(LOS ANGELES) — The 1986 cold case murder of a teen has been solved after a DNA match led investigators to a convicted serial killer on death row.
When presented with the DNA evidence, William Lester Suff, a 70-year-old convicted serial killer, admitted to stabbing 19-year-old Cathy Small multiple times in the chest and leaving her on a California road after an argument, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Homicide Lt. Patricia Thomas.
On Feb. 22, 1986, South Pasadena police found Small unresponsive in the middle of the street, wearing a nightgown and suffering from multiple stab wounds throughout her body. Despite being pronounced dead at the scene, she was listed as Jane Doe No. 17 before being identified.
It wasn’t until August 2020 that DNA evidence from the case revealed the presence of two male donors, one of whom was identified as Suff, a notorious convicted serial killer known as the Riverside Prostitute Killer or the Lake Elsinore killer. Suff’s murder spree of 12 homicides occurred from 1989 to 1991 in Riverside County.
Suff, who was working in a computer repair shop in 1986, admitted to killing Small after a heated argument that led to her stabbing. Small, a mother of two with a younger sister, was mourned by her family, with her sister relieved that justice was served, although her mother had passed years before the killer was identified.
Cathy had a family who cared about her deeply. It is horrifying that her life was taken away so violently and in such a tragic way, said Kathryn Barger, a member of the LA County Board of Supervisors, during a press conference. Justice will be served for Cathy and her family.
The resolution of this long-standing cold case sheds light on the heinous crimes committed by serial killer William Lester Suff and brings closure to the family of Cathy Small after decades of uncertainty.
