her
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and going so far that she says that he had his thumb right on the portion of my neck where he could feel me swallow and
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wanted to feel me kind of swallow and gag and try to gasp for air this guy is an absolute creep it's sad but the
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reality is especially in these types of crimes that the surviving victim is your
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best evidence this is often your best tool if you will for apprehending your unknown perpetrator in these crimes and
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the victim's stories and Reporting these crimes they did get this monster off of
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the streets but not terribly long so unfortunately the way that this plays out in court again we said that it
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should have been a slam dunk and it should have been but I I'm not trying to blame this on
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any one or two people here but the victims themselves just kind of fell apart in the courtroom
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so the October victim who had an addiction problem was drunk and clearly drunk in front of the jury when she was
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at trial and when she was giving her testimony this could be from her addiction this could be from the terror
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that this man brutalized her and now she's got to sit in front of him just feet from this guy
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the woman from the September attack the problem ended up being with her situation is she started to lose
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credibility with the jury when she first starts off her complaint to the police and then her testimony to the court
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was that she was just walking along the street this guy pulls up jumps out of his car grabs or throws her into his
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vehicle and he's abducted her and off they go to a secluded location where he tries to kill her
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well very quickly it's figured out that she wasn't just walking on the side of the street she's
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a sex worker and she has an addiction problem this caused her to lose credibility with
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the jury and now the first attack he's not looking so guilty in and the second attack they're a little confused as to
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what's going on because he's saying look I yeah I did fight with this woman I did
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assault her but I didn't try to kill her what we end up with here is Sam McDowell most certainly attacked
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both of these women he most certainly tried to kill both of them but unfortunately because it fell apart
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at court for this he only serves two years in a California prison and then he's released on parole
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and once he's released on parole within months of Sam McDowell's release women in South Los Angeles started dying
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oh foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] we are back cheers mates cheers to you Colonel cheers to you Captain tall cans
00:26:31
in the air everybody out there listening thanks for joining us this week now we're going to move on here to a couple
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of other cases and this takes place in 1987 and then 1989 in and around the Los Angeles area so we're going to go back
00:26:46
starting in July of 1987 where we have the first of three bodies that were found that all
00:26:54
displayed similar characteristics they were all found within a few miles of each other the three bodies were dumped
00:27:01
like trash now I know that that is a rather overused statement in True Crime but in this case these three bodies were
00:27:10
actually dumped along actual refuse the first victim was 41 year old Carol Alford her body was found on July 13
00:27:19
1987. the other two homicide victims that were found were Audrey Nelson age 35 and Guadalupe abadaka age 46.
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they were found in August and September of 1989 respectively this killer though unknown at the time
00:27:39
to police his identity let's think about what we know here in the garage as we review those attacks that took place in
00:27:47
San Diego he gets locked up and then he's out he's released and we have these three murders that take place and you go
00:27:57
you know what this guy is he's escalating he's increasing his frequency of attacks but not necessarily this guy
00:28:05
already has escalated to this level of frequency because in 1984 those two attacks took place one month apart
00:28:16
just like here where we have two victims that take place just one month apart this guy whatever he's into he requires
