"God Has Answered My Prayers": Nancy Stevens's Mother on Samuel Little's Confession, 2018
A Huntsville, Alabama, news report from November 2018 in which Lorene Roberts, 84, recalls her last warning to her daughter Nancy Stevens and speaks about learning that Samuel Little had confessed to killing her. Little is not heard.
- Subject
- Samuel Little
- Recorded
- November 2018
- Runtime
- 2:01
Content warning: Concerns the murder of a woman by strangulation and her mother's grief; no graphic detail is spoken in the video.
The Report
This is a 2-minute local television news report from Huntsville, Alabama, posted on YouTube on November 30, 2018. It was broadcast by WAAY 31, whose logo is on screen, and the YouTube description also credits WAAY 31. It features Lorene Roberts, 84, whose daughter Nancy Stevens of Decatur, Alabama, was killed in 2005, speaking shortly after she learned that Samuel Little had confessed to the killing. Mrs. Roberts is heard for about a minute in several short passages; the rest is the anchors' introduction and the reporter's narration. Little himself is not heard.
Historical Context
Samuel Little was convicted in Los Angeles in 2014 of three murders. From 2018 he confessed to 93 killings across the United States between 1970 and 2005, and the FBI later called him the most prolific serial killer in U.S. history. Nancy Carol Stevens of Decatur was found dead on a roadside near Tupelo, Mississippi, on August 8, 2005; the coroner ruled that she died of manual asphyxiation. Her killing is believed to be among Little's last.
Circumstances
On October 23, 2018, investigators from Lee County, Mississippi, interviewed Little at the Wise County Jail in Decatur, Texas, after a referral from the Texas Rangers. According to the investigators, he confessed to killing Nancy Stevens and gave details that only the killer would know: he said the two traveled in his RV, that he killed her in a Walmart parking lot in Tupelo, and that he left her body on County Road 41, near the Lee and Pontotoc county line. The confession was announced on about November 20, 2018; WCBI reported that Little faced a murder charge in Lee County, and the case was to go to a Lee County grand jury in January 2019.
What the Report Covers
Mrs. Roberts recalls that about a week before her daughter's death she told her, "stop getting in cars with people you don't know," because "they're gonna take you somewhere and hurt you, and we won't know where you are." She says she had asked God for 13 years to let her learn who had killed her daughter before she died, and that when she was told of the confession she said, "God has answered my prayers." Her first question, she says, was where her daughter could have met "somebody like that." She speaks of the families of Little's other victims ("I know how they are, 'cause I'm there") and says that getting an answer still hurts.
What Makes the Recording Significant
The report records a victim's mother's reaction in the first weeks after Little's confessions became public, from one of the latest cases in the span of years he confessed to. It preserves her account of her final warning to her daughter.
Archival Importance
A short local report centered on one family.
Important Caveats
Little does not speak in this video. The report is WAAY 31's (logo and anchors' name straps on screen), although the uploading channel is named "48 News", the branding of the rival station WAFF; who runs that channel is not established. The anchors are named on screen as Demetria McClenton and Dan Shaffer. The reporter's name is as heard ("Sidney Martin") and was not verified; page copy should not use it. The anchor says sheriff's deputies found Nancy Stevens's body; the Decatur Daily reported that motorists found it; page copy follows the newspaper. Her age at death is given as 46 by WAFF and the Decatur Daily and as 48 by WCBI; the video gives no age, and page copy should use 46 only with that caveat, or omit it. Little's account of the killing is his confession, which investigators said contained details only the killer would know; it was never tested at trial.
Anchor: [unclear: "No, thanks" / "And thanks"] for joining us. [unclear: "some dance Schaefer"; possibly "I'm Dan Shaffer"]. Tonight we are hearing about a final conversation a Decatur woman had with her mom before she was murdered and dumped on the side of the road. A man the FBI calls the most prolific serial killer of our time says he strangled Nancy Stevens in 2005. Her mom says she gave a fateful warning all those years ago. [00:19 to about 00:28: no clear speech. The captions place the words "the warning" here; Whisper has "I said Master of the Day" just before Mrs. Roberts's next words. Possibly natural sound, or the start of Mrs. Roberts's answer.]
Lorene Roberts: [unclear: "The warning" / "I said Master of the Day"]. I said, my spirit and God came to me to tell you this: stop getting in cars with people you don't know, you know, 'cause they're gonna take you somewhere and hurt you, and we won't know where you are. And she just looked at me.
Anchor: And that conversation happened about a week before sheriff's deputies found Nancy's body. WAAY 31's Sidney Martin (name as heard; not verified) now joins us with more.
Lorene Roberts: I had asked the Lord for 13 years to just let me find out who had done [unclear: "it" / "him"] before I died.
Reporter: 84-year-old Lorene Roberts told me she was taken off guard last week when she learned Samuel Little confessed to killing her daughter, Nancy Stevens, more than a decade ago.
Lorene Roberts: When he told me that, I said, well, God has answered my prayers.
Reporter: Now she has questions of how the two crossed paths.
Lorene Roberts: And my first question was, how did she meet, I mean, where did she meet somebody like that?
Reporter: [unclear: "And"; possibly "Roberts"] told me she's thinking of the other 89 families who may be victims of Little's crimes.
Lorene Roberts: I feel so sorry for them. Unless you have been through it or going through it, you don't know how another person feels. But I know how they are, 'cause I'm there.
Reporter: And even though her family might have closure, Roberts told me it hurts bringing up the terrible tragedy from 13 years ago.
Lorene Roberts: You do hurt, even though you get an answer to what you've been asking for for so long. You still... [Clip ends at 02:01, mid-sentence.] ---