Missing Carmel Woman Found Dead in North Carolina Grave
News Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
News Article Article pages that do not meet specifications for other Trust Project Type of Work labels and also do not fit within the general news category.
A Carmel woman who was reported missing since late March was found dead April 19 after being found buried in a shallow grave in North Carolina.
Dwayne Pulliam, 59, of Patterson, is accused of murdering Lori Lynn Campbell, 59, who Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said was a customer of Pulliam’s crack cocaine business.
According to Williams, Pulliam, who served 24 years in prison for murder before being released in December 2020, has been involved in selling crack cocaine since January 2022, traveling between New York and Connecticut.
On March 29, Williams stated Pulliam contacted a co-conspirator of his in the drug trade and asked him to help move an Acura that belonged to Campbell. Pulliam told the co-conspirator he suspected Campbell was stealing drugs from him. Pulliam also allegedly revealed he confronted Campbell and Campbell tried to leave but he stopped her. Pulliam said Campbell started screaming and he “stopped her from screaming,” adding it was the first time he had “done this.”
When the co-conspirator went with Pulliam back to Pulliam’s apartment in Patterson, the co-conspirator said he saw Campbell’s dead body in the apartment, wrapped in a sheet. Pulliam allegedly said, “there’s the culprit,” and then directed his co-conspirator to help him move the body, threatening to kill the co-conspirator’s family if the co-conspirator did not do so.
The co-conspirator helped Pulliam move the body to Pulliam’s Honda Accord, and they then drove to Pulliam’s mother’s house in North Carolina. Pulliam and his co-conspirator then allegedly got shovels, a bag of lime, and plastic wrap from a shed by Pulliam’s mother’s house, and drove Campbell’s body to a cul-de-sac, where her body was ultimately covered in lime and buried in a shallow grave.
On April 19, law enforcement officers found and recovered Campbell’s body from the area in North Carolina where Pulliam’s co-conspirator said it was buried. Campbell had been reported missing since March 27 when friends contacted the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office. New York State Crime Stoppers had put out a $2,500 reward for information leading to Campbell’s whereabouts.
Pulliam, also known as “Doc,” was arrested April 22 in the area of New Milford, Connecticut. He was charged with one count of 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 one count of participating in a conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute 28 grams and more of crack cocaine.
The travel act count carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. The narcotics conspiracy count carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison.
He appeared before United States Magistrate Judge Andrew E. Krause and was ordered held without bail.
Rick has more than 40 years’ experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, running the gamut from politics and crime to sports and human interest. He has been an editor at Examiner Media since 2012. Read more from Rick’s editor-author bio here. Read Rick’s work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/pezzullo_rick-writer/
