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, 73, 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 responded to a report of a woman lying in the street. When officers arrived, they found the woman unresponsive in the middle of the street, wearing a nightgown and suffering from several stab wounds throughout her body, Thomas said.
She was pronounced dead at the scene. She had no identification and was listed as Jane Doe No. 17, Thomas said. She was found to have died from multiple stab wounds and strangulation, Thomas said.
On Feb. 25, 1986, detectives received a call from a resident in the Lake Elsinore area who was concerned the victim was his roommate. After seeing her remains, the man identified the victim as Small, Thomas said.
The roommate told detectives Small was a prostitute and lived at his house for a few months. Small told her roommate a man named Bill was picking her up and giving her $50 to drive with him to Los Angeles.
He said never saw or heard from Small again, Thomas said.
The case remained unsolved despite detectives following up on numerous leads throughout the years, Thomas said.
On Oct. 11, 2019, detectives responded to the scene of a natural death across the street from where Small’s body was found.
The coroner’s investigator found several disturbing items in the house, including numerous photos of women who appeared to have been assaulted and held against their will and a newspaper article about the identification of Small after her murder, Thomas said.
While the dead man’s DNA did not match any known crimes, it was through this search that investigators discovered that none of the items of evidence from Small’s murder — including a sexual assault kit and the victim’s clothing — were ever tested for DNA, Thomas said.
The DNA evidence was finally tested in August 2020, more than 34 years after Small’s killing, which revealed the presence of two male donors, one of whom was identified as Suff and the other as an unknown male.
Suff is a notorious convicted serial killer — also known as the Riverside Prostitute Killer or the Lake Elsinore killer, Thomas said.
In July 1995, Suff was found guilty and sentenced to death for 12 homicides that occurred in the Riverside County from 1989 to 1991, Thomas said.
Suff would admit under questioning that he was living in Riverside County and working in Lake Elsinore at a computer repair shop in 1986. On the day of the murder, Small went into the repair shop and gave him her phone number.
He called her later that day and he picked her up, after which they got into an argument and he became enraged because she knocked his glasses off his face. He retrieved a knife he kept in the vehicle and stabbed her multiple times in the chest as she sat in the passenger seat, Thomas said.
At the time of her death, Small had two small children and a younger sister, Thomas said. Detectives said her sister was relieved that the killer was found, but Small’s mother had died years before he 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,” Kathryn Barger, a member of the LA County Board of Supervisors, said during a press conference. “Justice will be served for Cathy and her family.”
