The remains of a Georgia woman who was killed over 40 years ago have surfaced and linked to the notorious serial killer Samuel Little, authorities confirmed Thursday.
Yvonne Pless was killed in 1977 at the age of 20, according to Bibb County’s Sheriff’s Office and the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council. At the time she went missing, she was known in the community as “Macon Jane Doe.”
The suspect in her killing died in 2020 after confessing to killing two women in Macon, where Pless lived. Investigators then linked him to the unsolved killing of the victim, which had remained a cold case up until his confession.
Although Little acknowledged he murdered Pless, her body was not found until detectives used forensic genetic genealogy to detect Pless’ remains. In addition to Pless, Little admitted that he killed 93 people between 1970 and 2005. Most of the murders took place in Florida and Southern California with several others in Georgia and in other parts of the South and Midwest.
According to a CBS News report, Little began on his murder spree on New Year’s Eve in Miami.
“It was like drugs,” he said when he confessed to the murders. “I came to like it.”
His last murder was in Mississippi in 2005. He also slayed victims in Tennessee, Texas, Ohio, Kentucky, Nevada, Arkansas and other states, according to the report.
“Little strangled most of his victims, usually soon after meeting them during chance encounters,” the report reads. “Almost all of his victims were women, and he targeted people living on the edges of society, such as prostitutes or drug addicts. They were people he believed wouldn’t be looked for and wouldn’t leave much evidence for police.
Before Little’s death, he admitted that there are probably some innocent people in prison for being wrongly convicted for crimes he committed.
“Probably be numerous people who are – been convicted and sent to penitentiary on my behalf,” he said. “I say, ‘If I can help get somebody out of jail, you know, God might smile a little bit more on me.'”
