A Devil Went Down to Georgia

A riveting narrative that pieces together the life and murder of Black socialite Lita McClinton Sullivanand the journey to bring her true killer to justice. The 1987 murder of Lita McClinton Sullivan sent shockwaves through the affluent Atlanta suburb of Buckhead, Georgia like few other crimes before it. The neighborhood, with its stately mansions and top-tier schools, was simply not the kind of place where women were gunned down in cold blood in broad daylight. How many socialites had enemies so dangerous they would be murdered by a hitman pretending to deliver roses on an early winter morning? Lita was an intelligent, accomplished, and stunning Black woman from a respected Atlanta family. Her interracial marriage to white millionaire Jim Sullivan, who hailed from working-class Boston, was a newsworthy occurrence in 1970s Georgia. For a while, the couple made the marriage work, but it wasnt long before Jims roving eye and controlling nature put Lita on edge. When he bought a mansion in Palm Beach, Florida (without telling her), the faade of their life together began to crumble. Finally, after a decade of marriage, she loaded her belongings in a U-Haul and never looked back. But as the legal battle over the divorce raged and Jims financial outlook grew precarious, he had a chance encounter with a long-haul trucker, a smooth-talking ex-con who said he could hed "take care" of Jims wife problem. . . . In A Devil Went Down to Georgia, award-winning writer Deb Miller Landau details the shocking events that followed Litas murder in 1987, including the surprising lack of evidence, racial bias in the justice system, and the international manhunt for Litas killer. Full of twists and turns, legal battles, and the McClinton familys unrelenting dedication to justice, Landau's rigorous investigation is the first complete account of this tragic American crime.