Serial Killer Sam Little- Part 1

Samuel Little became known as “America’s most prolific serial killer.” He eventually confessed to at least 93 murders of women he thought no one cared to look for. He was wrong. Even though he died December of 2020, he may always live on in that title.

The Beginning of the Downfall

On September 27th, 1984, 22-year-old Laurie Barros was walking the streets of San Diego, California. Laurie was in a rough patch in her life and had been selling sex for money. Tonight she would have a very different night than usual. Laurie said she was snatched off the street and thrown into a brown station wagon with wood grained sides. The kidnapper drove Laurie to a secluded area where he then threw her into the backseat and began attacking her. Laurie knew she had to fight.

The assailant began choking her and when she fought, he pushed harder on her neck. Laurie could tell that this was a man who had never wanted sex from her. He just choked her. She would fade out of consciousness and then he’d let her regain consciousness and begin again. At one point the man told Laurie, “I like it when you swallow.” Eventually, Laurie passed out cold. The man pushed her out of the car in that secluded area and drove off. Laurie regained consciousness and played dead. She would later say that she lay there without moving a muscle for at least a half an hour in case he came back. When he didn’t return, Laurie pulled herself up and walked to a payphone.

She called her friend and asked them to come pick her up. Something bad had happened. The friend picked her up and she was eventually convinced to report the attack to the police. Laurie had been hesitant to report the attack because she had been out there that night as a sex worker which was illegal. She was able to give the police excellent descriptions of both the car and the perpetrator. Flyers were created and the police began looking for this unknown man.

During their graveyard shift one evening, rookie officer Wayne Spees and his partner decided to return to the area where Laurie had been attacked. MAYBE the guy would come back? Long shot, but why not? The officers cut all their lights and rolled down the gravel road where they were surprised to encounter a brown station wagon with wood grained sides. The officers then slammed on ALL their lights. Blue lights, high beams, interior lights, everything. Once literal light was shined on the situation, a man popped up in the backseat. Spees approached the vehicle and the man inside the car hopped out adjusting his pants.

Spees described him as a big black man over six feet tall and over 200 pounds with huge hands. Wayne Spees talked to the man. He told Spees that he and his wife had gotten in a fight, but everything was okay now and they were “making up.” Spees could see scratches on the man’s neck and his partner was walking up on the other side of the car. The partner found a woman in the back seat who they first thought was dead until they heard her gurgling. When they came up to the car, she was naked and on her back. However, her top half was in the floorboard behind the driver’s seat while the bottom half of her naked body was more on the seat. Her legs were spread, she was bleeding from her mouth and nose, and barely alive.

The man was placed under arrest and they all waited for the ambulance to come for this poor woman. All the while Spees and his partner are comforting her that it’s going to be ok. Once the woman was on the way to the hospital, the officers read the arrested man his Miranda rights. The man agrees to talk to them and gives them the name Sam McDowell. They took Sam McDowell to the hospital and got a rape kit done. The doctor collects DNA from McDowell at that exam. McDowell tells everyone that the rape kit would show there was not a rape and he’d show you where his hands were on her neck, but he DID NOT RAPE HER. He told the officers that he picked up the woman for $20 and that he “should have killed that whore. She deserved everything she got.” McDowell was more angry at the police for stopping him.

The DNA from that rape kit would come back to take “Sam McDowell” down almost 30 years later. “Sam McDowell” was really Samuel Little. The “most prolific serial killer in American history.”

Samuel Little

Samuel Little was born in Reynolds, Georgia on June 7, 1940 to 16-year-old Bessie Mae Little and 19-year-old Paul McDowell. He would tell detectives that his mom was a sex worker, but according to Cleveland Magazine, the 1940 census had her listed as a “maid.” That doesn’t mean either Little of the periodical are wrong, though…she could have been both. One documentary said that Bessie left young Samuel on the streets when he was little, but however it came to be that she left him, she did.

Samuel Little was raised by his paternal grandparents, the McDowells (who’s name he’d later use as an alias), but Little was a handful. In February 1954, Samuel’s bad behavior got him sent to the Boy’s Industrial School. This was a reformatory school in Ohio that Little claimed he was sent to because he had stolen a bicycle. He stayed in the reformatory for about a year and half, but he did no reforming. Little had had 47 write ups for disciplinary infractions while he was there. His behavior didn’t improve upon his release either. In November 1956, Little was arrested in Omaha, Nebraska for burglary.

Little would continue to be arrested and charged with burglary, theft, assault, rape….etc. etc. etc. throughout his life. He would serve minimal time for all of his misbehavior either not getting convicted or getting out of jail for good behavior. In 1961 he was arrested for breaking into a furniture store in Lorain OH and sentenced to 3 years in prison.