00:28:24
this type of stimulation so much that he's to the point where he's going out and attacking women killing them or in
00:28:33
the 84 cases believing he had killed them within a month of one another obviously
00:28:39
his crimes are sexually motivated yes now for a little more of the Grim details of each of the body recovery
00:28:47
scenes all of these victims were found in the same Central Avenue Alameda street
00:28:53
Corridor near downtown Los Angeles So within five miles of each other Carol was in a back alley against a
00:29:02
fence Audrey was found in a dumpster which was located in a nightclub parking lot
00:29:08
Guadalupe was found in an abandoned creepy old commercial garage structure all three had been manually strangled
00:29:17
and it was determined that all three were dead when they were dumped all had been brutally beaten with blows or
00:29:24
punches to the head all were nude below the waist all had crack in their systems
00:29:31
one victim had mailed DNA under her fingernails two victims had semen stains on their shirts
00:29:39
but in the 80s before CODIS this was a very little help to the murder investigations
00:29:45
and so the three dead women remained victims of a nameless faceless Predator their deaths not linked together until
00:29:53
much much later these attacks seemed similar to me of that of like Ted Bundy but again we're gonna have another
00:30:02
Survivor from these attacks and this is believed to be an attack connected to these others because it's so similar in
00:30:11
nature or similar in belief as to what we think happened to the other three victims it did not survive so another La
00:30:19
woman who narrowly escaped the same fate comes forward and reports the assault and per the Los Angeles Times
00:30:29
we learn some details of that attack and the times reported that the woman reported to the city's police that a man
00:30:38
had pulled her into his black Thunderbird here we see that similar vehicle again
00:30:43
sexually assaulted her then repeatedly choked her unconscious she awoke to find herself lying Left for
00:30:51
Dead amid trash and broken glass with bruising on her neck and popped blood vessels in her eyes but she couldn't
00:30:59
name her attacker when she reported this to police and so just like the three dead victims this case too would go
00:31:07
nowhere this investigation really had nowhere to go so now we're going to skip ahead to over two decades later
00:31:15
this is going to bring us 2012. now in 2012 homicide detective Mitzi Roberts was assigned to the lapd's
00:31:27
Cold Case special section which was funded by a grant from the National Institute of Justice to try to solve the
00:31:34
9000 La murders that remained open after five years her job was screening DNA evidence from cases long since
00:31:45
considered lost causes many of these cases were murders of women that dated back to the 80s the height of the
00:31:52
cocaine epidemic in the city good thing she gets involved because she's going to
00:31:56
come across a CODIS search for two of these crimes that happened in 1989. yeah so she's worked in this case in April of
00:32:05
2012. and Mitzi runs across a CODIS search on the DNA that was found on the two women murdered in Los Angeles in
00:32:13
1989. this is the Audrey case and Guadalupe's case now keep in mind mitzi's working with resources that the
00:32:21
investigators just did not have in 1989. Mitzi arranged for the DNA testing on swabs and items found from those two
00:32:31
victims bodies now in both cases she got a hit to a man who had been arrested and
00:32:38
required to give a DNA sample in connection with a previous arrest and this man's name was Samuel little yes
00:32:45
and the officer Captain she was horrified at what she found when she started reviewing his
00:32:51
record so this man had a rap sheet 100 pages long detailing approximately 100 arrests
00:32:59
this from an article in New York Magazine by Jillian Lauren quote over six decades
00:33:06
he was repeatedly arrested in Ohio Maryland Florida Maine Connecticut Oregon Colorado Pennsylvania New Jersey
00:33:14
Arizona Georgia Illinois Missouri California and the list goes on charges include burglary breaking and entering
00:33:23
assault and battery assault with the intent to Rob assault with a firearm armed robbery assault on a police
00:33:30
officer solicitation of prostitution DUI shoplifting Theft Grand Theft possession of marijuana unlawful flight
00:33:39
to avoid prosecution resisting arrest battery false imprisonment assault with great bodily injury robbery rape and
00:33:49
sodomy end quote and he left out being a huge douchebag yeah that's quite the rap sheet there
00:33:56
Captain yeah scary individual scary individual not only that we didn't even name all of the states
00:34:04
that would have been listed there and so this guy is up to no good frequently up
00:34:09
to no good he's got all kinds of nasty horrible hobbies and he's fine doing them in your neighborhood my
00:34:15
neighborhood and everybody else's all in all this Samuel little had served less than 10 years in prison in total
00:34:23
despite repeated brutal and sexually motivated attacks on and attempted murders of multiple female victims
00:34:31
so of course Mitzi Roberts reviews this information and she freaks out right why
00:34:37
