HOUMA, La. (AP) – A new documentary series that explores the 35-year killing spree of a prolific serial killer has connections to Houma.
The STARZ series, “Confronting a Serial Killer,” tells the story of Samuel Little, a serial killer whose victims stretched across more than a dozen states, including Louisiana, between 1970 to 2005.
Two of Little’s victims, Dorothy Richard and Daisy McGuire, were from the Houma area, police said. Little died of natural causes Dec. 30 at in a California hospital at the age of 80.
Houma Police Chief Dana Coleman said two of his detectives and investigators from Louisiana State Police interviewed Little at a Texas jail in 2018. Little told investigators he killed Dorothy Richard in 1982 and McGuire in 1996 while he was living in the Schriever area.
Richard, 55 at the time of her death, was found Sept. 14, 1982, off La. 24 near Woodlawn Ranch Road.
McGuire, then 40, was found Feb. 6, 1996, in the 900 block of Magnolia Street in Houma.
Before he died, Little confessed to killing 93 women. As of last year, investigators had verified at least 50 of his confessions, officials said.
Evading justice for 40 years
Coleman said Little traveled from town-to-town preying on unsuspecting victims.
“I don’t think he lived here,” Coleman said. “He was just passing through, which fits his M.O. He would establish a rapport with the people in that area and would then kill the females before moving on to the next town. He flew under the radar because he was mobile. He would also go by different names.”
Filmmaker Joe Berlinger, who directed the documentary, said the series spotlights “systemic issues within the criminal justice system including bias against marginalized communities, particularly women of color, and those struggling with addiction, mental illness and trauma.”
“The most prolific serial killer in American history died in the final hours of 2020,” Berlinger said in a release. “Unlike the 93 women he strangled with his bare hands, Sam Little lived to see old age, mostly from behind the wheel of the car he used to abduct and kill his victims.
“From 1971 through the aughts, Little hunted along society’s margins. Crisscrossing state lines, he strangled sex workers, drug addicts, single mothers, people with mental health issues and especially women of color.
“He believed his victims would not be missed. He was wrong. He also believed his choice of victim would be the key to his freedom. Sadly, he was right about this … until some brave women came along. Despite a rap sheet that ran hundreds of pages, Little evaded justice for more than 40 years.”
Coleman said Little was relaxed when he spoke to detectives and was able to recount details of the killings in vivid detail.
“They described him as being calm,” he said. “It seemed like he was trying to get it all off his chest because he had a terminal illness. He kept details of these murders in his head. He remembered what the victims looked like and was able to draw portraits of them. It was just mind-blowing.”
‘A SENSE OF CLOSURE’
Richard’s granddaughter, Monique Stepter, told The Courier in 2018 that Little’s confession brought closure but also opened old wounds.
“It’s a sense of closure, but it’s opening all the wounds back up,” the Thibodaux resident said. “It’s very hard right now for the entire family. I have kids that never met her. There are a lot of great-grandchildren who are left without their grandmother because of him. The only thing I remember about her is her coming down the hallway. I don’t know why, but that’s all I have. She was my mother’s mama. It’s so hard for our family because there are so many children who have never met their grandmother. It’s unexplainable.”
In another sense, Stepter continued, it’s not closure because the memories she and others have of Richard are scarce.
“He took my grandmother at such an early age. We knew she was murdered but never knew how,” Stepter said. “This makes it feel like it’s 1982 all over again. I never thought we would go through this. There are several generations who never met my grandmother. He took a precious jewel from us that created this family.”
“Confronting a Serial Killer” is now streaming on STARZ.
