LOS ANGELES—A 72-year-old suspected serial killer was arrested on Monday, January 7, for the cold case murders of three women in the 1980s.

Samuel Little Mugshot Courtesy of LAPD Official Website

The Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office has charged Samuel Little, who also went by the name of Samuel McDowell, for three formerly unsolved murders after being brought from Kentucky to California by the U.S. Marshals Service in September for unrelated criminal activity. Little’s DNA has been linked to three bodies that were found in the Central Avenue-Alameda street corridor south of downtown LA. The bodies belonged to victims Carol Alford, 41, who was found dead on July 13, 1989, Audry Nelson, 35, whose body was discovered August 14, 1989, and Guadalupe Apodaga, 46, who was found dead September 2, 1989. According to LAPD detectives, the killings were done with sexual motive.

Little has racked up a heavy criminal record, with multiple counts of drunk driving, shoplifting, and burglary. Police believe he is accountable for a number of unsolved cases, including two murders and two attempted murders in Florida and Mississippi that he never got charged with. Little was acquitted from the case of the strangulation of a 26-year-old Florida woman named Patricia Ann Mount whose body was found September 12, 1982. As for the three Mississippi cases, Little was never brought to trial.

Police believe he is responsible for a number of other unsolved violent crimes. According to detectives, he targeted drug users, prostitutes, and those with other similar “destructive” lifestyles. The LAPD have asked other law enforcement agencies to contact the LAPD Cold Case Detectives if similar crimes have occurred between 1960 and present.

Whether or not Little will face the death penalty is currently unknown.

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