Georgia police announced on Thursday that an unidentified woman found dead in 1977 was one of Samuel Little’s victims.
According to WSB-TV, Bibb County police identified Macon Jane Doe as Yvonne Pless — now confirmed as Little’s earliest victim. Little, who was serving a life sentence in California for killing three women in the 1980s, died in 2020 at age 80.
WSB-TV reported that Pless went unidentified for years after she was found on the side of the road in Macon. Her murder was linked to Little through a sexual assault kit that previously went untested.
Before his death, Little confessed to 93 murders which he said occurred in 19 states from 1970 to 2005. Eight of his alleged victims are from Georgia. In 1982, years after Pless’ slaying, Little murdered Fredonia Smith in Washington Park in Macon.
While incarcerated, Little drew detailed pictures of at least 50 of his alleged victims. He reportedly also provided detectives with specific details about the victims’ physical features and where the slayings transpired. The FBI has confirmed Little’s involvement in 60 murders, making him the most prolific serial killer in U.S. history, according to WSB-TV.
Little had been arrested twice for murder — once in Florida and once in Mississippi — but he was acquitted both times. It was not until 2012 that he was linked to the three California murders; he was convicted in 2014.
Little was born in Georgia and grew up in Ohio. He targeted prostitutes and drug addicts, leading investigators to initially misclassify some of the victims’ deaths as overdoses. In other instances, they could not establish a cause of death.
Little, who was only convicted of eight murders, strangled his victims. He told police his last murder was in 2005 in Mississippi.
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[Featured image: Samuel Little/Wise County Sheriff’s Office; Yvonne Pless/Georgia Bureau of Investigation]
