In January 1996, the body of 24-year-old Melissa Thomas, a female, was discovered on the grounds of the Little Zion Baptist Church in Opelousas, Louisiana. She had been strangled, and her body was left near the cemetery. For over two decades, her case remained a painful cold case for her family and the Opelousas Police Department. Investigators at the time had few leads and almost no physical evidence from the crime scene to identify a suspect.
The long-unsolved mystery finally found a resolution in November 2018. A prolific serial killer named Samuel Little, already serving multiple life sentences in California for three murders, confessed to killing Melissa Thomas. At the age of 78, Little began confessing to a string of unsolved murders across the country in exchange for a prison transfer. His confessions included the detailed admission of strangling Thomas.
Little's confession brought a bittersweet sense of closure to Melissa Thomas's family and the investigators who had worked on her case for years. Opelousas Police Chief Donald Thompson, who was the lead detective on the case in 1996, expressed that the resolution was personal for him as he knew the Thomas family well. Samuel Little, who died in prison in December 2020, was ultimately linked to at least 60 murders, making him one of the most prolific serial killers in U.S. history. His confession was the sole reason for the resolution of Melissa Thomas's murder, as there had been no other suspects or significant leads throughout the investigation.
