Psychologist describes Samuel Little as ‘serial sexual’ killer

The FBI calls Samuel Little the worst serial killer in U.S. history. Little claims to have murdered 93 people, including a woman in Fort Myers back in 1984. He drew pictures of all his victims, signing his name and adding the location where he says he committed the murders.

We spoke to an expert who provided a better idea as to why Little made these decisions to document the murders of his victims.

Dr. Gary Brucato specializes in psychology of violent crime at the New York State Psychiatric Center at Columbia University. He shed light on the mind of a serial killer like Little.

“They’re such intensely visual people,” Brucato told WINK News. “It’s not uncommon at all for them to produce some sort of artistic product.”

Brucato said there are four kinds of serial killer: There is the angel of death, mothers who kill their children, those with hatred for a certain group of people and the serial sexual.

Brucato say Little falls under the serial sexual category.

“They have had a fantasy, usually a fantasy in their minds, for years and years and years of sort of regaining a sense of power or control,” Brucato said.

Like Little, Dennis Rader, the “BTK Killer,” drew pictures of his victims. Rader strangled 10 people in Wichita, Kansas, between the 1970 and 1990s. He taunted police by sending letter to the newspaper detailing his murders.

“Another person very visually stimulated,” Brucato said. “He would even sometimes dress up as his victims and take photographs of himself.”

Detective Maalisa Langton with Fort Myers Police Department is trying to identify the victim Little says he killed 35 years ago in Fort Myers. Langton won’t say if there was a sexual motive, but did share certain details with us.

“He explained to us in detail that’s how he took pleasure,” Langton said. “He took pleasure in doing that.”

While Fort Myers police say they received a promising lead after last week’s media blitz, they are not learning whether that lead has led to a possible indication of the Fort Myers woman Little says he killed.

Brucato told us that pleasure drove Little to kill.

“They’re living out that fantasy over and over again, trying to make it more and more perfect in their mind,” Brucato said.