On a cold January morning in 1987, Lita McClinton Sullivan, a 35-year-old Black socialite, answered the door of her upscale Atlanta townhouse. A man stood on her doorstep holding a box of a dozen long-stemmed pink roses. As she reached for the flowers, the man pulled out a 9mm handgun and shot her in the head, ending her life. The day of her murder, January 16, was tragically significant; it was the same day a crucial hearing was scheduled in her contentious divorce from her estranged husband,
James Sullivan.
Lita and James Sullivan, a white millionaire, had a marriage plagued by his infidelity. Their bitter divorce proceedings were escalating, with Lita seeking a substantial portion of his estimated $5 million fortune. Prosecutors would later argue that James Sullivan, unwilling to part with his wealth, decided to prevent the divorce by arranging his wife's murder. Forty minutes after Lita was shot, a collect call was placed from a location near her home to James Sullivan's residence in Palm Beach, Florida, a call investigators believed was the hitman confirming the job was done.
For years, the investigation into Lita's murder stalled. Although James Sullivan was an immediate suspect, there was not enough evidence to charge him. The case grew cold until a tip in 1998 led investigators to Phillip 'Tony' Harwood, a former truck driver from North Carolina. Harwood's ex-girlfriend informed police that he was the man hired by Sullivan to kill Lita for a payment of $25,000. Following Harwood's arrest, James Sullivan was also indicted, but by then, he had vanished.
An international manhunt for James Sullivan ensued, with sightings reported in several countries. He was eventually apprehended in Thailand in 2002 after being featured on 'America's Most Wanted.' In 2003, Phillip Harwood pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and agreed to testify against Sullivan in exchange for a 20-year prison sentence.
In 2006, nearly two decades after Lita's death, James Sullivan was convicted of orchestrating his wife's murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Phillip Harwood was released from prison in 2018 after serving his sentence.