In 1966, he was arrested in Cleveland for assault and battery of a woman. By the 70’s Little became a transient and just rolled around the country in different cars.

The First Murder

On January 31, 1970, Little (almost 30 at this time) was in Miami, Florida at a bar. He met a 33-year-old woman named Mary Brosley. Little had always enjoyed choking women during sex, but he also knew he wanted more. He’d known from a young age that he would murder. Mary Brosley would, unfortunately, leave the bar with Little. The two drove to the Everglades where he would strangle her to death. He then buried her in a shallow grave and continued on with his life.

In May of 1971 Little is once again arrested, this time for armed robbery in Cleveland and also reportedly charged with sodomy. He was found not guilty of the robbery and never tried for the sodomy. At some point after his acquittal, Little met 60-something-year-old, Orelia Jean Dorsey. He and Orelia travelled together and helped each other out. She would shoplift things, and he’d sell them for money. Their relationship was nothing more than a business or “transactional” relationship and she would be his travelling alibi. Little continued killing in this time and many of these women remain unknown.

In September of 1976, Little was arrested again for, what the article on Oxygen said was, “intent to ravish-rape” in St. Louis, Missouri. The victim survived and told the police that Little choked her with a cord and threw her in his car. She said that he beat her until she passed out and then drove her somewhere remote and raped her. He got 3 months in jail.

In November of 1982, Little was arrested again. This time for shoplifting in Pascagoula, Mississippi. The officers noticed that he matched the description of a man suspected in the murder of a woman named Melinda “Mindy” Rose LaPree.

Melinda LaPree

Melinda “Mindy” LaPree was from a small town in New Hampshire and her siblings remember her being a happy kid. They also said that she was “the light of [their] mom’s life.” Unfortunately, in 1967 Mindy’s mom died 12 hours after giving birth to her 5th child due to complications from that delivery. Mr. LaPree didn’t know how to handle 5 kids on his own. Older sister, Pat had to step in and become “mom.”

Pat said that Mindy wanted to learn guitar so she showed her little sister a few basic things. Mindy took off. Turns out Mindy was kind of a musical prodigy. If she decided she wanted to play an instrument, she would just do it. She taught herself guitar, flute and piano and her brother said that Mindy would listen to a song and then be able to play it back. But Mr. LaPree was not a fan. Mindy’s siblings said that he had a temper and a vicious backhand with a big Marine Corp ring and Mindy was strong-willed and sassy. He would beat her and drag her by the hair. They remember that the older Mindy got, the more she acted out.

Mindy was addicted to drugs by age 12, but still graduated from high school a year early with straight As. After graduating she left New Hampshire and the rage of her father. She found work as a bouncer in a ba,r and by 1982 she and her boyfriend Bill moved to Mississippi. In Mississippi, Mindy began selling drugs and her body.

On August 25th, 1982, Mindy gave birth to a baby boy named Will and her family asked her to come home so they could help her out. Mindy was adamant that she was fine. After Labor Day (9/6 – 12 days after giving birth), Bill called Mindy’s father and informed him that Mindy was missing. Then Bill officially reported Mindy missing.

On October 4th, the maintenance man at a local cemetery reported smelling a dead body (which is surprisingly NOT a familiar smell at the cemetery). The body was found laying on discarded flowers and so badly decomposed they couldn’t determine the sex right away. The body was finally identified by a previous fracture in her leg. It was Melinda LaPree. Her cause of death was manual strangulation causing her hyoid bone to become dislodged.

A witness reported seeing Mindy get into a brown station wagon with wood grain siding and Alabama plates. A BOLO (be on the lookout) was issued for the car and the man who was described as driving it.

Samuel Little was arrested after a simple traffic stop. His arrest also led the officers to link him to another murder in Florida in Alachua County just 3 days before Mindy went missing. On September 12th, the body of a woman was found in a hayfield just outside of Gainesville. Her body had been moved and her clothes were laying nearby with human feces on them. She had marks on her neck and the officer recognized her as Patricia Mount.

Patricia Mount

26-year-old Patricia Mount was no stranger to the police and reportedly had an IQ of 40. She was known to go to this bar and get really drunk and get into fights that she would typically lose. In fact, she had been in the police station just the night before drunk and almost blacked out complaining about being beaten. Her husband (also with an intellectual disability) picked her up to take her home.

Little encountered Patricia at her usual bar and after being shot down by a few other women, he finally got through to Patricia Mount. Patricia had been known to talk to pretty much anyone who bought her drinks. Patricia left with Little and multiple witnesses described the heavyset black man with facial hair who got into a station wagon with wood grain siding. A BOLO was issued for him and his car.

