Carmel drug dealer gets life for murder 

Dwayne Pulliam, a Carmel drug dealer convicted of murdering one of his customers and burying her body in North Carolina, was sentenced Tuesday in federal court to life in prison, according to the Putnam County DA’s Office. 

Pulliam, also known as “Doc,” received a sentence of life imprisonment plus five years of supervised release on the murder count, according to Putnam District Attorney Robert Tendy. Pulliam was also sentenced to 10 years in prison and lifetime supervised release on each of two narcotics convictions. 

A federal jury in White Plains found Pulliam guilty in December following a one-week trial before U.S. District Judge Philip M. Halpern. 

Prosecutors said Pulliam strangled 39-year-old Lori Lynn Campbell in March 2022 after suspecting she had stolen crack cocaine from his Carmel-area apartment. According to federal authorities, Pulliam intentionally left drugs out as a test and attacked Campbell after discovering the narcotics were missing. 

Federal authorities said Pulliam operated a drug distribution network in Putnam County and Connecticut after being released from prison in 2020 on lifetime parole for a prior murder conviction. Prosecutors said he worked at a drug rehabilitation facility in Carmel while simultaneously dealing narcotics. 

Evidence presented at trial showed Pulliam had enlisted an associate to help dispose of the body. Campbell’s remains were transported from New York to North Carolina, wrapped in plastic, covered with sulfur powder or lime and buried in a shallow grave in a wooded area, prosecutors said. 

Investigators recovered Campbell’s body in April 2022. 

Pulliam was convicted of Travel Act murder (for transporting the body across state lines), conspiracy to distribute crack cocaine and heroin, and possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine and heroin. 

The investigation involved multiple agencies, including the FBI Hudson Valley Safe Streets Task Force, New York State Police, Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, the Carmel Police Department and authorities in North Carolina. 

At the time of the conviction, then-U.S. Attorney Damian Williams described the killing as “cold-blooded” and said Pulliam had “murdered a woman he believed had stolen drugs from him and then buried her body in a shallow grave hundreds of miles away.”