American serial killer Samuel Little confesses to 1978 murder, linked to dozens more

GULFPORT, Miss. – A southern Mississippi homicide that has gone unsolved for 40 years has now been declared solved due to the confessions of a man convicted in three California murders but long suspected in dozens of deaths.

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Harrison County Sheriff Troy Peterson says 78-year-old Samuel Little has been charged in the 1978 killing of 36-year-old Julia Critchfield. Peterson said Little was questioned in a Texas jail about the Critchfield death and knew details only the killer would have known.

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Peterson says the woman’s body was found at the bottom of a dirt pit in Saucier. An autopsy determined that she was strangled to death.

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Texas authorities have said Little has now provided details in more than 90 deaths nationwide dating to about 1970 and have matched him with more than 30 so far.