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Arthur Pruitt was a serial killer and con artist who got unknowingly involved in a scheme to cover up a murder committed by Stephanie Mulroney, the offspring of a wealthy New York family.

History[]

In 1994, Pruitt purchased Black Talon and .44 Magnum bullets in preparation for a string of shootings. During his first ambush of a secluded couple in Queens, he killed a man. He then moved to Manhattan, where he killed Ken Scofield, a fashion model, while he was about to have sex in his car with Jill Templeton, a magazine editor, who witnessed the murder and fled the scene. Detectives Briscoe and Logan investigated the case and, based on Jill's description, they believed a florist employee named Scott Hexter was the culprit, consequently arresting him. Hexter was later cleared of the murders, but was killed in prison before he could be released. The police still didn't suspect Pruitt's involvement. (L&O: "Mayhem")

Pruitt later committed two more murders before turning to con schemes, being subsequently arrested inside an Indian bingo casino on charges of check kiting, forgery, mail and credit card fraud, and weapons possession. He was sent to Lompoc Prison, where he befriended mob hitman Cesar Ordoniez, to whom he confessed his murders. They were both eventually released. When Stephanie Mulroney killed her former fiancée, Dean Woodruff, her wealthy mother Regina contacted Gus Iacone, a gangster and employer of Ordoniez, contracting him to help clean up the mess. Under Iacone's orders, Cesar staged the crime scene to appear as if Pruitt killed Woodruff and Stephanie witnessed it. He later killed another man named Stanley Brecker, who owed the mob, with the help of a call-girl named Helen Katish, again mimicking Pruitt's modus operandi. Police eventually arrested Pruitt, who at the time resided in a Chinatown flophouse, and three witnesses (Jill Templeton, Stephanie Mulroney and Helen Katish) identified him as Scofield, Woodruff, and Brecker's murderer. He confessed to killing Woodruff but not the other victims, in an attempt to avoid the death penalty. (SVU: "Entitled")

Eventually, Pruitt was cleared of the two murders he didn't commit and was subsequently prosecuted for his first four murders, with only one reliable witness, Jill Templeton, at the stand. His fate remains unknown. (L&O: "Entitled")

Known Victims[]

  • Unknown date, Queens, New York: Unnamed man (shot once in the head)
  • December 6, 1994, Manhattan, New York: Ken Scofield (shot once in the head)
  • Unknown dates and locations: Two unnamed men (both shot to death)
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