Authorities identify woman believed to be victim of Samuel Little, America's most prolific serial killer

Nearly 44 years after hunters discovered human remains near a Mississippi highway, authorities have identified the victim as Clara Birdlong -- who they believe was killed by Samuel Little, America's most prolific serial killer.

The announcement was made Tuesday by the Jackson County Sheriff's Department. Little died last year at age 80 while serving three consecutive life-without-parole sentences for the deaths of three women in the late 1980s -- but he had confessed to 93 other killings between 1970 and 2005, according to the FBI.

He targeted women, often of marginalized and vulnerable communities, many of whom were involved in prostitution or suffering from drug addiction and whose bodies sometimes went unidentified and their deaths were not investigated.