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Lake Elsinore serial killer linked to California teenager’s 1986 death
Investigators announced a major breakthrough in a decades-old cold case on Tuesday, linking the 1986 killing of 19-year-old Cathy Small to serial killer William Suff, previously convicted of 12 murders.
Small’s body was discovered lying in the road in the 800 block of Bank Street in South Pasadena in the early morning on February 22, 1986, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Homicide Bureau Lieutenant Patricia Thomas said during a press conference at the Hall of Justice.
“She was wearing a nightgown, and appeared to have suffered several stab wounds throughout her body,” she said. A later autopsy revealed that she had died of multiple stab wounds and strangulation.
Though she was initially unidentified, detectives were contacted by a Lake Elsinore resident who had read a story in their local newspaper about the killing, and thought that the victim might be 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.”
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department
The man also told investigators that Cathy had left the house at around 10 p.m., wearing a nightgown like the one she was discovered in.
“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.”
In decades since, detectives have endlessly searched for answers in a case that went cold long ago, following up numerous leads without ever reaching a conclusive answer.
They finally reached a break in the case in October 2019, Thomas said, when a Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner investigator contacted a detective.
That investigator was at the scene of the man’s death in the 800 block of Bank Street, just across the street from where Small’s body was discovered more than 30 years earlier.
“A 63-year-old man had been found dead on his living room couch,” Thomas said. “He lied 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 in question was the one that identified Small as the victim of the 1986 killing.
Detectives then obtained the case file for Small’s homicide and discovered that the spot of her murder was directly across the street from the man’s home, which led them to obtain a search warrant, Thomas said.
“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. However, investigators learned the decedent’s DNA did not match the DNA found on victim Small and was not linked to any crimes,” she said.
Homicide detectives then re-obtained all of the evidence that was still being held from the 1986 investigation and transported it to their crime lab for DNA analysis.
“They discovered none of the items of evidence — including the sexual assault kit and victim’s clothing — were ever tested for DNA,” Thomas said.
The results of further testing finally revealed in August 2020 that the sexual assault kit and Small’s clothing had “the presence of two male donors,” Thomas said.
“One of the donors was identified as William Lester Suff — at the time, a white 70-year-old man — and the other an unknown male,” she said. “Bill Suff was a convicted serial killer, also known as the Riverside Prostitute Killer or the Lake Elsinore Killer.”
Suff had previously been arrested in January 1992 during a routine traffic stop, which led to him being charged with the murders, Thomas said.
In 1995, he was found guilty and condemned to death for the rape, torture and murder of 12 Riverside County sex workers that occurred between 1989 and 1991. Suff, now 73, still resides on death row at San Quentin State Prison.
Thomas said that Suff was convicted in 1974 for the murder of his 2-month-old daughter in Texas, at which point he was sentenced to 70 years. He was paroled to California in 1984 after serving 10 years.
Homicide investigators transported Suff from the San Quentin Prison to the Men’s Central Jail in Los Angeles, where he underwent two days of interrogation.
“Detectives interviewed him for two days — over seven hours,” Thomas said. “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.”
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna briefly spoke about the investigation at the press conference.
“For us, we believe we’re bringing a sense of long-overdue justice and closure to the victim and her family,” he 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.”
Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger was also at the press conference, revealing that Small was the mother of two young children at the time of her death.
“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,” Barger said. “Today, we stand before you to announce that justice will be served for Cathy and her family.”
One of 43 monkeys bred for medical research that escaped a compound in South Carolina has been recovered unharmed, officials said Saturday.
Many of the others are still located a few yards from the property, jumping back and forth over the facility’s fence, police said in a statement.
The Rhesus macaques made a break for it Wednesday after an employee at the Alpha Genesis facility in Yemassee didn’t fully lock a door as she fed and checked on them, officials said.
The monkeys on Friday were exploring the outer fence of the Alpha Genesis compound and were cooing at the monkeys inside. The primates continued to interact with their companions inside the facility on Saturday, which is a positive sign, the police statement said.
Yemassee Police Department
Alpha Genesis CEO Greg Westergaard relayed that efforts to recover all the animals will persist throughout the weekend and for as long as it takes, the statement said.
Westergaard told CBS News on Thursday that a caretaker inadvertently failed to secure a door at the enclosure, allowing the monkeys to roam free.
“It’s really like follow-the-leader. You see one go and the others go,” he said. “It was a group of 50 and 7 stayed behind and 43 bolted out the door.”
Westergaard acknowledged that it would be a long process to get them back and that they didn’t want to chase the monkeys because that would spook them and make them run away.
“We’ve got them very close,” he told CBS News. “This is all like what we want to see.”
The monkeys are about the size of a cat. They are all females weighing about 7 pounds.
Alpha Genesis, federal health officials and police all said the monkeys pose no risk to public health. The facility breeds the monkeys to sell to medical and other researchers.
Alpha Genesis provides primates for research worldwide at its compound in Yemassee, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Savannah, Georgia, according to its website.
A 31-year-old American tourist was killed while on vacation in Hungary’s capital, and the suspect, a 37-year-old Irish man, has been arrested, Hungarian police said Saturday.
