A man who confessed to targeting women, including in the 1991 cold case murder of Linda Little in Florida decades ago, is being eyed as a “suspected serial killer,” police said.
Michael Townson, a 53-year-old from Orlando, can accurately be described as a suspected serial killer, said Daytona Beach, Florida, Police Department Det. David Dinardi.
Townson is already serving life in prison for bludgeoning a woman to death in 2008. He’s now being considered as possibly being involved in another murder in central Florida, and “at least one” in Tennessee, Dinardi told reporters.
Michael Townson confessed to killing Linda Little, who vanished 31 years ago.
(FOX 32 Orlando)
“He spoke to investigators from many different agencies,” Dinardi added. “To me, he briefly mentioned a couple of other ones, but he didn’t really. Mostly, we focused on Linda.”
Townson was transferred to the Tomoka Correctional Institution in 2020 and asked to speak with Daytona Beach Police Department investigators shortly thereafter, Chief Jakari Young said Tuesday. Townson then gave them “a full confession” to Linda Lois Little’s October 1991 murder.
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“Townson tells investigators that he was sexually abused by his father and grandfather as a child and blames his mother and the other women in his life for not protecting him as a child,” Young said. “As a result, he developed a hatred for women.”
Linda Lois Little vanished in 1991, and a Florida prison inmate, Michael Townson, has confessed to killing her, authorities said.
(Dayton Beach Police Department)
The convicted murderer was “ultimately compelled” to confess after growing closer to his religion, Young said.
Little’s friend reported her missing Oct. 14, 1991, after no one had seen or heard from her in three days. On Monday, the police department announced that a grand jury voted to indict Townson on first-degree murder for Little’s death.
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According to Townson, he and Little began talking at a Daytona Beach hotel bar in 1991 in what seems to have been “a random meeting,” Dinardi explained.
“They met randomly,” Dinardi said. “They were enjoying a few drinks together, and then something happened that, in his words, just caused him to snap.”
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Dinardi said investigators vetted Townson’s confession and are now probing information he provided them regarding the whereabouts of Little’s remains.
Fox News’ Louis Casiano contributed to this report.
