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Confessed Serial Killer Samuel Little Pleads Guilty To Cleveland Murders

Confessed serial killer Samuel Little, with his attorneys, speaks to a Cleveland judge via a video feed. [Matt Richmond / ideastream]
photo of james little

Samuel Little pleaded guilty in a Cleveland courtroom Aug. 23 to the 1984 killing of Mary Jo Peyton and the 1991 killing of Rose Evans.

Judge John Russo sentenced him to 40 years to life.

Little, who has confessed to more than 90 murders in total, appeared in the Cuyahoga County courtroom via video feed from a California jail. He entered the two guilty pleas, then one of his defense attorneys read a statement which included an apology for his crimes.

Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Rick Bell interviewed the 79-year-old Little in jail. Bell said after the hearing that, on one hand, the Lorain native liked to chat about the Browns and spoke fondly of the Cleveland area.

But then he would show another, darker side when speaking about his crimes.

“And we went through the different states and the different killings that he says he committed and he would re-live them in his mind and he would at that point in time give you a glimpse into the darkness that is part of who he is,” Bell said.

Bell said he did not believe Little's statement of remorse.

"He objectifies women to the point that he does not see them as a human being, in fact, he feels that he was doing them a favor, that they wanted to die,” Bell said.

Little pleaded guilty to two more murders in Cincinnati earlier the same day, also via video.

So far, he has avoided the death penalty in muders from across the country in exchange for guilty pleas.

Matthew Richmond is a reporter/producer focused on criminal justice issues at Ideastream Public Media.