Many seasoned and retired detectives have a story of a killer that got away, the white whale of their career.
Cincinnati police Det. Kelly Best has a similar story but reversed. It's about a victim.
Best has no body, no bones, no name for that victim. She's not even sure where or exactly when she was killed. On top of that, the killer confessed, was convicted and recently died behind bars.
Regardless of all of that, Best is prepared to spend the rest of her career working to find out who this woman was.
"She's worth it, right?" Best asked. "There's something glaring that I'm missing. I will just have to keep going through the work that I've done and going through our old cases."
Best's "Jane Doe" was a woman her killer simply labeled "tall girl by highway by sign."
93 murders in over 30 years
Best wasn't even 10 years old when the now notorious serial killer, Samuel Little, killed Jane Doe.
Little is now recognized as the most prolific serial killer in the nation's history. A drifter and thief, Little traveled the country between 1970 and 2005 strangling women. He's confessed to 93 murders.
More:Relative of 8 victims of Rhoden family slayings files wrongful death lawsuit
His victims were chosen because he thought they had pretty necks and might not be missed.
Little was arrested at a Louisville homeless shelter in 2012. He was extradited to California on drug charges, and once there his DNA was quickly matched to three unsolved homicides in the 1980s. He was sentenced to life in prison.
This spring, Little wanted to move to a different prison. The FBI and other investigators had long suspected he had killed other people. In exchange for moving, Little started talking and then even drawing detailed sketches of his victims.
His killings span the country from the east to the west coast with incidents in 16 states. Dozens of his confessions have been matched with long-unsolved homicide investigations.
It could have been written off as the ramblings of an old man. He was 80 when he died last month. But Little's detailed descriptions have led to law enforcement confirming more than 50 of the murders, including another Cincinnati woman named Anna Stewart.
'His sole purpose...to pick up a woman, kill her, then leave'
Best interviewed Little about the Jane Doe killing. She poured over maps with him and got as much detail as she could. Here's what he told her.
He met the woman, who was a prostitute around 40 years old, between 1982 and 1984. They bought crack together from some "gangbangers," Little said.
Little said he thought the men were going to rob him, but he sensed that the woman waved them off and vouched for him. She may have been a person who was respected among those she worked around, Best reasoned.
They went back to her apartment, possibly in or near Over-the-Rhine. The building had a street entrance that opened to a staircase that led her to her second-story apartment.
While there, he briefly met Jane Doe's roommate, the heavyset Hispanic woman she lived with.
Little said Jane Doe was Black, slender, dark-skinned with short hair, though she was wearing a wig when he killed her.
Best said the killer told her he dumped the body under a billboard, possibly advertising Kool cigarettes. She said he described being able to see the highway, but not being next to it.
She thinks locations like Liberty Hill or Mount Adams might fit the bill. Little passed through the area several times, but never lived here, so his familiarity with the city wasn't great.
"He never spent any significant amount of time here. Like he said, he just stopped her on a whim to pick somebody up," Best said. "That was his sole purpose...to pick up a woman, kill her, then leave."
The search continues
Best said she doesn't believe Little could get away with many of the murders he committed in this day and age.
The FBI said many of the victims' deaths were not ruled homicides because strangulation is harder to detect than other means of death.
"I don't think the way that he killed women, that today they would appear to be drug overdoses or any other type of death other than strangulation," Best said
She added that he would have had to be more careful with DNA as well.
But now Little is gone. He died in California prison Dec. 30 after years of medical conditions.
He was apparently the only witness to the murder he committed. He was the only person who might have been able to remember more details about where Jane Doe was dumped.
Best said she will just keep working to learn who Jane Doe is.
"This will be a case that I work on until I'm not a policewoman anymore, and then I'll have to very gingerly give it to someone else to take over," Best said.
"I have no idea who that person will be. I feel like this is something that has to be worked on until she is found."
Source link
