A fortuitous break in a cold case has led detectives in Southern California to the culprit behind an unsolved 1986 homicide of a 19-year-old woman – a serial killer already on death row, according to Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials.
The Case: Cathy Small was working as a prostitute in February 1986 when she was killed, according to her roommate who reported the incident to law enforcement at the time, sheriff’s Lt. Patty Thomas revealed at a press conference.
Small had mentioned to her roommate that she was meeting a man named Bill who would give her $50 to drive with him from Lake Elsinore to Los Angeles, and she left their home wearing a nightgown that night, Thomas added.
Her roommate, reading a newspaper days later, learned of a woman stabbed to death in South Pasadena and feared it might be Small. The roommate contacted police and was able to identify her. Despite investigators’ efforts, the crime remained unsolved, and the case went cold.
The Breakthrough: Some 33 years later, in October 2019, a coroner’s investigator examining the death of a man just across the street from the scene of Small’s killing found several items in the man’s home that raised concerns, Thomas said. These items included numerous photos of women who appeared to have been assaulted and held against their will, possibly by the decedent, and a newspaper article about Small’s death.
The article is not finished. Click on the next page to continue.
The article is not finished. Click on the next page to continue.
Next page
