Samuel Little: US serial killer linked to more than 60 murders, prosecutor says

More than 60 killings have been linked to a man who could be the most prolific serial killer in American history, a prosecutor in Texas has said.

Samuel Little continues to cooperate with investigators from around the country who are interrogating him in prison about cold case killings dating back to the 1970s, said Ector County District Attorney Bobby Bland.

The 79-year-old, is already serving life sentence for killing four women – three in California and one in Texas.

Little, who is already serving a life sentence in a California prison, claims to have killed 93 women as he crisscrossed the US, living a nomadic lifestyle over the years.

Mr Bland said he was in failing health and has exhausted his appeals, leading him to be forthcoming with investigators, who have now linked him to more than 60 killings in 14 states.

"At this point in his life I think he's determined to make sure that his victims are found," he added.

During Little's 2014 trial in Los Angeles, prosecutors said he was likely responsible for at least 40 killings since 1980. Authorities at the time were looking for possible links to deaths in Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio and Texas.

But he was not forthcoming with information at the time.

Mr Bland credited Texas Ranger James Holland with gaining Little's trust and eventually eliciting a series of confessions.

Mr Holland travelled to California last year to speak with Little about cold cases in Texas. That led Little to be extradited to Texas and his guilty plea in December in the 1994 strangulation death of Denise Christie Brothers in the West Texas city of Odessa.

Information provided to Mr Holland was then relayed to investigating agencies in several states, leading to a revolving door of investigators who travelled to California to corroborate decades-old deaths.

Last week he was charged by a grand jury in Cleveland, Ohio with the murders of 21-year-old Mary Jo Peyton in 1984 and 32-year-old Rose Evans in 1991.

Both women were strangled to death, like many of Little's victims. In many cases leaving few physical marks and leading investigators to determine the women died of overdoses or of natural causes.

"There's still been no false information given," Mr Bland said. "Nothing has been proven to be false."

Gary Ridgway, the so-called Green River Killer, pleaded guilty to killing 49 women and girls, making him the most prolific serial killer in US history in terms of confirmed kills, though he said he killed 71.