on God's name was this guy on the streets so she decided she was going to be the
00:34:44
one to put an end to this dude to stop him and put him away for good when others could not now the Samuel little
00:34:52
had an outstanding Los Angeles bench warrant for a 2007 narcotics violation so that's good news for us in our
00:35:01
investigation right we got this really bad guy here he's got this lesser charge but it's an outstanding warrant that's a
00:35:08
good excuse for us to go pick this guy up and have a long talk with him not only are you going to be able to talk to
00:35:13
this creep but you're probably going to be able to put him away for at least a short amount of time you're hoping so
00:35:19
now Roberts officer Roberts decided to in fact use that warrant to bring him in but the problem's going to be that she
00:35:29
couldn't locate him from her information he didn't appear to be in California any longer and she
00:35:35
discovered that this Samuel little who was transient moving from place to place well there's some of you out there
00:35:43
scratching your heads going wait didn't you say Samuel McDowell earlier now you're saying Samuel a little well
00:35:49
that's because this guy he's got a list of aliases almost as long as the list of crimes that he's
00:35:55
been connected to and convicted of so he uses aliases like Samuel McDaniel Samuel McDowell Willie Mae Clifton and
00:36:05
Willie Lewis and the list goes on he was nearly impossible to locate and officer Roberts and her team spent weeks
00:36:15
dashing from town to town across the southern U.S as they got hits on a usage of a prepaid Walmart card to which
00:36:23
little Social Security Disability Benefits were being paid so this is one of those situations where
00:36:30
boom they get these hits on these this Walmart credit card that's directly tied to the individual that they're looking
00:36:37
for and we're only dashing from town to town or state to state looking for this guy
00:36:43
or through the snow because we're convinced that he's guilty of all kinds of other stuff in fact we've already
00:36:49
connected him to two homicides you're always a day late and a dollar short because you're you're always
00:36:55
chasing this guy and you're getting your information days after he's probably already left that town
00:37:02
so they're running about looking for this individual they were always about two days behind
00:37:09
him she said Samuel little had been arrested in Kentucky for possession of a crack pipe so they knew that he had been
00:37:17
in the Bluegrass State recently finally in early September of 2012 he used that Walmart card as some Mini Mart in
00:37:27
Louisville Kentucky and the Sheriff's Office was notified and in turn notified the LA authorities Roberts contacted the
00:37:36
U.S Marshals and gave them the address of the homeless shelter that this man was registered at this was the Wayside
00:37:43
Christian Mission they had him in custody within hours this is after 60 years of committing
00:37:50
crimes well once they arrest him they're able to get a DNA swab from him so they
00:37:56
could do a DNA test against the evidence they have in these other crimes yes this
00:38:01
DNA swab the DNA test it absolutely links this man Samuel little to the unknown male profile that
00:38:10
was found on two of our victims this is from 1989 the victims Audrey and Guadalupe so Samuel little was
00:38:18
extradited to California on the outstanding warrant for the narcotics charge and he was sentenced in November of 2012
00:38:26
to three years for that crime but soon he would be termed a serial killer for the murders of Audrey and Guadalupe and
00:38:36
Carol who was the 1987 victim that was found in the same location as Audrey in Guadalupe and yes and quickly they'll be
00:38:46
able to charge him with three murder charges to Samuel little this again from Jillian
00:38:52
Lauren who we will be citing quite a bit in these episodes as she's done gangbusters work on these cases and
00:38:59
spent a lot of time working on these cases she says quote Little's genetic material had been detected on the bra
00:39:08
and fingernail kit of 41 year old Carol Alford who had been found strangled in a
00:39:14
residential South Central Alleyway in July of 1987. it was the Tipping Point in January of
00:39:22
2013 assistant district attorney Beth Silverman filed three charges of murder against Samuel little end quote now at
00:39:32
that time California investigators had no idea that the three murders they were charging Samuel little with were only
00:39:41
and this is a horrible horrible statistic 3.22 percent of his actual murder count
00:39:49
but once they started digging into him they noted a very disturbing pattern just in his known crimes well when you
00:39:58
see crimes like this that are so vicious and you see multiple Crimes by the same
00:40:04
disgusting individual it has to come to mind what other crimes is he involved in
00:40:10
that's correct in the situation that you have here Captain is you look at this and you go okay well
00:40:16
we have DNA evidence connecting him to these three murders that took place one in 87 two in 1989 but prior to that
00:40:25
this dude had been locked up for a couple years on those two attempted murder charges
00:40:31
and once you've secured the arrest on him and he's facing three murder charges in January of 2013.
