Austin-The Texas Rangers, the FBI’s violent crime arrest plan, and the U.S. Department of Justice are publishing ten crimes committed by serial killer Samuel Little (aka Samuel McDowell) Many new details of unsolved murders, hopefully bring these cases to close.

"The information contained in these narratives may be the missing part of solving some of these murders," said DPS Director Steven McGraw. "As time goes by, it is vital that anyone with information must come forward."

From June 2018 to shortly before his death in December 2020, Little accepted an extensive interview with Texas Ranger James Holland. During these interviews, Little admitted to 93 murders between 1970 and 2005. Little's more than 60 confessions have clearly been interviewed with victims through DNA evidence and/or extensively confirmed interviews.

Little has an unforgettable memory, able to describe where he met and killed the victim, where he left the body, and what the victim looked like. Little lacks the ability to accurately judge time range and distance. Sometimes, Little proved to be more than 40 miles away in 10 years. Therefore, the year and distance provided in the link narrative should not be considered definite. Little said he strangled all the victims, except for two drowning people, and insisted that he never shot or stabbed them. Investigators said that Little's method of killing victims was more like suffocation than strangulation, because several of his victims had no broken or broken hyoid bones in their throats. The deaths of multiple victims were misclassified in the autopsy report and classified as overdose or natural death. 

Almost no imprisonment for the following periods (six months or more):

All unparalleled murders occurred between 1970 and 1997. If you have any information that you think can help investigators resolve these cases, please contact the Texas Rangers at rangers@dps.texas.gov or 1-512-424-2160, or contact the FBI at 1-800- CALL-FBI or tips.fbi.gov.

Email: media@dps.texas.gov

General inquiries: Visit the Contact Us page for department contact information.

Open record request: Visit the public information request page.

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