On the night of August 1, 2016, a simmering animosity between two men in El Dorado, Kansas, erupted into fatal violence, leaving 54-year-old Phillip A. Little dead and another man, Howard R. Pruitt, eventually convicted of his murder. The conflict between the two had been escalating, a fact known to their acquaintances and one that would set the stage for the deadly encounter.
That evening, Little was at a trailer home belonging to Skylar Morgan, along with a few other people.
An individual named Nathan Coe, who was aware of the bad blood between Little and Pruitt, made a fateful phone call. He contacted Pruitt to let him know where Little could be found. Acting on this information, Pruitt, accompanied by another individual, drove to Morgan's trailer. He was armed with a sawed-off. 410 shotgun. Despite his companion's attempt to dissuade him, Pruitt insisted he was only going to scare Little. He then concealed himself outside the trailer and lay in wait.
When Phillip Little and Nathan Coe stepped out onto the porch of the trailer, Pruitt emerged from his hiding spot and fired the shotgun, fatally wounding Little. In the immediate aftermath, chaos ensued. Coe ran back inside the trailer, and the police were called to the scene where they found Little deceased on the porch. The investigation into the shooting death of the male victim began, and in a surprising turn, Nathan Coe was initially arrested and charged with the murder. He spent 104 days in custody before the charges against him were dismissed.
Investigators continued to piece together the events of that night. Their focus soon shifted to Howard R. Pruitt. A tip eventually led to the discovery of the murder weapon, a sawed-off shotgun, in the Walnut River. Pruitt was subsequently arrested and charged with the first-degree murder of Phillip A. Little. At his trial, the jury heard testimony from multiple witnesses, including the individual who was with Pruitt that night and testified to seeing him with the gun and hearing his stated intention to "scare" the victim. After hearing the evidence, the jury found Howard R. Pruitt guilty of premeditated first-degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison for the killing of Phillip Little.