The victim, Mackenzie Michalski was reported missing on Nov. 5 after she was last seen at a nightclub in central Budapest.
A Facebook group called “Find Mackenzie Michalski,” created on November 7, said Michalski, went by “Kenzie.” The group confirmed her death in a statement on Friday, thanking U.S. and Hungarian authorities for “their prompt attention, diligence, care, and consideration.”
Police launched a missing person investigation and reviewed security footage from local nightclubs where they observed Michalski with a man later identified as the suspect in several of the clubs the night of her disappearance.
Police detained the man, an Irish citizen, on the evening of Nov. 7. Investigators said that Michalski and the suspect met at a nightclub and danced before leaving for the man’s rented apartment. The man killed Michalski while they were engaged in an “intimate encounter,” police said.
The suspect, whom police identified by the initials L.T.M., later confessed to the killing but said it had been an accident. Police said that he had attempted to cover up his crime by cleaning the apartment and hiding Michalski’s body in a wardrobe before purchasing a suitcase and placing her body inside.
He then rented a car and drove to Lake Balaton, around 90 miles southwest of Budapest, where he disposed of the body in a wooden area outside the town of Szigliget.
Video released by police showed the suspect guiding authorities to the location where he had left the body. Police said the suspect had made internet searches before being apprehended on how to dispose of a body, police procedures in missing person cases, whether pigs really eat dead bodies and the presence of wild boars in the Lake Balaton area.
He also made an internet search inquiring about the competence of Budapest police.
Michalski’s parents are currently in Budapest, police told The Associated Press.
Friends posted condolences on the Facebook group of candles. Michalski was a nurse practitioner, the social media post said, who used “her humor, positivity, and limitless empathy to help heal her patients and encourage family and friends alike.”
Two years of record-breaking drought have dealt a heavy blow to what is arguably the Amazon’s most successful sustainable economy: the managed fishery for the giant pirarucu.
In Brazil´s Amazonas state, almost 6,000 riverine dwellers authorized to fish have reported a sharp drop in production and rising costs. They are demanding aid from the federal government and debating how to adapt to climate change.
Last year’s catch totaled 70% of the government-authorized quota of 100,443 fish. This year could see an even steeper decline, since many communities still haven´t been able to fish. The season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.
Jorge Saenz / AP
Pirarucu managed fishing began in the Amazon 25 years ago in the Mamiraua region and has since expanded. It helped the Amazon’s largest fish escape risk of extinction and is now an important source of income for locals in 10 sustainable conservation units and eight Indigenous territories, where deforestation is close to zero.
Unlike other aquatic species of the Amazon, such as river dolphins, the pirarucu — also known as arapaima — historically have proven resilient to drought and climate change. But low water levels are making it extremely difficult for fishers to transport their catch from remote lakes to major rivers and onto cities.
It’s a mammoth task. The pirarucu, which can weigh up to 200 kilograms (440 pounds), lives in large lakes that during flood season are often connected to major rivers. Fishing typically occurs when water levels begin to recede, making it easier to trap the fish and transport them out in small boats or canoes. In several areas, however, water levels dropped so quickly that this connection was cut off before fishing could begin.
In the São Raimundo community in the Medio Jurua region, fishing is scheduled to start Saturday, a two-month delay — a common situation this season. As a result, Coletivo Pirarucu, an umbrella organization that represents 2,500 riverine and Indigenous families, has requested that the federal government extend fishing season until the end of January.
Even in large rivers navigation has become problematic, raising costs and uncertainty among fishermen. It usually takes three to four days to transport fish from Carauari municipality — a major pirarucu producer — to Manaus, the Amazon´s largest city. During the peak of the drought, the trip increased to 10 days, and the freight price has doubled.
Tough as pirarucu are, they are not immune to climate change, according to researcher Adalberto Luis Val from the National Institute for Amazonian Research. He says rising temperatures and severe droughts are exacerbating the “death trio” for all fish: warmer water, more CO2 and less oxygen.
The pirarucu has evolved to breathe air but is far from invincible.
“No fish can regulate body temperature,” Val said. “Then there’s water scarcity. As its level drops, you start to get a high amount of suspended material, leading to sludge buildup. It sticks to the gill area, blocking the processes that occur there.”
Fearing deteriorating conditions in the following decades, Coletivo Pirarucu contends that the fishermen should be entitled to compensation for losses caused by climate change. “This crisis not only challenges the resilience of communities but also highlights the urgent need for climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies,” the nonprofit stated in an open letter last week.
In an e-mail response, James Bessa, a federal official overseeing pirarucu management, said that Ibama, Brazil´s environmental agency, is working with other public bodies and local fishing associations to reduce the impact of extreme events like droughts and floods. He said there are plans to start scientific studies and closer monitoring to provide insights into ways to support riverine and Indigenous communities in sustaining their fishing activities.
Adevaldo Dias — a riverine leader who presides over the Chico Mendes Memorial, a nonprofit that assists traditional non-Indigenous communities — argues that adopting additional public policies to help the fishermen is a matter of climate justice.
“The Indigenous and riverine peoples have minimal impact on the environment,” Dias said. “We know that conserving the forest benefits both us and those outside it. And when extreme climate events occur, they are the most vulnerable.”
