Unsolved California murder case from 1986 linked to serial killer who killed 13 other victims

The unsolved 1986 murder case of a teenager has been solved after a DNA match led investigators to a convicted serial killer on death row.

When presented with DNA evidence, William Lester Suff, 73, admitted to stabbing Cathy Small, 19, multiple times in the chest and abandoning her on a California road after an argument, according to Lt. Patricia Thomas of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Homicide Department.

On Feb. 22, 1986, South Pasadena police responded to a call about a woman lying in the street. When officers arrived, they found the woman unconscious in the middle of the street, wearing a nightgown and suffering from multiple 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 died from multiple stab wounds and strangulation, Thomas said.

On Feb. 25, 1986, detectives received a call from a Lake Elsinore-area resident who feared the victim was his roommate. After viewing her remains, the man identified the victim as Small, Thomas said.

The roommate told investigators that Small was a prostitute and had been living with him for a few months. Small told her roommate that a man named Bill was coming to pick her up and give her $50 so she could go with him to Los Angeles.

He said he never saw or heard from Small again, Thomas said.

The case has remained unsolved despite numerous leads followed by detectives over the years, Thomas said.

On October 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 home, including numerous photos of women who appeared to have been assaulted and held against their will and a newspaper article about Small’s identification after her murder, Thomas said.

Although the deceased man’s DNA did not match any known crimes, it was through that search that investigators discovered that none of the evidence in Small’s murder — including a sex assault kit and the victim’s clothing — had ever been tested for DNA, Thomas said.

DNA evidence was finally tested in August 2020, more than 34 years after Small’s murder, 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 notoriously convicted serial killer — also known as the Riverside hooker killer or the Lake Elsinore killer, Thomas said.

In July 1995, Suff was convicted and sentenced to death for 12 homicides that occurred in Riverside County between 1989 and 1991, Thomas said.

Suff admitted under questioning that he lived in Riverside County and worked in Lake Elsinore at a computer repair shop in 1986. On the day of the murder, Small entered the repair shop and gave him her phone number.

He called her later that day and picked her up, after which they argued and he became angry 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 while she was sitting in the passenger seat, Thomas said.

At the time of his death, Small had two young children and a younger sister, Thomas said. Investigators said his sister was relieved the killer had been found, but Small’s mother had died years before he was identified.

“Cathy had a family that cared deeply for her. It’s horrific that her life was taken away in such a violent and tragic way,” Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors member Kathryn Barger said at a news conference. “Justice will be served for Cathy and her family.”