Sam Little, who grew up in Lorain, is linked to serial killer probes

Samuel Little appears in a Los Angeles courtroom, where he is accused of killing three women in the 1980s. Authorities say Little, 72, who grew up in Lorain, may be a suspect in other slayings.

LORAIN, Ohio -- Sam Little, who grew up in Lorain more than 60 years ago, is accused of being a serial killer who crisscrossed the country attacking drug-addled prostitutes, police say.

Investigators are piecing together Little's lifelong crime spree and pulling cold cases from Elyria to Pascagoula, Miss., to determine whether he is a suspect in other slayings.

Little, 72, is awaiting trial on charges of killing three women in Los Angeles from the 1980s. Detectives suspect he attacked and killed more, and authorities from across the country, including here, are seeking information that could lead to more criminal cases.

For years, he drove the country, shoplifting wares from stores and later peddling them from the trunk of his car to dope slingers, investigators said. Afterward, he would seek out women.

"It was theft by day, murder by night," said Mitzi Roberts, a Los Angeles police detective working the case. "We're trying to tell departments, 'This violent predator was in your back yard; you might want to look at him.' "

Little, who also uses the name Samuel McDowell, has denied the charges. His attorney, Michael Pentz, could not be reached. Several attempts to reach his family were unsuccessful.

He has been arrested more than 50 times in 24 different states, but he seldom spent time behind bars. One of his few stints in prison came after he pleaded guilty to attempting to rob a Lorain store. He was sentenced to two years in prison in 2000.

But he was seldom charged with sex offenses. Authorities say he often picked up women in bars or on street corners. He would beat and choke them and then sexually assaulted them, police said.

"He dealt with people who had a lot of credibility issues," said Pascagoula Police Detective Darren Versiga, who is investigating Little on charges he killed one woman and tried to strangle two others in the 1980s. "They didn't always show up to court to testify."

Roberts, the Los Angeles police detective, said DNA from victims' fingernails and clothes ultimately led to Little's arrest last fall. He was found in a Kentucky homeless shelter.

"His movement was unbelievable," said Elyria police Capt. Chris Costantino, whose department is working with Lorain police. "He grew up (in Lorain County), but he was very transient. He had no problems moving around."

Little was born in Reynolds, Ga., and grew up in Lorain with a grandmother and attended Hawthorne Junior High School, according to interviews and court records in Lorain and Cuyahoga counties.

Police said his rap sheet goes back to 1957, when he was charged with breaking and entering. The Elyria Chronicle-Telegram has reported that Little was sent to prison four years later, at the age of 21, after he was convicted of a 1961 burglary for a break-in at a Lorain furniture store. He was sentenced to three years in prison. He left prison and returned to crime.

"His whole thing was shoplifting," said Versiga, the Mississippi detective. "He would work at shoplifting in a city for three or four days and then move on. He would take the items to drug areas and then sell them. Once he was done, he would go out in the early morning hours and look for women."

In 1982, Little was arrested in the death of a 26-year-old woman near Gainesville, Fla. He was acquitted two years later. But Florida officials have refused to let Little's case drop.

Jeff Fortier of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said his agency alerted authorities across Florida, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia about Little and urged them to look back on cold cases. Fortier said officials gave local police information about Little, including the various cars he drove.

"We encouraged them to look back on their cases and see if he is a potential suspect," he said. He and other officials cited new advancements in DNA testing that could link Little to the cases.

In putting together a timeline of Little's case, detectives in Los Angeles called Elyria police about Little's arrest for shoplifting arrest in the 1980s from a Higbee's store, according to Costantino and The Chronicle-Telegram. Little was accused of stealing jeans from the store.

After speaking with Los Angeles detectives, Elyria police contacted the Lorain County sheriff's deputies about Little. It prompted detectives to re-examine the skeletal remains of a woman found in 1981. Detectives said that while there is no information linking Little to the woman's death, they have sought testing with a state crime lab for any new details.

Plain Dealer news researcher Jo Ellen Corrigan and The Associated Press contributed to this story.