人物:美国史上最致命连环杀手(1)

Samuel Little says he killed 93 people, making him the deadliest serial¹ killer² in U.S.history. Now he' s drawing portraits of his victims from memory— and anguished³ families may finally get answers

利特尔说，他杀死了93人，成为美国历史上最致命的连环杀手。现在，他正在为他记忆中的受害者画像，而痛苦的家庭可能最终会得到答案

As a little girl, Pearl Nelson would Listen to stories her uncle would tell about the mother she never knew— how despite a troubled life of prostitution and drug abuse, Audrey Nelson delighted in buying presents for her baby girl, including a lamp that lit up their room with dragonflies.

当珀尔·纳尔逊还是个小女孩的时候，她会听她叔叔讲一些她不认识的母亲的故事——尽管她的卖淫和吸毒的生活很麻烦，但奥黛丽·纳尔逊却喜欢给她的小女儿买礼物，包括一盏用蜻蜓照亮他们房间的灯。

Left in the care of relatives by the time she was about 2, Pearl was 13 when her mom came back for her.

珀尔2岁左右的时候，她被交给亲戚照顾，13岁时，妈妈回来接她。

"She turned her life around, and she was ready to be a mom again," says Pearl. But on the 1989 summer day of their planned reunion in Mountain View, Calif., Audrey was a no-show.

“她改变了她的生活，她准备好再次成为一个母亲，”珀尔说。但在1989年夏天的一天，他们计划在加州山景城重聚，奥黛丽却没有出现。

Her body was discovered several weeks later in a dumpster in Los Angeles. "I magine when she doesn't come," Pearl says. "Every night I was like, 'I just want my mommy.'"

几周后，她的尸体在洛杉矶的一个垃圾箱里被发现。“她不来的时候我会想象，”珀尔说。“每天晚上我都在想，‘我只想要我的妈妈。’”

Nearly 30 years later Pearl did see her mother again—staring up from among other chilling sketches⁴ by a confessed serial killer.

近30年后，珀尔再次见到了她的母亲——从另一幅令人毛骨悚然的速写中出现，作者是一名已供认不讳的连环杀手。

"I could tell right away which one was her," says Pearl, now 43 and a mom herself. "I could look at 90 pictures and pick her out in a second."

“我一眼就能认出那是她，”现年43岁的珀尔说。“我能在一秒钟内看完90张照片就认出她来。”

Audrey's portrait is one in a macabre⁵ trove⁶ of portraits that FBI officials hope will bring long-awaited answers to more families whose daughters, sisters and mothers went missing between 1970 and 2005, when a convicted killer named Samuel Little claims to have strangled to death a staggering 93 women across 19 states.

奥黛丽的画像是众多恐怖的肖像之一，联邦调查局官员希望这些肖像画能为更多家庭带来期待已久的答案。这些家庭的女儿，姐妹，母亲在1970年至2005年之间失踪，而一名叫塞缪尔·利特尔(Samuel Little)的杀人犯声称，他在19个州勒死了多达93名女性。

In hundreds of hours of interviews over the last 21months, Little—a onetime truck driver currently serving multiple life sentences in California State Prison, Los Angeles County for the murder of Audrey and two other women—has poured out to police graphically⁷ detailed⁸ confessions⁹, complete with drawings of his alleged¹⁰ victims.

在过去21个月的数百个小时的采访中，里特尔——一名因谋杀奥黛丽和另外两名女性而在洛杉矶加州州立监狱服刑多年的卡车司机——向警方提供了详细生动的供词，并附上了受害者的画像。

Already the 79-year-old's illustrated¹¹ confessions have been matched to more than 50 cold-case Jane Does around the country, and the FBI is racing¹² against time and Little's failing health to identify the rest of his victims.

现年79岁的利特尔的供词已经与全国50多起悬案相匹配，联邦调查局正在与时间和利特尔日渐衰弱的身体赛跑，以确认其他受害者的身份。

"Little told us he chose women that would be less missed," says Angela Williamson of the Justice Department's Violent Crime Apprehension¹³ Program.

司法部暴力犯罪逮捕项目的安吉拉·威廉姆森说：“利特尔告诉我们，他选择了那些不会被忽视的女性。”

"Everyone of these victims that we've helped to identify so far, they were missed and loved dearly. There's somebody out there who still cares, still wants to know."

“到目前为止，我们帮助确认的每一位遇难者，他们都被深深思念和爱戴。有些人仍然关心，仍然想了解。”

1 serial   

n.连本影片，连本电视节目；adj.连续的

参考例句：

• A new serial is starting on television tonight.今晚电视开播一部新的电视连续剧。
• Can you account for the serial failures in our experiment?你能解释我们实验屡屡失败的原因吗？

2 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

3 anguished   

adj.极其痛苦的v.使极度痛苦(anguish的过去式)

参考例句：

• Desmond eyed her anguished face with sympathy. 看着她痛苦的脸，德斯蒙德觉得理解。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The loss of her husband anguished her deeply. 她丈夫的死亡使她悲痛万分。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

4 sketches   

n.草图( sketch的名词复数 )；素描；速写；梗概

参考例句：

• The artist is making sketches for his next painting. 画家正为他的下一幅作品画素描。
• You have to admit that these sketches are true to life. 你得承认这些素描很逼真。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 macabre   

adj.骇人的，可怖的

参考例句：

• He takes a macabre interest in graveyards.他那么留意墓地，令人毛骨悚然。
• Mr Dahl was well-known for his macabre adult stories called 'Tales of the Unexpected'.达尔先生以成人恐怖小说集《意料之外的故事》闻名于世。

6 trove   

n.被发现的东西，收藏的东西

参考例句：

• He assembled a rich trove of Chinese porcelain.他收集了一批中国瓷器。
• The gallery is a treasure trove of medieval art.这个画廊是中世纪艺术的宝库。

7 graphically   

adv.通过图表；生动地，轮廓分明地

参考例句：

• This data is shown graphically on the opposite page. 对页以图表显示这些数据。
• The data can be represented graphically in a line diagram. 这些数据可以用单线图表现出来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

9 confessions   

n.承认( confession的名词复数 )；自首；声明；（向神父的）忏悔

参考例句：

• It is strictly forbidden to obtain confessions and to give them credence. 严禁逼供信。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Neither trickery nor coercion is used to secure confessions. 既不诱供也不逼供。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

10 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

11 illustrated   

adj. 有插图的，列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• His lecture was illustrated with slides taken during the expedition. 他在讲演中使用了探险时拍摄到的幻灯片。
• The manufacturing Methods: Will be illustrated in the next chapter. 制作方法将在下一章说明。

12 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

13 apprehension   

n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑

参考例句：

• There were still areas of doubt and her apprehension grew.有些地方仍然存疑，于是她越来越担心。
• She is a girl of weak apprehension.她是一个理解力很差的女孩。