The death of a stunning American socialite who was brutally murdered on the day her divorce was due to be settled shook the community, but it would be years before her killer was identified.
Lita McClinton, 35, was shot to death outside her home in Atlanta, Georgia, after receiving a dozen long-stemmed pink roses at her front door in January 1978.
It was later learned that she was murdered by hitman Phillip Anthony Harwood, who was hired for a fee of $25,000.
The mastermind behind the sordid scheme would later turn out to be Lita’s millionaire husband, James Vincent Sullivan, and his motivations were shocking.
Now, a new true crime book is set to reveal the most sordid aspects of the case, bringing Lita’s brutal death back into the public eye, 45 years after her murder.
Lita McClinton, 35, was shot to death outside her home in Atlanta, Georgia, after receiving a dozen long-stemmed pink roses at her front door in January 1978.
The mastermind behind the sordid scheme would later turn out to be Lita’s millionaire husband, James Vincent Sullivan, and his motivations were shocking.
Journalist and author Deb Miller Landau will examine all aspects of the case in her debut book, A Devil Went Down to Georgia: Race, Power, Privilege, and the Murder of Lita McClinton, which explores the bitter decline of the socialite’s marriage. . and her husband’s shocking decision to take her own life.
Lita was the daughter of Georgia State Representative JoAnn McClinton and former US Department of Transportation official Emory McClinton.
He was raised in the upper-class levels of African-American society, which meant a series of gala events and exclusive clubs.
The former debutante was just 22 when she met James, who was 10 years her senior, at a luxury boutique in Atlanta in 1976.
His mother, Jo Ann, previously said on an episode of Power, Privilege & Justice: “She thought Jim was a very lovely person, very thoughtful and very personable.”
James, originally from Boston, had made his fortune by inheriting a liquor distribution company from his uncle, which he later sold.
But he struggled with his new millionaire lifestyle.
It was Lita who was able to completely transform Jim’s appearance: reshaping his hair, updating his wardrobe and abandoning his glasses in favor of contact lenses.
The couple enjoyed a year-long courtship before marrying in a small ceremony in 1976 in what would be the beginning of a 10-year marriage.
It was Lita who was able to completely transform Jim’s appearance: reshaping his hair, updating his wardrobe and abandoning his glasses in favor of contact lenses.
It later emerged that she was murdered by hitman Phillip Anthony Harwood (pictured in court with the box of flowers), who was hired for a fee of $25,000.
In 1982, James fell in love with Palm Beach, Florida, and began looking at houses before purchasing a sprawling, $4 million, 17,000-square-foot mansion just blocks from Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago.
It became a symbol of James’ nouveau riche aspirations and he thought it would help him establish himself within the social circles he had longed to be in, but it didn’t.
According to attorney David Boone, who spoke in the aforementioned documentary, he said: ‘Jim discovered that being a white man, married to a black woman, did not work for the Palm Beach social scene.’
And soon he started blaming Lita for all his problems and decided that she was the reason he wasn’t accepted.
It wasn’t long before James began to drive a wedge between himself and his wife as he attempted to cut her out of his life, with affairs and increasing cruelty.
“He had become a terrifying bully and she could barely remember those early days when he, a handsome white man a decade older than her, showed up with his peculiar Boston accent and dragged her away,” author Deb revealed. in one piece for news week.
Lita finally packed her bags and returned to Atlanta when she decided she was finally ready to get rid of him.
‘At that moment, his family was waiting for the flame to go out; “Lita’s parents knew what her daughter would face as the black half of an interracial couple in the South,” Deb shared.
“Not to mention they never liked Jim…he was brash and obnoxious, disrespectful of Southern norms.”
In 1985, she settled into a $400,000 home and filed for divorce in which she claimed half of the estate, including the Palm Beach mansion.
But things took a tragic turn on January 16, 1987.
Lita’s parents (pictured) were relentless in their attempts to seek justice for their eldest daughter with questions left unanswered for 11 years.
That day a court hearing had been scheduled for 2 p.m., during which a judge was to decide whether the former couple’s prenuptial agreement was binding.
However, at 8 a.m. that day, the doorbell rang to lure Lita to the main entrance.
She approached the door wrapped in her pink silk robe and opened it to see a “delivery boy.”
Tragically, just seconds after greeting the six-foot-tall stranger, he thrust a box of roses he had been holding into her arms and pushed her into the hallway.
He pulled a gun from his coat pocket and fired two shots, one of which was fatal to Lita, before the perpetrator escaped.
Lita’s husband was immediately put in the spotlight, but claimed he had a solid alibi in Florida at the time of the murder.
Disappointingly for his family, the case remained forgotten for more than a decade.
Lita’s parents were relentless in their attempts to seek justice for their eldest daughter with questions that went unanswered for 11 years.
During that time, a 1992 federal indictment against James was dismissed for lack of evidence and a 1994 civil judgment for wrongful death was initially overturned on appeal, although it was eventually reinstated.
It wasn’t until 1998 that investigators got a big break in the case.
A woman introduced herself claiming to be the girlfriend of truck driver Phillip Anthony Harwood, who had previously moved furniture for James.
She reported that she was with Harwood when the scorned husband handed her a $25,000 cash package.
It quickly became apparent that James had ordered Lita’s murder in an attempt to protect his finances and assets during the divorce.
Harwood was arrested in 1998 and pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in 2003.
Meanwhile, an arrest warrant was also issued for James, but he fled the country. He was not detained until 2002, after being arrested in Thailand.
Harwood initially agreed to testify at James’ murder trial, but, on the stand, claimed he was innocent, as James’ defense argued that the case had been based on “circumstantial evidence.”
However, jurors disagreed and convicted James of murder (along with a host of other charges) in March 2006. The decision was upheld by the state supreme court in 2008.
He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Harwood was sentenced to 20 years in prison before being released in March 2018.