00:40:40
this is no young man he's no spring chicken at this point this is an older dude with a 100 page rap sheet
00:40:51
two attempted murder charges that he somehow dodged he got off light three pending murder charges and you're
00:41:01
going what else could this guy have been doing two turtle doves he's been out running the streets and running and
00:41:07
hopping from state to state all of his life what else has he what else has he done
00:41:14
who else has he killed yeah because you have to look at a bunch of different crimes that you know he's capable of
00:41:20
attempting murders rape murders this is going to take us to the great states of Florida and
00:41:28
Mississippi so Mitzi Roberts to her horror to everyone's horror actually the records
00:41:36
she says reflected that Samuel Little's name had come up in connection with two murders and two attempted murders of
00:41:43
women in the Gainesville Florida and Mississippi areas in the early 80s it's amazing how much
00:41:51
area that Sam little has covered but again we've we've seen this with other Killers like Ted Bundy well on these
00:42:00
cases Captain this Samuel little was never brought to trial on three Mississippi cases
00:42:06
which were as follows one is from the summer of 1980 this is a sex worker named Hilda who met little at
00:42:14
a club the two agreed on a 50 service fee and went back to her apartment as soon as the door closed he punched
00:42:23
her in the head knocking her out she awoke on her bed naked with Little's hands around her throat she passed out
00:42:32
again he then attempted to drown her in the bathtub using a scarf wrapped around her
00:42:39
neck for leverage she passed out and woke up only to have him choke her out again this goes on
00:42:47
several times luckily Hilda had a pact with another worker Dolores that if either them left with a John and weren't
00:42:58
back in 20 minutes then the other one would come looking for their friend right Dolores knocked on the door of her
00:43:08
apartment of her friend's apartment and then yelled through the window and little let Hilda go and he took off
00:43:17
Hilda woke up in the hospital somehow she survived this brutal attack she didn't bother to report the incident
00:43:25
though even though she spent three days under the care of medical Physicians and
00:43:31
staff in 1981 Samuel little hired a 20 year old sex worker named Leela McLean who had three kids
00:43:42
when she got in his car Sam little cold copter while he was still clutching the steering wheel with
00:43:50
his left hand he then punched her between the eyes he beat her so badly blood ran from her
00:43:57
eyes like tears each time she tried to escape he grabbed her and threw her back in the car
00:44:04
I mean just if you just close your eyes and try to picture this how it's playing
00:44:09
out what this woman is saying was done to her it's horrifying it's absolutely horrifying this guy is like something
00:44:15
out of a horror movie each time she tries to escape he gets out of the car he's throwing her back in
00:44:21
the car finally she's able to get out and she ran half naked across a highway so
00:44:31
she could get help so some Good Samaritans pick her up and take her to the hospital
00:44:36
saving her life then police did not talk to her about the incident at the time basically no one in a position of
00:44:46
authority at this time seemed to care about what happened to Hilda or Leela it's sad
00:44:53
we've seen so many cases where the victims are sex workers and doesn't seem like law enforcement works the case as
00:45:00
hard as they should I I do want to defend law enforcement a little bit here in these situations because it's unclear
00:45:06
if with the first attack it's clearly stated that this was never reported right to authorities and
00:45:15
unfortunately when you have the situation we've talked about this before uh we've talked about this when we first
00:45:21
started up the garage that you if you were to decriminalize prostitution or sex work or whatever you want to call
00:45:28
those titles or or escorts or what have you a lot of the time the victims will not report the crime because they
00:45:40
are committing crimes themselves and so you get into this really dicey area of we want these things to be
00:45:49
reported because the men that are up to this kind of behavior are the absolute worst these are monsters these are
00:45:56
individuals the guy we are describing to you right now will stop at nothing to choke a loud breath and choke again
00:46:05
until the person blacks out who knows how many times before he is done and actually kills the individual and then
00:46:12
dumps them on the side of the road so luckily in these two situations he was not successful and I think that you
00:46:21
know you have to question two this is 1981. things are different we do learn from our mistakes right and I do know
00:46:29
that in most locations if a woman shows up beaten and battered like this near death to the hospital
00:46:38
in a lot of locations I don't know if it's every state but I believe that the doctor has an obligation to report this
00:46:45
to police whether the where whether the person in his care or her care wants to report this or not this is a matter that
00:46:53
needs to be investigated well in this episode we've already talked about so many
00:46:58
crimes but we have to finish off because we haven't got to the third attack in the Mississippi cases yes and
00:47:07
unfortunately this case here the victim does not survive the attack and this took place in September of 1982
00:47:16
we have a 24 year old victim her name is Melinda lapree she was a young mother she unfortunately
00:47:24
