Mom found slain in nightgown in 1986, CA cops say. New suspect is known serial killer
A woman wearing a nightgown was found slain in a California neighborhood Feb. 22, 1986, officials said.
Two days later, a man called detectives after reading a newspaper story about the woman who officials said was found dead in Pasadena, Patricia Thomas, a lieutenant with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, said at an Aug. 13 news conference shared on Facebook.
The man was worried the woman from the story was his roommate, Thomas said.
After trekking from Lake Elsinore to the county’s medical examiner office, the man identified the woman as 19-year-old Cathy Small, a mother of two, Thomas said.
For decades, there was no suspect in her killing.
But now, after a “routine investigation” reignited a flame in the case, Thomas said a 73-year-old man has now been identified as a suspect: William Lester Suff, a convicted serial killer, also known as the Riverside Prostitute Killer or the Lake Elsinore Killer.
Small’s younger sister, Deanna Larson, thanked the sheriff’s department for bringing closure to his sister’s case, according to a letter read aloud by Thomas.
“The man who murdered my sister also destroyed me, my family, and the families of others,” Larson’s letter read, according to the news conference. “I have spent almost my entire life trying to find out who murdered my sweet sister. I think of her every day.”
‘Routine investigation’ sparks interest
While coroner investigator Brenda Schaefer responded to a South Pasadena home Oct. 11, 2019, for a routine death investigation of a 63-year-old man, she noticed something odd, Thomas said.
Schaefer found “several disturbing items in the house,” including “numerous photos of women who appeared to have been assaulted and held against their will,” Thomas said.
In the man’s bedroom, investigators also found a newspaper clipping about a woman found stabbed to death being identified as Small, Thomas said.
Detective Louie Aguilera found the 1986 case file and realized the case was still unsolved, according to Thomas.
Aguilera also noticed Small’s body was found “directly across the street from” where officials were investigating the man’s death in 2019, Thomas said.
After getting a search warrant days later, detectives collected evidence from the home, believing it “would yield evidence related to the murder of Cathy Small,” Thomas said.
However, the man’s DNA did not match any DNA found on Small, Thomas said.
“He was not linked to any crimes,” Thomas said.
While detectives didn’t have their suspect, this man’s death renewed detectives’ push to close Small’s case.
Suspect identified
Detectives recovered evidence from Small’s 1986 killing, Thomas said.
“They discovered that none of the items of evidence, including a sexual assault kit and victims clothing, were ever tested for DNA,” Thomas said.
They sent the evidence to the department’s crime lab for DNA analysis, and investigators found two male DNA profiles, according to Thomas.
One was a match to Suff, a convicted serial killer, Thomas said.
Suff was convicted and sentenced to death in 1995 in relation to 12 Riverside County homicides between 1989 and 1991, Thomas said.
Confession
Detectives transported Suff from San Quentin Prison to Los Angeles in May 2022, Thomas said.
“Detectives interviewed him for two days, over seven hours,” Thomas said. “He confessed and discussed in detail the murder of Cathy Small.”
Thomas said he told detectives he was living in Riverside County in 1986 and worked at a computer repair shop.
On the day of her death, Small walked into the repair shop and gave Suff her phone number, Thomas said.
He called later in the day and asked her if she would come along with him on a trip to Pasadena, Thomas said.
The pair made their way after he picked her up at about 10 p.m., according to Thomas.
When they arrived, however, “they got into an argument,” Thomas said.
“He became enraged because she knocked his glasses off his face,” Thomas said.
Suff told investigators he pulled a knife that he kept in the car and “stabbed her multiple times in the chest as she sat in the passenger seat,” Thomas said.
He pushed her from the car onto the street before driving away, Thomas said.
Given Suff’s prior convictions and pending death sentence, Thomas said the case was presented to the county’s district attorney’s office “for declaration purposes only.”
A young mother
At the time of her death, Small had two young children, Kathryn Ann Barger, a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, said at the news conference.
“She was also a daughter and a sister. Cathy had a family who cared about her deeply,” Barger said. “It is horrifying that her life was taken away so violently and in such a tragic way.”
In her letter, Larson said her sister “was a loving mother and a good daughter.”
“Cathy was funny, smart and caring. She had a big heart and would do anything for anyone,” the letter said. “Cathy was talented, but her life was cut short before she could even begin to make her own dreams come true.”
This story was originally published August 13, 2024 at 5:43 PM with the headline "Mom found slain in nightgown in 1986, CA cops say. New suspect is known serial killer."
