The Truth About Serial Killer Sam Little's Death

When serial killer Samuel Little was alive, he showed very little mercy for his victims. We know this because he took great joy in relating the grisly details to journalist Jillian Lauren, author of a forthcoming book about Little and subject of numerous interviews about their relationship in the docuseries, Confronting a Serial Killer, premiering April 18 on Starz.

At one point, Lauren reports in The Cut, "Little said he made the encounters as 'long and slow as possible,' often letting his victims repeatedly regain consciousness." Believed to have targeted women on the fringes of society for four decades, Little holds the dubious distinction of the country's most prolific serial killer, according to the FBI, yet for years, he either avoided conviction or eluded capture due to less-than-stellar investigative work of sex worker homicides.

Despite the harm he caused countless others (many of whom remain unidentified) Little himself died an old man — albeit serving a prison sentence.

Despite possibly killing as many as 93 victims (the number he confessed to but which is not yet confirmed, per the FBI), Little remained free for much of his life. Though he'd been tried and convicted for lower-level offenses in the past (in addition to murders he'd failed to be indicted for or was acquitted of, per Biography), Little wasn't convicted of any of the murders until 2014, when he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

By the time of that condition, Little was already in his mid-70s. According to The Cut, Little spent many of his later years in poor health, in a wheelchair, and dealing with both diabetes and a heart condition. In the end, the country's worst serial killer went quietly, in the early morning hours of December 30, 2020. According to NBC News, because Little had been ill for some time. It's possible he died of natural causes related to those illnesses; however, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office is still expected to determine and announce Little's official cause of death at some point in the near future.