WHITE PLAINS – A convicted Putnam felon released in December 2020 after serving 24 years in state prison on a murder charge, will probably spend the rest of his life behind bars after being found guilty of Travel Act murder and participating in a conspiracy to distribute cocaine and heroin.
Dwayne Pulliam, 63, was found guilty Friday following a one-week trial in U.S. District Court White Plains.
In 2022, Pulliam killed one of his customers whom he suspected of stealing cocaine from his business before transporting her body to North Carolina where he buried the remains in a shallow grave in a wooded area.
U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said, “with the jury’s verdict, Mr. Pulliam has been held responsible for the murder of Lori Lynn Campbell as well as the harm he sowed in both New York and Connecticut with his shameless dealing of heroin.”
In March 2022, Campbell went missing. One month later, working in conjunction with the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and the FBI, the Putnam Sheriff’s Department announced the filing of a criminal complaint charging Pulliam, with not only murder, but with traveling in interstate commerce, using a facility in interstate commerce with the intent to engage in a business enterprise involving narcotics, committing murder to further unlawful activity and conspiracy.
The maximum offense carrying a life prison term if found guilty.
According to the late Sheriff Kevin McConville, Pulliam participated in a cocaine distribution conspiracy and traveled between Putnam County and western Connecticut by using cell phones to operate his enterprise.
Authorities said when Pulliam believed Campbell described by authorities as “one of his customers” was stealing from his business, he murdered her.
Grisly information released by law enforcement detailed the tragic chain of events for Campbell. “On March 29, 2022, Pulliam contacted a co-conspirator in the drug trade and asked him to move an Acura that belonged to Campbell. Pulliam told the co-conspirator that he suspected the woman was stealing drugs from him and when confronted and Campbell started screaming, he ‘stopped her from screaming’ which was not the ‘first time he had done this.’”
Additional information released detailed how when the co-conspirator went with Pulliam back to his apartment in Patterson, Campbell’s body was found wrapped in a sheet with Pulliam advising the unidentified individual, “There’s the culprit!”
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