Feds: N.Y. drug dealer arrested in New Milford in woman’s death
NEW MILFORD — A crack cocaine dealer from New York was arrested in New Milford on Thursday and federally charged with killing one of his customers, according to federal prosecutors.
Dwayne Pulliam, a 59year-old man also known as “Doc,” faces at least five years in prison for selling crack, and up to life in prison in the death of Lori Campbell, 59, of Putnam County, N.Y.
He is accused of killing her after he suspected her of stealing drugs from him, according to Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Pulliam was arrested Thursday afternoon in New Milford and seen in federal court in White Plains, N.Y., later that day. He is being held without bail, Williams’ office said.
Pulliam was released from prison in December 2020 after serving about 24 years for murder. Not long after, Pulliam traveled between New York and
Connecticut to sell crack cocaine and used multiple phones to do so, according to Williams’ office.
On March 29, Pulliam contacted a man he worked with in the drug trade and asked him to help move Campbell’s car, a black Acura RSX, according to Williams’ office.
Pulliam told the man that he suspected Campbell of stealing drugs from him. Pulliam confronted Campbell, and when she tried to leave, he did not let her. She started screaming, and Pulliam told the man he “stopped her from screaming” and “that this was not the first time he had ‘done this,’ ” Williams’ office said.
The two men went to Pulliam’s apartment in Patterson, N.Y. There, the man saw Campbell’s body wrapped in a sheet, Williams’ office said.
“There’s the culprit,” Pulliam told the man. Pulliam directed him to help move the body, and threatened to kill his family if he did not comply, according to Williams’ office.
The man helped move
Campbell’s body to Pulliam’s Honda Accord. They then drove to Pulliam’s mother’s home in North Carolina.
The two got shovels, a bag of lime and plastic wrap from a shed near her home. They drove Campbell’s body to a cul-de-sac where they covered the body in lime and buried her in a shallow grave, Williams’ office said.
Campbell’s friends reported her missing April 2. They told police they hadn’t seen nor heard from her since March 27, according to the Putnam County Sheriff ’s Department.
Law enforcement found Campbell’s body on Tuesday in the area where Pulliam’s co-conspirator said it was buried, Williams’ office said.
Pulliam was charged with traveling in interstate commerce, and using a facility in interstate commerce, with intent to engage in a business enterprise involving narcotics, and thereafter committing murder to further that unlawful activity, and participating in a conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 28 grams and more of crack cocaine.
The first charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, and the narcotics conspiracy charge has a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison, according to Williams’ office.