Los Angeles Drifter Convicted In Serial Killings Of Three Women In The 80's

A drifter and career criminal in his 70s was convicted on Tuesday of strangling three women to death and dumping their bodies in alleys near downtown Los Angeles during the 1980s in a string of cold case serial murders resurrected by DNA evidence, according to The Associated Press.

A Los Angeles County Superior Court jury deliberated just two hours before finding Samuel Little, 74, guilty of first-degree murder in the deaths of all three women, who prosecutors described as having been made easy targets by their involvement in drugs and prostitution, the AP reported.

Little appeared almost cheerful as he was found guilty of crimes that will send him to prison for life without chance of parole.

Prosecutors said Little was tied by DNA matches to the July 1987 murder of Carol Alford, 41, as well as to the August and September 1989 slayings of Audrey Nelson, 35, and Guadalupe Apodaca, 46, according to the AP.

Prosecutors chose not to seek the death penalty, the AP reported. Little is due to return to court on Sept. 25 for sentencing and faces a term of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

He chatted with his lawyer during the 10-minute hearing and when asked by Superior Court Judge George G. Lomeli whether he agreed with a Sept. 25 sentencing date, Little replied casually, "It's your discretion," according to the AP.

"Well, I need an answer," the judge said, the AP reported. "Sure - you're welcome," Little responded.

All three were beaten and then strangled to death, and Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman said Little was a suspect in several similar murders in Florida and elsewhere during the same period of time, the AP reported. He was acquitted by a jury about 30 years ago of one Florida slaying.

Little, a transient with an extensive criminal history spanning much of the country, was most recently arrested in 2012 in Kentucky on an unrelated drug charge before he was extradited back to California, Silverman said, according to the AP.