A 19-year-old woman whose body was found on a South Pasadena street in 1986 was killed by William Suff, convicted of murdering 12 women whose bodies were found in Riverside County, Los Angeles County sheriff’s Lt. Patricia Thomas said during a Tuesday, Aug. 13, press conference.
Suff confessed in 2022 to the killing of Cathy Small, a Lake Elsinore mother of two, the lieutenant said.
Authorities credited collaboration among different agencies, persistence and DNA for solving the murder. It wasn’t clear why authorities announced the link on Tuesday.
Suff told detectives he had picked up Small the night of Feb. 21 that year from where she was staying in Lake Elsinore. When they arrived in the 800 block of Bank Street in South Pasadena, there was an argument.
“He became enraged because she knocked his glasses off his face,” Thomas said during the press conference held at the Hall of Justice in downtown Los Angeles.
Suff took a knife he kept in the car and stabbed Small multiple times in the chest as she sat in the front-passenger seat, the lieutenant said.
“He pushed her out of the car onto the street and drove away,” Thomas said.
South Pasadena police found Small’s body around 7 a.m. the next day after a caller reported a woman lying on the street. She was wearing a nightgown and didn’t have any identification, Thomas said.
The medical examiner’s office determined she died from multiple stab wounds and strangulation, Thomas said.
Detectives found out who she was after her roommate saw a story in the newspaper about a woman discovered dead in South Pasadena and called authorities on Feb. 25, 1986. He identified the body as Small’s.
But no one knew who killed her then.
It would take three decades and persistent investigators before the trail led to Suff.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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