Police investigate whether serial killer responsible for death of Arkansas woman in 1994

FILE - In this Monday, Nov. 26, 2018 file photo, Samuel Little, who often went by the name Samuel McDowell, leaves the Ector County Courthouse after attending a pre-trial hearing in Odessa, Texas.  (Mark Rogers/Odessa American via AP, File)
FILE - In this Monday, Nov. 26, 2018 file photo, Samuel Little, who often went by the name Samuel McDowell, leaves the Ector County Courthouse after attending a pre-trial hearing in Odessa, Texas. (Mark Rogers/Odessa American via AP, File)

PINE BLUFF -- Authorities are investigating whether a serial killer is behind the death of an Arkansas woman in 1994.

Police in Pine Bluff are reviewing the case of Jolanda Jones' death after Samuel Little talked to authorities about her killing, which had been determined to be drug-related.

Investigators have linked Little, 79, to more than 60 killings in at least 14 states dating back to the 1970s. He said he killed 93 women as he crisscrossed the country over the years.

He told investigators he targeted women who wouldn't be missed right away, such as street people or prostitutes, and whose necks appealed to him for strangulation as that gave him sexual gratification.

The FBI had contacted Pine Bluff police that a man "half-admitted" to killing a black woman in Pine Bluff in the early 1990s, the Pine Bluff Commercial reported.

Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney S. Kyle Hunter has asked the state Crime Laboratory to take another look at Jones' autopsy results in an effort to corroborate Little's story.

Little was convicted in 2014 of killing three Los Angeles-area women and pleaded guilty in 2018 to killing a Texas woman in 1994.

He is now in California serving life sentences and has been cooperating with authorities. He has exhausted his appeals and is now in failing health, leading him to be forthcoming with investigators, authorities said.

State Desk on 07/16/2019

Upcoming Events