On a chilly January morning in Atlanta, Lita McClinton Sullivan answered her doorbell and found a delivery person at the front door holding a white box with a large pink bow.
Friends said McClinton Sullivan, 35, must have believed the flower delivery was a gift from a friend, so she opened the door. That’s when the man holding the flowers pulled out a gun and killed her with a shot to the head.
“She wasn’t robbed. Somebody came to the door with roses and shot her dead,” said private investigator Pat McKenna who worked for Lita’s family.
Those who knew McClinton Sullivan described her as elegant, stylish and graceful.
Judge M. Yvette Miller, who credited McClinton Sullivan as helping to guide her to become the first African American woman crowned Miss Macon in 1979, recalled McClinton Sullivan as a mentor and close friend.
“We bonded, and she became like a big sister,” Miller said. “She was beautiful, and I really liked her. She wanted to help me succeed.”