A 74-year-old man described by a prosecutor as a “remorseless, vicious serial killer” was sentenced Thursday to three consecutive life prison terms without the possibility of parole for the murders of three women in Los Angeles in the 1980s.
Jurors deliberated about two hours before convicting Samuel Little on Sept. 2 of three counts of first-degree murder for the killings of Carol Alford, Audrey Nelson and Guadalupe Apodaca. Jurors also found true the special circumstance allegation of multiple murders.
“I didn’t do it!” Little shouted in court after Mary Louise Frias, the niece and goddaughter of one of the victims, said the convicted killer has “no conscience, no soul.” He later told the judge he hoped he would get a new trial.
Little’s attorney, Michael Pentz, told Los Angeles Superior Court Judge George G. Lomeli that he was filing a notice of appeal on his client’s behalf.
Outside court, Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman said Little “absolutely” would have faced a potential death sentence had it not been for his age. She said it was “unfortunate that it took so long … in order to bring his reign of terror to an end.”
In a sentencing memorandum, the prosecutor wrote that Little “is a remorseless, vicious serial killer who deserves to spend the rest of his life in state prison without any chance for release. The evidence at trial established that he derived sexual gratification from the act of strangling and murdering his victims, Carol Alford, Audrey Nelson and Guadalupe Apodaca. His method of killing was particularly ruthless; he lured vulnerable women to him with the promise of drugs and then killed them by beating and manually strangling them.”
Alford, 41, was found dead July 13, 1987, in an alley off East 27th Street.
Nelson, 35, was discovered dead Aug. 14, 1989, in a trash bin behind East Seventh Street, while Apodaca, 46, was found dead less than a month later – – Sept. 3, 1989 — inside a South Los Angeles commercial garage.
The prosecution also presented evidence during the trial about four other women who survived similar attacks in the 1980s in San Diego and Mississippi.
Nelson’s sister, Sherri, told the judge she “cannot imagine the horror that went through my sister’s mind when the defendant was choking her to death, while dragging her body, only to discard it in the most despicable manner in a trash Dumpster.” She said the images of the coroner’s presentation about her sister’s death “will be etched in my mind forever.”
The woman’s daughter, Pearl Nelson, told the judge she was 13 “when the police showed up that day,” saying that a long-awaited reunion with her mother was “taken from my fingertips.” She said she was a year old when her mother “had to give me up to her parents” so the girl could have a better life.
Apodaca’s niece, Diana Flores, said through tears, “I know she didn’t deserve to die the way she did.” She said Little’s conviction ensured that he won’t hurt anybody again.
The judge agreed to the prosecution’s request to run each of the life prison terms consecutively, saying that the crimes involved “viciousness,” that the victims were “particularly vulnerable” and that there were no factors in mitigation.
All three victims tested positive for cocaine during autopsies.
“These were victims who were obviously addicted to cocaine, who would do anything … to get their hands on that,” the prosecutor told jurors. “There was a crack cocaine rage going on in South L.A. in those days.”
Semen and other DNA from the victims’ clothing matched Little’s DNA profile so closely that, for at least two pieces of evidence, the chance of a random match was one in 450 quintillion, Silverman told jurors.
Little was arrested in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2012 on an unrelated drug charge out of Los Angeles and extradited to California, where he was charged with the murders.
Little’s attorney questioned the evidence, and challenged the prosecutor’s insistence that DNA proved his client’s guilt.
As Little was taken out of court in a wheelchair after the court session, a number of the victims’ family members clapped.
Frias, who was speaking when Little professed his innocence, said she felt like she had “touched a nerve” and made him realize that he had affected several generations.
She said she walked out when he asked to speak moments later because “what he had to say was insignificant to me.”
Apodaca’s son, Tony Zambrano, said outside court that he was shocked when he heard about Little’s arrest.
“I thought they forgot about it,” he said of his mother’s killing.
Among those in court for the sentencing were two women who served on the jury that heard the case against Little.
“There was just so much evidence,” former juror Estyrose D’Elia said outside court, adding that she thought Little’s profession of innocence was “ludicrous.”
Another juror, Mellodee Montgomery, said, “There was too much evidence to judge it any other way, honestly.”
Los Angeles police Detective Mitzi Roberts said there was an “abundance of evidence” proving his guilt.
Referring to herself and the prosecutor, Roberts noted that “two women took him (Little) down,” with Silverman adding that it was “poetic justice” that the investigating officer and the prosecutor are both women.
— City News Service