LOS ANGELES — Authorities revealed on Tuesday that the 1986 murder of 19-year-old Cathy Small in Southern California has been connected to convicted serial killer William Suff. DNA evidence linked Suff to the crime. Suff, who was sentenced to death in 1995, was convicted of 12 murders in Riverside County that took place between 1989 and 1991, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Lt. Patricia Thomas.
Thomas, speaking at a news conference, identified Suff as the Riverside prostitute killer or the Lake Elsinore killer. He was also convicted in 1974 for the death of his 2-month-old daughter in Tarrant County, Texas. Despite receiving a 70-year prison sentence, Suff was paroled to California in 1984.
Cathy Small’s body was discovered on a street in South Pasadena, a small suburb of Los Angeles, at 7 a.m. on February 22, 1986. She was found wearing a nightgown and had been both stabbed and strangled.
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Small was unidentified for some time until a Lake Elsinore resident, about 70 miles southeast of South Pasadena, contacted detectives. He expressed concern that the victim might be a local prostitute who had lived with him for several months, after reading about the case in the news.
The resident identified Small and informed investigators that she had mentioned the night before her death that a man named Bill was paying her $50 to drive with him to Los Angeles.
Despite this lead, the case remained unsolved for years.
In 2019, an investigator from the LA County medical examiner’s office reached out to homicide detectives after responding to the natural death of a 63-year-old man found on a couch in a South Pasadena home, directly across the street from where Small’s body was discovered.
“The coroner’s investigator observed several disturbing items in the house, numerous photos of women who appeared to have been assaulted and held against their will, possibly by the decedent,” Thomas said.
In the bedroom of the deceased 63-year-old man, detectives found a newspaper article about Cathy Small’s identification as the 1986 murder victim.
Upon reviewing the case file for Small’s killing, detectives realized that the evidence had never been subjected to DNA testing. Subsequent tests matched William Suff and another unidentified individual but did not match the man found on the couch, who was not connected to any crimes, according to Thomas.
In 2022, detectives interviewed Suff over the course of two days at a Los Angeles County jail.
“He confessed and discussed in detail the murder of Cathy Small,” Thomas said. “He also discussed and admitted to some of the previous murders in Riverside County.”
Investigators are unlikely to pursue charges against Suff for the Small case due to his existing convictions and pending death sentence. California has had a moratorium on the death penalty since 2019.
Authorities reported that Small had two young children and a younger sister. Thomas read a letter from the sister, who was unable to attend the news conference.
“My sister, Cathy Small, was not a statistic,” the letter said. “She was a protective big sister, a loving mother, and a good daughter. Kathy was funny, smart, and caring. She had a big heart and would do anything for anyone.”
