Richland County, SC (WLTX) - Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott says a serial killer is possibly linked to a murder in Columbia from the late 1970s, a case the sheriff admits has haunted him for decades.
Lott held a news conference Wednesday about ties involving 76-year-old Samuel Little. Little is currently serving a life sentence for the murders of three women in California.
But Little has confessed to the killing of 90 people across 14 states between 1970 and 2005. One of those killings, the sheriff believes, was the September 12, 1978 murder of Evelyn Weston.
Weston was 19 when she was found dead in a wooded area off Percival Road by a hunter. She'd been shot in the head. Her car was then found at the Steak and Ale on Forest Drive.
Previous Coverage: Serial killer confesses to 90 murders; one could be linked to South Carolina
Lott said information Little has given to Texas Rangers matches what was found at the crime scene 40 years ago. Lott said the man knew the time period, location, items discovered at the crime scene, and he remember it was near a military base.
"What's significant to us is that some of the information that Little has given matches what we had and what we found at the crime scene," says Lott. "Some of the stuff doesn't match but I think it may end up being that he's killed so many people he just can't remember all of them."
Lott was already an investigator with the sheriff's office in 1978, and remembers the case. He said he remembers driving along a route and timing it with a watch as part of the investigation. Since then, he says, technology has changed a Lott.
The sheriff says they're talking to investigators, and are contacting Weston's son in an attempt to get closure in the case. (Weston's son was two years old when she was killed). Lott said they will not file charges in connections, since Little is already behind bars for the rest of his life.
"We're hoping that we can bring closure and say that Mr. Little was responsible for Ms. Weston's death."
The additional killings were discovered after DNA linked him to the 1994 death of Denise Christie Brothers, a woman from Odessa, TX. While investigators were questioning Little about Brothers' death, he confessed that he killed 90 people in 14 states between 1970 and 2005.
Little is facing another life sentence or 99 years in prison for the 1994 murder.