Suspected Serial Killer Leads To Opening San Diego Cold Cases

By Rebecca O'Connor
on Friday, January 11th, 2013 at 11:58 am

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SAN DIEGO – After charging Samuel Little for three 1980s homicides in Los Angeles, police are now looking for possible victims in San Diego.

Samuel Little, aka Samuel McDowell

Samuel McDowell, aka Samuel Little, a 72 year-old Kentucky resident was extradited to Los Angeles on drug charges. Following his extradition, police were able to link him to three Los Angeles murders through DNA evidence. Carol Alford, 41, found murdered in 1987; Audrey Nelson, 35, discovered deceased in 1989; and Guadalupe Apodaca, 46, whose body was also found in 1989 all appeared to have been strangled in sexually motivated killings.

Little was acquitted of a Florida strangulation murder in 1982 and accused of another strangulation death in Mississippi that same year. Though never brought to trial, authorities are reopening the Mississippi case. Little moved to San Diego in 1983.

The LAPD Detectives who investigated these cases have followed Little’s trail across the country and are convinced that further investigation will uncover more murders. Mitzi Roberts and Rick Jackson, the detectives who are investigating these crimes, will be focusing on his pattern of sexually motivated strangulations. He already has a history during his time in San Diego.

Little's mugshot from his 1984 arrest

According to authorities, Little attacked a woman in her 20s in September 1984 when she was walking in the downtown area at night. Court documents report that she was grabbed, put in a chokehold and pushed into a car. At a vacant lot near state Route 94, Little proceeded to strangle her to the point of passing out, only to release pressure so she could breathe and then begin again. He then sexually assaulted her, afterwards pushing her out of the car.

Near the same location, a month later, an officer discovered Little, who was zipping up his pants, next to an unconscious prostitute. Police believed that he had tried to strangle her. Convicted of assault and other charges, he served 2 years of a four-year sentence. He moved to Los Angeles upon his release. Now detectives are wondering if he had other victims in San Diego. Little also lived in El Centro for part of the 1990s and early 2000s. Detectives are combing through unsolved murder cases as well as assault cases looking for possible connections.

UT San Diego: L.A. serial killer suspect has ties to San Diego

LA Times: Exclusive: LAPD arrests serial killer suspect from 1980s

Fox 10 Florida: LAPD arrests man suspected of serial murders, including in Pascagoula

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