Patricia Mount and Mindy LaPree Cases

After arresting Little for their own murder the Mississippi police called the Florida police about their BOLO and gave them the name Samuel McDowell. The Florida police drove to Mississippi and talked to Samuel Little. Little was smug and denied his involvement. After the police continued their questioning, Little admitted that, yes, he’d been at that bar, but he didn’t leave with anyone. Samuel Little had a lot of experience with the police and getting out of trouble so he knew how to handle this.

Officers find out about Orelia Dorsey and go to the motel to talk to her. Despite him abusing her, she stuck by him and told the officers that Sam wouldn’t hurt anyone. But there was also another person with Little and Orelia.

Danny was a young man from Arkansas who had joined up with Little and Orelia. Danny was more talkative than either of his friends. Danny told the officers that the night Patricia Mount went missing, Little was not at the motel. He came in the next morning right around daybreak, and there was a really bad smell in his car. When Little strangled Patricia, she defecated in his backseat and that’s why his car smelled and why there was excrement on the clothes by her body.

Danny informed the police that whenever Little would come home, Orelia would clean out his car thoroughly. Danny was afraid of Little and worried that if he said anything to him about any of the things he saw, he’d do something to him or he’d get kicked out of their tiny gang and their motel room. Danny ID’d Samuel McDowell/Little and told officers that Little told him he hated women. The Mississippi district attorney in Pascagoula wouldn’t press charges saying there wasn’t enough evidence. Little was sent to Florida since they had a more ironclad case. Not only did they have Little with Patricia Mount leaving the bar and the description of the car, but they had a strand of hair that was a match (visually – because 80s) to Sam Little.

The trial was set to start in 1983, but right before the trial starts, Danny (the star witness) disappears. The trial was postponed twice before moving forward in the spring. During the trial, the hair found on Patricia was explained away as Little had danced with her so of course his hair got on her. The jury only spent 30 minutes and came back with a not guilty verdict and within 2 hours, Samuel Little was back on the streets.

Free as a Bird for a While

Little was out and about and wasted no time killing again. In September 1984, he attacked Laurie Barros. She survived and filed a report sparking the collection of Sam Little’s DNA and the next trial. Samuel Little was arrested and tried for the attempted murder of Laurie Barros and Tonya Jackson (the woman he was killing when the police arrested him). The prosecutor, Gary Rempel began preparing for the trial and saw the charges of murder in Florida. He called Alachua County and talked about the cases. Rempel said that Little’s rap sheet was one of the longest he’d ever seen where there were very few convictions. Shoplifting, soliciting, burglary, armed robbery, attempted murder.

He would also find out that the defense attorney from that trial had been told by Samuel Little that he had killed about 60 women. But this was protected with attorney client privilege so Rempel couldn’t use this information in a trial. Once in court, Little claimed that the women attacked him first, but Rempel felt confident that the testimonies of Laure Barros and Tonya Jackson would put Little away. Tonya went first to testify and she wasn’t as great of a witness as Rempel had hoped. She came to the stand drunk and stumbling. Rempel felt he had to address it so he asked her what was going on. She told the court that she had had to have a few drinks in order to be there.

Rempel wants Little in prison for life. He’s hopeful that Laurie’s testimony will be more compelling. Laurie testified and stuck with her story, but Rempel said that something about her testimony bothered him. Rempel questioned her about his concerns off the stand and she admitted to him that when she had given her story originally, she had left out that she had been working as a sex worker in order to make ends meet as well as support her drug habit. She wasn’t “kidnapped” and she hadn’t been raped, but she had gone with him willingly and he attacked her.

She had been attacked and almost murdered, but she had lied under oath that she had been kidnapped and raped. She was a different person now than when this attack happened, but this was not a good look for her or the case. Rempel didn’t doubt these women, but their testimonies hurt the prosecution. What was worse for the prosecution was Little’s alibi witness, Orelia Dorsey. She was 71-years-old by now and would testify that he couldn’t be responsible for Laurie, because they only got in town 2 days before Tonya’s attack.

The defense does something even riskier and calls Samuel Little himself to the stand. It was noted that he was “humble” and “spoke quietly and firmly.” The prosecution only got him off kilter when they talked about the Tonya Jackson attack. He got angry because he said that she cheated him out of his money. When the case was released to the jury for deliberation, they came back hung 9/3 in favor of acquittal. Rempel had a choice. He could try again and have Little possibly get away scott-free OR he could make a plea deal and get Little off the street for as long as possible.

Rempel offered the deal of pleading guilty to 2 counts of assault with intent to commit great bodily injury and get sentenced to 4 years in prison. Little knows this is the best option and takes the deal. Rempel was mad that that’s all he could do because he knew Little would kill again. Samuel Little served 30 months (released for good behavior) and in February 1987, he was once again free to leave. Then, bodies started showing up again. This time in Los Angeles, California.

For part two, click here!