The site where Samuel Little dumped the body of Denise Christie Brothers

Crime Scene Location in Odessa, Texas, United States

This is the lot where Denise Christie Brothers' body was discovered.

The 38-year-old sex worker was last seen at a nearby motel in January of 1994.

On February 2nd, 1994, a Coca-Cola bottling employee discovered her partially clothed body at this lot on Van Street in west Odessa.

Brothers had been strangled to death and left in a bush.

When the employee first caught a glimpse of her remains, he initially believed that it was a mannequin.

Although the body had been lying there for some time, it is believed that the cold weather helped preserve it.

When detectives arrived at the scene, they immediately realized that it was Brothers. At the time, she was well known to local law enforcement.

An autopsy report ruled the manner of death a homicide, and a murder investigation was immediately launched. Initially, the police identified her pimp and another man as suspects.

However, every lead seemed to go nowhere, and Brothers' killing eventually became a cold case.

For nearly 25 years, her murder remained unsolved. Then, in May of 2018, a serial killer named Samuel Little confessed to the crime.

Little had been arrested at a homeless shelter in Kentucky in 2012 on a narcotics charge and then extradited to California. Following his arrest, the authorities discovered that his DNA connected him to the murders of three women in Los Angeles.

In September of 2014, Little was convicted of the killings and sentenced to life in prison.

Four years later, he finally started to confess to his crimes. Furthermore, the FBI was able to confirm that he was telling the truth.

At that point, it started to become clear that Little was one of America's most prolific serial killers.

In May of 2018, he confessed to Brothers' murder.

Seven months later, he pleaded guilty to the crime and received another life sentence.

Where was Denise Christie Brothers found?

Below, you will find the address and the GPS coordinates for this location.

GPS coordinates

The latitude and longitude coordinates for the site are:

31.832643, -102.396755

Map

To view directions on how to get there, you can use the Google Maps shortcut below:

Google Maps Link

Address

The full address for this location is:

2700 Van Street
Odessa
Texas
TX 79763
United States

Directions

The site is close to the intersection between Harless Avenue and West 2nd Street.

Private Property Warning

This is a private property. It is not a public place. Therefore, you should be respectful and not step foot on the property without permission.

Photos

Photos of the site and other related images.

2700 Van Street

This Google Street View image of 2700 Van Street was taken in June of 2019.

The lot has two entrances. The image above shows the eastern entrance.

The property is currently home to Steel Goode Products LLC. However, at the time of the murder, it was being used by a Coca-Cola bottling company.

Aerial image

This is an aerial image of the site. We have outlined it in red.

Note that it is unclear exactly where Brothers' body was discovered. Newspaper reports state that the employee was backing up his vehicle when he spotted her remains in a nearby bush.

Detective Sgt. Snow Robertson

This photograph shows Odessa Detective Sgt. Snow Robertson standing near the site on Van Street.

Denise Christie Brothers went missing at the start of 1994. The police believe that she had been dead for 3 or 4 weeks by the time her body was discovered.

Brothers was addicted to heroin and worked in the sex trade. As a result, she drifted between her parents' house and a nearby motel.

Her oldest son was an adult who was living in Miami. Her other two sons, Damien and Dustin, were staying with her parents.

Brothers' fourth child, Derreck, was put up for adoption due to her worsening drug habit.

Sadly, she had become addicted to heroin after her second husband started using it. As her addiction worsened, she became more and more alienated from her family.

On September 19th, 2005, her son, Dustin Powell, was shot dead outside of the Jaguars Gold Club in Odessa. He was only 21 years old.

Both of her parents passed away in 2015, which was three years before Little finally confessed to the crime.

Newspaper clipping

According to the autopsy report, Samuel Little strangled the 38-year-old to death with his bare hands.

Motel

Brothers was last seen in the parking lot of a motel near West 2nd Street and Country Road West, which is roughly 0.5 miles away from the lot where her body was discovered.

This location belongs to the following categories:

Crime Scenes Serial Killers