Lubbock’s Connection to Samuel Little, America’s Most Prolific Serial Killer

Samuel Little, referred to as America's most prolific serial killer by the FBI, has connections to Lubbock, both macabre and mundane. Here is a look at his life and crimes, and how Lubbock landed a spot on his very long list of murder sites.

How Samuel Little Became the Most Prolific Serial Killer in U.S. History

Despite his massive kill count of ninety-three, Little is largely overlooked in television shows and true crime documentaries; he doesn't have a catchy nickname (he's no Night Stalker). Perhaps it was because he was caught "late" for fame (2013, although he had many previous encounters with the law/ courts), dying of old age in prison.

Read More: The Chilling Allen Family Murders: Unsolved After 25 Years

His lack of notoriety at a "Son-of-Sam" level could be that his victims were primarily sex workers, the addicted, and the homeless, a tragically overlooked population. At least 68 of his 93 victims were black, like Little himself. I don't think it's unreasonable to connect a lack of enthusiasm to solve these murders to his ability to keep killing more people.

He wasn't a particularly brilliant or savvy killer, even though he had a near-photographic memory. He hid bodies in remote locations, but didn't do much more than dump them there- in grassy fields, in dumpsters. Preferring to strangle his victims (he was obsessed with strangling women since he was a child), he left behind plenty of DNA, which would eventually lead to his capture. In the meantime, he was arrested many times over many years and in many states, primarily for shoplifting.

The Near Miss Murder Trials Of Samuel Little

Little was the textbook definition of a career criminal, having been charged 26 times by 1976 for everything from theft to attempted rape. In 1982, he was charged with the murder of Melinda Rose LaPree, but a grand jury did not indict him. He was then charged with the murder of Patricia Ann Mount, but the jury acquitted him. In 1984, he was caught attempting to murder two other women who survived; he served 2 years in prison for both crimes. It was not until 2012 when Little was busted on a narc charge that his DNA was compared to 3 murders, and his reign of terror finally drew to a close.

Read More: Why Summer In Texas Has A Dark History Of Violent Crime

Samuel Little's Connection To Lubbock

Samuel Little confessed to many murders, drawing his victims in pastel and giving details to investigators that matched crime scenes. Some of these women are still Jane Does, and the FBI is still trying to identify them. One of the crimes Little confessed to was the murder of Bobbie Fields-Wilson, who was found dead by a family walking the neighborhood near Keel Avenue in Lubbock in 1993. The case went unsolved for 26 years until Little's confession. Little died in a California prison before he could be tried in Lubbock.

Samuel Little was also in Lubbock in 2006, when he was arrested for shoplifting at a Walmart. It makes me ill to think he suffered more consequences for his crime against Walmart than he ever did for his crime against Bobbie, and what must have been a horrific discovery for a Lubbock family.