According to associates, Sullivan, who had lost considerable money and property when he divorced his first wife to marry Lita, made no secret of the fact that he would do whatever was necessary to keep Lita from getting the same kind of deal. He was already dating the woman who would become his third wife, and had told several people that he wouldn't be sorry or surprised if Lita met with an unfortunate "accident."

Unfortunately, the case had few leads. The gunman had neither been identified nor apprehended, and the murder weapon had not been found. The only lead police had was a description of the gunman provided by an employee of the floral shop where the flowers had been purchased. With only circumstantial evidence and hearsay to go on, authorities could not get an indictment against Sullivan, who quickly remarried.

Lita's parents, however, were not about to give up the fight. Emory McClinton, a former U. S. Department of Transportation official and his wife, JoAnn, a Georgia state representative, were among Atlanta's most prominent African American families. After the case languished, authorities finally got a break. Sullivan's third wife sued him for divorce and alleged that he confessed to having Lita killed. In April of 1998, a man arrested in North Carolina on unrelated charges confessed to being the gunman who shot Lita and alleged that Jim Sullivan hired him. In May, 1998 Sullivan was charged with felony murder and a warrant was issued for his arrest. Arrangements were made with his attorney for Sullivan to turn himself in. It never happened. Authorities believe he may have fled the country, possibly to Ireland as he has dual citizenship.

UPDATE: James Sullivan has been captured. The FBI received tips about Sullivan's whereabouts, and for a month police in Cha-am, Thailand tracked him. Sullivan and his Thai-born girlfriend had moved to the area and purchased a condominium in 1998. On July 2, 2002, police arrested Sullivan and held him in a Thai prison while awaiting extradition to Georgia. In April 2006, James Sullivan was found guilty and received a life sentence without parole.  Phillip Anthony Harwood was found guilty for being the triggerman in the murder of Lita Sullivan and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

James Sullivan was recently arrested in Thailand and has been charged with first degree murder in the death of his ex-wife, Lita McClnton.