William Little was executed by the State of Texas for the murder of Marilyn Peter
According to court documents William Little would attack Marilyn Peter inside of her home and the woman would be sexually assaulted, stabbed multiple times and sexually assaulted again
William Little would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
William Little would be executed by lethal injection on June 1 1999
William Little Photos
William Little Case
A former roofer has been executed at Huntsville for the sexual assault and stabbing death of a southeast Texas woman. William Hamilton Little was declared dead at 6:20 p.m. CDT today after receiving a lethal injection for the Dec. 3, 1983, murder of Marilyn Peter in her rural home near Cleveland, about 40 miles north of Houston. When asked by Warden Jim Willett if he had any last words, 38-year- old Little said, ‘I don’t have nothin’ to say.’ However, in a private conversation picked up by an overhead microphone, Little told Willett: ‘I don’t want to cause you any problems. I’ve been jealous of the people that’s preceded me. They got to go home and I had to remain.’
Peter’s family issued a statement thanking the state ‘for carrying out justice today. Although we feel that nothing can justify the loss of our loved one, we are grateful in knowing that William Little will never be able to kill and destroy another innocent life.’ An autopsy showed that Peter was sexually assaulted and stabbed some 20 times with a kitchen knife. Her body was found in the living room of her home by two deliverymen. Police said blood was found all over the kitchen and living room areas, indicating that a struggle had taken place. Peter’s young son was found crying on the top of the kitchen counter. Investigators also found almost 2 pounds of marijuana in Peter’s home.
Little, a former roofer with only a ninth-grade education, told police he became acquainted with Peter through her marijuana sales. Little was arrested on unrelated charges three days after Peter was killed. During an interrogation, Little confessed to the slaying. He claimed, however, that he had consensual sex with Peter, and that he killed her after an argument developed when she refused to ‘turn me on to some weed’ and attacked him with a knife. Little’s execution was the 13th in Texas this year and the 177th since the state restored the death penalty in 1982