was working as a sex worker at this time similar situation to what we've seen at
00:47:30
other attacks yeah a man drives up to the King William Motel this is where lupri was living at the time and also
00:47:38
working and Melinda gets into this man's car well she's never seen alive again in fact her nude body was found on
00:47:49
October 4th dumped in a cemetery ditch her death was ruled a homicide the there was another sex worker that
00:47:58
was at the motel as well that was able to tell police that Melinda got into a pinto Woody with
00:48:07
Alabama tags so now we're getting some good information right the last time that
00:48:12
she's seen this is the kind of vehicle that Melinda was getting into and by the way it has out-of-state plates on it
00:48:20
that car attracted attention of police when it broke down in the area on November 24th
00:48:27
and three occupants were suspected of shoplifting turkeys from a local grocer the cops put together that the pinto was
00:48:37
in fact the same one seen at the King William motel and there they arrested a Samuel McDowell on suspicion of murder
00:48:46
and like we know Samuel McDowell is Samuel little but he's going to get some breaks again in these cases where his
00:48:54
victims aren't so lucky he is having some luck with the criminal justice system unfortunately it always seems to
00:49:02
play out that way right if anybody's going to get lucky in one of these situations it's almost always the
00:49:07
murderer the murder victim is never lucky because of course they lost their life yeah soj about it the investigators
00:49:15
in Mississippi started to put together a case against Samuel little slash Samuel
00:49:20
McDowell bringing Hilda and Leela to in to testify these were the two surviving victims
00:49:29
we have a grand jury that's put together but unfortunately for whatever reason and you'd have to ask these people I
00:49:37
don't know but this grand jury that they put together didn't seem to take any stock in what the two female sex
00:49:46
workers had to say after all I guess you know they agreed to go with Samuel little we know that
00:49:53
unfortunately there was no physical evidence linking Samuel little to the murder case Melinda
00:50:02
lupree the only witness who saw them together was another sex worker so this goes to
00:50:09
the grand jury but it does not get an indictment and because of this since they're not
00:50:16
going to charge him with murder or attempted murder or assault or anything Samuel little Samuel McDowell was free
00:50:23
to go and this pattern happened over and over again except that it almost never got as
00:50:30
far as a grand jury I guess prosecutors knowing that their only Witnesses were sex workers or
00:50:36
addicts what seems to happen here Captain is that they cut deals or reduced Sam Little's charges and he walked after
00:50:44
doing little to no time at all [Music] so much more to get to thanks for joining us here in the garage
00:51:05
thanks for telling a friend until tomorrow be good be kind and don't litter [Music]
00:51:40
thank you

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 90
    Most heartbreaking
  • 80
    Most shocking
  • 80
    Most controversial
  • 80
    Biggest cultural impact

Episode Highlights

  • The Struggles of Mary Brasley
    Mary's life was a journey of hardships and strife, battling against abuse and addiction.
    “For Mary, life was far from easy.”
    @ 03m 41s
    October 22, 2022
  • Lori Barros's Harrowing Escape
    After being attacked, Lori played dead to survive and later provided a detailed description of her attacker.
    “I did kick the [ __ ] out of her.”
    @ 18m 40s
    October 22, 2022
  • The Courtroom Struggles
    Victims' credibility falters in court, impacting the case against their attacker.
    “The victims themselves just kind of fell apart in the courtroom.”
    @ 23m 54s
    October 22, 2022
  • Samuel Little's Arrest
    Detective Mitzi Roberts connects DNA evidence to Samuel Little, a notorious criminal.
    “Why on God's name was this guy on the streets?”
    @ 34m 37s
    October 22, 2022
  • The Horrific Attacks
    Samuel Little's brutal assaults on women in the 1980s highlight systemic failures.
    “This guy is like something out of a horror movie.”
    @ 44m 15s
    October 22, 2022
  • Melinda Lupree's Tragic Story
    Melinda Lupree, a young mother and sex worker, was found dead in October 1982.
    @ 47m 43s
    October 22, 2022
  • Samuel Little's Arrest
    Samuel Little was arrested on suspicion of murder after a car linked to him was found.
    @ 48m 43s
    October 22, 2022
  • Failed Justice System
    Despite evidence, the grand jury did not indict Samuel Little, allowing him to walk free.
    @ 50m 12s
    October 22, 2022

Episode Quotes

  • For Mary, life was far from easy.
    Samuel Little - The Killer of Women /// Part 1 /// 585
  • She was struggling to exist.
    Samuel Little - The Killer of Women /// Part 1 /// 585
  • He liked to feel me swallow with his thumb on my neck.
    Samuel Little - The Killer of Women /// Part 1 /// 585
  • He was repeatedly arrested in multiple states for a long list of crimes.
    Samuel Little - The Killer of Women /// Part 1 /// 585
  • This guy is like something out of a horror movie.
    Samuel Little - The Killer of Women /// Part 1 /// 585
  • The murder victim is never lucky because of course they lost their life.
    Samuel Little - The Killer of Women /// Part 1 /// 585

Key Moments

  • Beer Feature01:04
  • Mary's Struggles03:41
  • Lori's Attack09:54
  • Survival11:22
  • Horrific Assaults44:15
  • Motel Encounter47:39
  • Arrest Made48:43
  • Justice Denied50:24

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown