Macon woman identified as 1 of 93 women Ga. serial killer claims he killed

MACON, Ga. — Investigators have identified a Macon woman killed 46 years ago as the earliest confirmed victim of Georgia’s most notorious serial killer.

Samuel Little, from Reynoldstown, Georgia, died at age 80 in a California prison. Before his death, he confessed to murdering 93 women between 1970 and 2014.

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The FBI has confirmed his involvement in at least 60 of the murders, making him the most prolific serial killer in the U.S. Little confessed to killing eight Georgia women, including two in Macon.

On Thursday, investigators with the Bibb County Sheriff’s office identified a woman previously known as Macon Jane Doe as Yvonne Pless, who was killed in 1977. Pless is Little’s earliest confirmed victim to date.

Pless’s body was found off Arkwright Road. She remained unidentified for years. Pless was linked to Little through a previously unsubmitted sexual assault kit.

Pless’ family issued a statement to Channel 2 Action News, reading:

“We appreciate the interest in our family member’s story. When Captain Jones and Ms. Hutsell notified us that Yvonne had been identified, we were unaware she was deceased. We are mourning the loss of our loved one and have no comments at this time. We ask that our privacy be respected.

Little’s second Macon victim was Fredonia Smith, who was murdered in a park in 1982.

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Little was born in Georgia but raised in Ohio. By the time he was 35, he had been arrested 26 times in eleven states for crimes including theft, assault, attempted rape and fraud.

He was arrested twice for murder in 1982, one in Florida and one in Mississippi, but acquitted. Little then spent two-and-a-half years in prison for attempted murder in California before his final arrest in 2012, which linked him to the murders of three more women in California. He was found guilty in 2014 and sentenced to life in the California State Prison.

While he was in prison, Little began to confess to dozens more murders and sketched and described his victims.

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The majority of his victims were prostitutes, drug abusers or were homeless, which made it difficult to identify them.

Little was only charged and convicted in eight of the murders.

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