LUBBOCK, Texas — The Lubbock Police Department described how officers were able to get an indictment against nationally-known serial killer Samuel Little for the 1993 murder of Bobbie Fields.
EverythingLubbock.com broke the story that Little was connected by LPD to the murder of Fields.
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On August 8, 1993, the body of Fields, 37, was located in an open field near the 1200 block of Keel Avenue. She was the victim of an apparent homicide.
Interim Lubbock Police Chief Jerry Brewer said investigators learned she had last been seen near the Rose Hotel in the 700 block of 13th Street around 1:00 a.m. on August 7, 1993. However, all leads were eventually exhausted and the case went cold.
On November 15, 2018, according to LPD, Fields’ murder case was reassigned to the Lubbock Metropolitan Special Crimes Unit (MSCU). This unit investigates cold cases in Lubbock County, among other things.
Brewer said investigators spoke with an analyst at the FBI Violent Crimes Apprehension Program (ViCAP) on November 16 and were provided a timeline of Little’s criminal history.
According to this timeline, Little was incarcerated in Travis County on July 30, 1993. Travis County is located in the greater Austin area.
Link — EXCLUSIVE: Nationally known serial killer now connected to murder in Lubbock
Months earlier in 2018, Little spoke multiple times with Texas Ranger James Holland. In one of these interviews, Little recalled a woman he believed he murdered in the Wichita Falls area in 1976 or 1977. He drew a sketch of this woman and it was released to the public.
Brewer said an extensive search was conducted by several law enforcement agencies in an effort to locate the murder Little confessed to in the Wichita Falls area, but there were no matches.
On July 2, MSCU investigators again spoke with ViCAP, and after comparing information, agreed that the physical description of the victim and the crime scene matched the details Little had described in this unmatched confession.
“During this further investigation, Metropolitan Special Crimes Investigators contacted Travis County to confirm the dates of Mr. Little’s 1993 incarceration.” he said. “They then learned that Mr. Little was actually arrested on July 20, 1993, and not July 30th as originally thought.”
With this new information, “investigators now realized Mr. Little could not have been incarcerated at the time of this murder, increasing the likelihood that Mr. Little was actually a suspect in the murder of Bobbie Fields,” Brewer said.
On August 18, investigators found a 1993 ‘attempt to locate’ flyer made to locate a 1978 yellow Cadillac Eldorado believed to be the vehicle Fields was last seen getting into shortly before her death.
Brewer said investigators contacted ViCAP again to get a list of vehicles Little was known to drive. A 1978 yellow Cadillac Eldorado was on the list.
On August 20, 2019, MSCU investigators arranged an interview with Little, who was serving three life sentences in the California State Prison in Los Angeles County.
“During this interview, Mr. Little provided corroborating and very specific details to the murder of Bobbie Fields,” Brewer said.
On August 27, the case was presented to a Lubbock County Grand Jury, who returned an indictment against Little for the 1993 murder of Fields. A warrant was issued for his arrest even though he has been locked up in California on a different murder.
Brewer did not believe there would be a big push to get Little from California to Lubbock for a trial.
Incidentally, years after the Fields murder, Little was arrested in Lubbock for shoplifting. He was ordered to spend 14 days in jail in 2006 on the shoplifting charge.
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