Bio

Dwaine Lee Little was born in Oregon in December 1948. Little was still a teenager when he committed his first confirmed murder. In 1964, when he was 15, he raped and killed a teenage girl in Oregon. Because he was a juvenile, his case involved questions about whether he could be handled in adult court. After the 1964 killing, Little was sentenced to life in prison in 1966. He spent several years in custody before being paroled in 1974. His release later became important because the Cowden family disappeared only a few months after he left prison.

Little was living in Oregon during the period when the Cowden family vanished. He was known to be in the general area around the time of their disappearance, and investigators later considered him a suspect. However, he was never formally charged in that case. Little’s parole was later revoked after information surfaced that he had possessed a firearm. He was returned to prison as a parole violator, then released again in 1977.

In 1980, Little committed another violent attack. He picked up a pregnant woman whose car had broken down, then sexually assaulted and beat her. The woman and her unborn child survived. Little was convicted of attempted homicide, rape, and kidnapping, and he received long consecutive prison terms.

Murder Story

Dwaine Lee Little’s first confirmed murder happened on November 2, 1964, in Oregon. He was 15 years old at the time. The victim was Orla Fay Fipps, a teenage girl. She was raped and killed with a knife. Little was taken into custody on November 18, 1964. Because he was a juvenile, his case involved legal questions about whether he could be prosecuted as an adult. He was eventually convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 1966.

Little was paroled from prison on May 24, 1974. A few months later, on September 1, 1974, the Cowden family disappeared from a campsite near Carberry Creek in southern Oregon. The family included Richard Cowden, his wife Belinda, and their two children, David and Melissa.

Richard Cowden and his young son David were last seen that morning buying milk at the Copper General Store. Later that day, the family was gone from their campsite. Their belongings were left behind, including food, personal items, and the keys to their truck. A large search followed, but the family was not found.

On April 12, 1975, about seven months later, prospectors found human remains in the mountains. Richard Cowden’s body was found tied to a tree on a steep hillside. The bodies of Belinda, David, and baby Melissa were found in a nearby cave. Belinda and David had been shot with a .22-caliber weapon, and Melissa had died from severe head trauma. Richard’s exact cause of death could not be confirmed, but investigators treated his death as homicide.

Little became a suspect in the Cowden case because he had been paroled only three months before the family vanished and was known to be in the area around that time. Investigators also received information that he had possessed a .22-caliber gun after the murders. Despite these suspicions, he was never charged with killing the Cowden family, and the case remains unsolved.

Little’s parole was later revoked, and he was returned to prison. He was released again in 1977. In 1980, he attacked Margie Hunter, a pregnant 23-year-old woman whose car had broken down near Portland. Little picked her up, then raped and beat her. She survived, and her unborn child survived as well.

Little was convicted of attempted homicide, first-degree rape, and first-degree kidnapping in the 1980 case. He received three consecutive prison terms. Because the Cowden family murders were never prosecuted against him, his confirmed criminal record includes the 1964 murder of Orla Fay Fipps and the 1980 attack on Margie Hunter.