‘Confronting A Serial Killer’ Starz Docuseries Details Samuel Little, The Most Prolific Murderer In US History

Bruce Haring
·2 min read

A five-episode docuseries about the unprecedented relationship between author and journalist Jillian Lauren and the most prolific serial killer in American history, Sam Little, will bow on Starz this spring after a premiere at the SXSW Film Festival.

The story will detail Lauren’s race against time to identify Little’s victims. The series will be executive produced and directed by Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning filmmaker Joe Berlinger (The Paradise Lost Trilogy, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes) with Po Kutchins (The Murder of Laci Peterson, Prison Town, USA, The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth) serving as showrunner and executive producer.

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Little recently died in prison. He is estimated to have killed at least 93 victims in his decades-long crime spree. The incidents only came to light after he was convicted of killing three Los Angeles women, and began to talk to investigators about his other crimes.

Through the perspectives of Lauren and several female investigators, survivors and victims’ family members, Confronting a Serial Killer shines a light on systemic issues in the criminal justice system. The docuseries is produced by Lionsgate Television, Third Eye Motion Picture Company, and RadicalMedia.

The series will make its world premiere at the annual SXSW Film Festival in March, Confronting a Serial Killer will premiere this spring on Starz in the U.S. and Canada, and will air day and date on the Starzplay international streaming service across Europe, Latin America, and Japan.

“It was important to me and everyone working on this project that we put into focus the truly devastating impact that bias in our justice system can have on underrepresented groups, particularly women of color,” said Berlinger. “We follow Jillian in her dogged pursuit of justice for some of Sam’s victims and the loved ones they left behind, giving those that had largely been forgotten voice, name and identity.”

In the series, New York Times best-selling author and memoirist Jillian Lauren (Some Girls: My Life in a Harem) uncovers Sam Little’s darkest secrets and aids law enforcement in solving a multitude of cold case murders. This while struggling to reconcile her own history of addiction and abuse, with her present-day mission to return the identities of previously nameless bodies and forgotten women. As she slips deeper into his sordid world, Jillian realizes that she may become, psychologically, Little’s last victim.

Also serving as executive producers on the project are Jon Doran and Jon Kamen. SVP and Head of Unscripted Programming Alice Dickens-Koblin is the executive overseeing Confronting a Serial Killer on behalf of Starz and Lionsgate.

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