abc15.com
5
serial killers with ties to Arizona, some with unknown victims
Photo by:
Anonymous/ASSOCIATED PRESS
"Night Stalker" defendant Richard
Ramirez, right, confers with his attorney, Arturo Hernandez, in courtroom in
Los Angeres Wednesday morning, May 21, 1986. Ramirez, described by his
attorneys as encouraged because five robbery counts have been dropped, pleaded
innocent to 14 murders and 31 other felonies. (AP Photo/POOL)
By: Ashley Loose
Posted at 12:00 PM, May 01, 2022
and last updated 12:01 PM, May 01, 2022
Multiple Arizonans have fallen victim to some of the most
notorious criminals and serial killers in our country's history — and there may
be more cases investigators haven't solved yet.
ABC15 is taking a look at some of these cases, including a
few with victims who may be yet to be identified.
Samuel Little
FBI
According to a 2018 report from the FBI,
Samuel Little confessed to 90 murders dating back several decades in various
states.
He was arrested in Kentucky in 2012, leading police in
various states to begin linking his DNA to unsolved homicides cases.
According to the Texas Department
of Public Safety, "Little stated he strangled all of his
victims, with the exception of two who were drowned, and was adamant he never
shot or stabbed them. Investigators say the manner in which Little killed his
victims was more reminiscent to suffocation then strangulation, in that several
of his victims did not have broken or fractured hyoid bones in the throat.
Multiple victims' deaths were misclassified in autopsy reports and listed as
drug overdoses or natural deaths."
In 2018, Little reportedly gave more information about the
murders he said he committed, including three in Phoenix.
“Little remembers his victims and the killings in great
detail. He remembers where he was, and what car he was driving,” the FBI report
says. “He draws pictures of many of the women he killed. He is less reliable,
however, when it comes to remembering dates.”
The FBI lists a
Hispanic woman, possibly from Phoenix, in her mid-20s who was killed in 1992 or
1993.
Little reportedly sketched an unnamed Hispanic woman,
possibly in her 40s, who he said was killed in either 1988 or 1996 in Phoenix.
FBI
A Wikipedia page notes Little also sketched a photo of a
woman, nicknamed “Ann”, who he said was murdered in 1997, though that
information has not been verified by the FBI.
Little died in
2020, with many of his victims yet to be identified.
If you have any information linked to Little’s confessions,
please contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov
Richard Ramirez
ALAN GRETH/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Richard Ramirez, convicted of the "Night Stalker" serial
murders in 1985, arrives at court in handcuffs and chains in Los Angeles, Ca.,
Wednesday, Oct. 4, 1989. The jury recommended a death sentence. (AP Photo/Alan
Greth)
Richard Ramirez, known by several monikers including the
Night Stalker, was convicted of 13 murders, five attempted murders, nearly a
dozen sexual assaults, and 14 burglaries.
Some of the victims of his crimes survived and helped lead
police to eventually identify him as a suspect.
Ramirez’s photo was posted by the media and he was
recognized after he traveled to Tucson, Arizona, by bus to visit his
brother, CNN says.
That ultimately led to his arrest and convictions.
LENNOX MCLENDON/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Richard Ramirez, accused of 14 counts of murder in the "Night
Stalker" serial killings, is flanked by attorneys Daniel Hernandez, left,
and Arturo Hernandez during court appearance in Los Angeles, Ca., Tuesday, Oct.
21, 1985. Ramirez wants the two men to represent him instead of his current
attorney, Joseph Gallegos. Municipal Court Judge Elva Soper advised Ramirez to
refrain from making a hasty second change of defense attorneys. (AP
Photo/Lennox McLendon)
Ramirez was sentenced to death by gas chamber, but in 2013,
Ramirez died at age 53, the El Paso Times reported.
Ramirez also reportedly admitted to a crime that occurred in
Phoenix, though police never followed through with his connection to it, an investigator said.
One incident involved “two elderly people” who survived the
attack in their home.
“There’s no doubt in my mind it was him,” the investigator
said, and Ramirez eventually said he was involved.
Todd Kohlhepp
Arizona Department of Corrections
AZDOC photo of Todd Kohlhepp
Before Todd Kohlhepp was convicted of murdering seven
people, he was imprisoned in Arizona for 15 years for kidnapping.
In the 1980s, when Kohlhepp was a teenager, he lived with his
biological father in Tempe. He was charged with kidnapping and
sexual assault after attacking a teenage girl. The conviction led to a 15-year
sentence in an Arizona prison and he was released in 2001.
In 2003, four people were found dead in a South Carolina
Superbike Motorsports motorcycle store, and Kohlhepp admitted to those murders
in 2016.
In 2016, a couple went
missing after they went to clean Kohlhepp’s home. The man was
found dead with multiple gunshot wounds and the woman was later found alive,
chained inside a metal container on his property.
Two other bodies, identified as people who went missing in
2015, were found on his property. Kohlhepp admitted to killing them.
AP
File - This undated file photo provided by South Carolina State
shows Todd Kohlhepp. Kohlhepp, already in prison for seven murders, claims he
has two additional victims. The Greenville News reports Spartanburg County
Sheriff Chuck Wright confirmed Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2018, that Kohlhepp has told
investigators that two people are buried near Interstate 26 in the Enoree area
of southern Spartanburg County. (South Carolina State via AP, File)
Reports say, during interrogation, he said he also shot
someone in Arizona, and later wrote to a
newspaper that he had more victims who had not been discovered.
According to a media report
from 2016, Tempe police were reviewing other missing person cases or
homicides from that time period to see if Kohlhepp may have played a role.
He remains behind bars.
Jason Thornburg
AP
This undated photo provided by the Fort Worth Police Department
shows Jason Thornburg. Thornburg, arrested in the deaths of three people whose
dismembered bodies were discovered in a burning dumpster the week before in
Texas, confessed to those slayings and two others, police said Tuesday Sept.
28, 2021. ( Fort Worth Police Department via AP)
Jason Thornburg was arrested in Texas in 2021 after three
bodies were found burning in a dumpster.
According to the Associated Press,
Thornburg said he “felt compelled to sacrifice them.”
Thornburg also admitted to killing his roommate and a
girlfriend in Arizona, who was reported missing.
A police affidavit
reportedly said Thornburg had a deep knowledge of the Bible.
Before the killing spree, he served time behind bars in
Texas. WFAA says
he was previously convicted of misdemeanors in Arizona, Oklahoma, and Texas.
As of February
2022, he is facing life in prison for murder and arson charges, both
felonies punishable by up to life in prison.
Robert Wayne Danielson Jr.
Ukiah Daily Journal archive, Newspapers.com - https://bit.ly/3LqyPd9
Robert Wayne Danielson Jr. served 11 years in an Oregon
prison for murdering a man in 1970.
Weeks after his release from prison, Danielson
reportedly killed a couple,
who had been camping in the desert, execution-style. Their truck was stolen during
the ordeal and later abandoned in Yuma.
Months later, Danielson and a teenage girl started a
relationship, and the pair tied up a man in an Oregon park and killed him.
Shortly after, they tied up a couple in a California park
and killed them.
Danielson also murdered someone in Apache Junction.
Danielson was ultimately sentenced to
death in California. He ended his own life in prison in 1995.
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