1986 cold-case murder of 19-year-old Lake Elsinore woman is linked to serial killer, authorities say

The 1986 slaying of a 19-year-old woman whose body was found dumped in South Pasadena has been linked to a serial killer who was convicted of murdering 12 women in Riverside County, Los Angeles County sheriff's officials announced Tuesday.

The "major breakthrough" in the investigation into the death of Cathy Ann Small was announced at a news conference at the Hall of Justice in downtown Los Angeles presided over by Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna.

"For us, we believe we're bringing a sense of long-overdue justice and closure to the victim and her family," Luna said.

"Amongst everything else we're talking about today, you've always got to remember when we're talking about something as significant as this, we're talking about a victim who lost her life, and the family who will never forget that," Luna said.

Small's body was discovered on Feb. 22, 1986, at about 7 a.m. lying on the roadway in the 800 block of Bank Street in South Pasadena, sheriff's homicide Lt. Patricia Thomas said.

"She was wearing a nightgown, and appeared to have suffered several stab wounds throughout her body," Thomas said.

An autopsy the next day determined that Small had died of "multiple stab wounds and strangulation," Thomas said. The woman was unidentified, but a few days afterward detectives were contacted by a person in Lake Elsinore who had read a newspaper story about the killing and who thought the victim might have been his roommate.

"Later that day, he identified the victim as Cathy Ann Small," Thomas said. "He told detectives she was a prostitute in the Lake Elsinore area, and lived at his house for a few months."

He told detectives that the night before her body was found, she left his house at about 10 p.m. "wearing a nightgown," Thomas said.

"She told him that a man named Bill was picking her up and giving her $50 to drive with him to Los Angeles," Thomas said. "He never saw or heard from her again."

The case remained unsolved for years, although detectives followed up numerous leads, Thomas said.

A break in the case came in October of 2019, when a sheriff's detective was contacted by an investigator from the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner, Thomas said.

The investigator was at the scene of a "natural death" of a man in the 800 block of Bank Street -- at a residence across from where Small's body had been found 33 years earlier.

"A 63-year-old man had been found dead on his living room couch," Thomas said. "He lived alone, and had no children. The coroner investigator observed several disturbing items in the house: numerous photos of women who appeared drugged and assaulted and held against their will, possibly by the decedent. There was also a newspaper article located in his bedroom stating slain victim named."

The article said the woman who had been found stabbed to death in South Pasadena had been identified as Cathy Small, from Lake Elsinore, Thomas said.

Detectives obtained the case file for the homicide of Cathy Small, and discovered the "location of the murder was directly across the street" from the dead man's residence, Thomas said. The detectives then obtained a search warrant for the residence.

"Numerous items of evidence were recovered from the residence, and DNA tests were conducted on several of the items by criminalists from our crime lab," Thomas said. "However, investigators learned the decedent's DNA did not match the DNA found on victim Small and he was not linked to any crimes."

Homicide detectives then recovered all of the evidence that was being held since 1986 regarding the killing, and transported the evidence to the sheriff's crime lab in Los Angeles for DNA analysis, Thomas said.

"They discovered none of the items of evidence -- including the sexual assault kit and victim's clothing -- were ever tested for DNA," Thomas said.

On Aug. 19, 2020, homicide detectives were notified by a criminalist that DNA tests on the sexual assault kit and the victim's clothing "revealed the presence of two male donors," Thomas said.

"One of the donors was identified as William Lester Suff -- at (that) time, a white 70-year-old man -- and the other an unknown male," Thomas said.

"Bill Suff was a convicted serial killer, also known as the Riverside Prostitute Killer, or the Lake Elsinore Killer," Thomas said.

"On Jan. 9, 1992, he was arrested during a routine traffic stop and charged with the murders," Thomas said. "On July 19, 1995, he was found guilty and sentenced to death for 12 homicides which occurred in Riverside County from 1989 to 1991."

According to Thomas, Suff had been convicted in 1974 for the murder of his 2-month-old daughter in Texas. He was sentenced to 70 years for that crime, but had been paroled to California in 1984, Thomas said.

"On May 11, 2022, homicide investigators transported suspect Suff from San Quentin Prison to (the) Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Men's Central Jail," Thomas said. "Detectives interviewed him for two days -- over seven hours. He confessed and discussed in detail the murder of Cathy Small. He also discussed and admitted to some of the previous murders in Riverside County."

Also at the Tuesday morning news conference was Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger.

"It's been almost 40 years since the death of 19-year-old Cathy Small," Barger said. "I want to share with you what I know about Cathy. ... She was a mother of two young children. She was also a daughter and a sister. Cathy had a family who cared about her deeply. It is horrifying that her life was taken away so violently in such a tragic way. Today, we stand before you to announce that justice will be served for Cathy and her family. Although almost four decades have passed, law enforcement never gave up on this case."