Local officers in the dark about new evidence, serial killer’s confession in cold case

Dade County Sheriff Ray Cross, left, discusses the potential link between serial killer Samuel Little and the remains of a body found in Dade County in 1981. According to the FBI, Little said he picked up a black woman in her 20s in Chattanooga and left her body in Dade County. on November 29, 2018. Listening in background is Dade County Detective Don Hicks.

By Tyler Jett November 29, 2018 4 min read

Photo Gallery

Serial killer’s confession

Dade County Sheriff Ray Cross discusses the potential link between serial killer Samuel Little and the remains of a body found in Dade County in 1981. According to the FBI, Little said he picked up a black woman in her 20s in Chattanooga and left her body in Dade County. on November 29, 2018.

This undated photo provided by the Ector County Texas Sheriff's Office shows Samuel Little. A Texas prosecutor says Little, convicted in three California murders but long suspected in dozens of deaths, now claims he was involved in about 90 killings nationwide. The prosecutor says Little is now charged in the 1994 death of a Texas woman. He says investigations are ongoing, but Little has now provided details in more than 90 deaths dating to about 1970. (Ector County Texas Sheriff's Office via AP)

Richland County Sheriff's Capt. Maria Yturria holds up Sheriff Leon Lott's handwritten notes from the 1978 killing of Evelyn Weston on Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018, in Columbia, S. C. Weston was likely killed by Samuel Little, who investigators say has confessed to as many as 90 killings across the United States. Lott was a rookie investigator assigned Weston's death and said he never forgot the case. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott's handwritten notes from the 1978 killing of Evelyn Weston are shown Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018, in Columbia, South Carolina. Weston was likely killed by Samuel Little, who investigators say has confessed to as many as 90 killings across the United States. Lott was a rookie investigator assigned Weston's death and said he never forgot the case. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott talks to reporters about a 19-year-old woman killed in South Carolina in 1978 who is likely linked to Samuel Little, a prisoner who told investigators he may have killed as many as 90 people across the United States, at a news conference Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018, in Columbia, S.C. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins)

Samuel Little, who often went by the name Samuel McDowell, leaves the Ector County Courthouse after attending a pre-trial hearing Monday, November 26, 2018 in Odessa, Texas. McDowell was convicted of three murders, but now claims that he was involved in approximately 90 killings nationwide. Investigators already have corroborated about a third of those, a Texas prosecutor said. (Mark Rogers/Odessa American via AP)

TRENTON, Ga. – When news broke this week that a serial killer took credit for a body found in Dade County 37 years ago, Sheriff Ray Cross was as surprised as anyone.

The FBI announced Tuesday that Samuel Little claims to have killed 90 people across the country over four decades, including a woman he met in Chattanooga. When a reporter contacted Cross for comment soon after, he had no idea about the case. At a news conference Thursday morning, he said he hasn’t heard anything.

“We’re still in our preliminary investigation in this,” Cross said. “There’s not a lot of details I can tell you. We’re still waiting to hear from the FBI: What information, what evidence they have.”

Little, 78, is serving three life sentences in California for murders in the late 1980s. He was not convicted until 2014, when DNA evidence linked him to the cold cases. Los Angeles police asked for help from members of the FBI’s Violent Criminal Application Program, which tries to catch serial killers by studying commonalities among many cases.

The FBI contacted the Texas Rangers, telling them they found compelling evidence that linked Little to a killing in Odessa, Texas. When police promised to grant Little’s request to switch prisons, Little agreed to participate in an interview with Texas Ranger James Holland in May. He confessed to 90 killings from 1970-2005.