In September 1978, the quiet of a dirt road near Old Percival Road in Columbia, South Carolina, was broken by a grim discovery. A man out looking for his deer dogs happened upon the body of 19-year-old Evelyn Weston. An investigation by the Richland County Sheriff's Department determined that the young woman had died from a gunshot wound. For decades, her case remained cold, a lingering question in the minds of investigators, including a young detective named Leon Lott, who would later become
the county's sheriff. The initial investigation hit dead ends, and no suspect was ever formally identified, leaving a void in the quest for justice.
The case, though dormant, was never forgotten. Evelyn's car was found at a Steak and Ale restaurant on Forest Drive, a detail that investigators meticulously mapped out in relation to the crime scene in an attempt to piece together her final moments. Despite their efforts, the trail went cold, and the mystery of who was responsible for the death of the young woman, who was survived by a son, endured for forty years. The passage of time did little to diminish the memory of the case for those who had worked on it, a stark reminder of a life cut short and a family left without answers.
A breakthrough finally came in 2018, when a Texas Ranger contacted the Richland County Sheriff's Department with startling information. Samuel Little, a man who would come to be known as one of the most prolific serial killers in U.S. history, had begun confessing to a string of murders spanning several decades and states. Among his confessions was the murder of a young woman in South Carolina. Little provided details about the crime scene, including the proximity to a military base—Evelyn Weston's body had been found near Fort Jackson—that convinced investigators he was responsible. The time frame he gave also aligned with Weston's death. Though Little was already serving a life sentence for other murders, his confession brought a long-awaited resolution to the 40-year-old cold case, finally providing a name and a face to the person responsible for Evelyn Weston's death.
