'Little Killer' Locked Up Again

JOLIET, IL — Less than eight months after he beat a murder case, Daeviontae “Little Killer” Pruitte has been locked up again.

Pruitte, 22, was jailed Tuesday for allegedly stealing a cell phone. He needs to post $2,500 bail to get out.

Pruitte was locked up in the Will County jail for a year and a half while he was charged with gunning down 54-year-old Timothy Egner outside the Center Street Wendy’s in August 2012. Pruitte went on trial last summer and Judge Carla Alessio Policandriotes found him not guilty, even though he was was recorded referring to himself as the “killer” and the “little killer” during telephone conversations, according to prosecutors.

During Pruitte’s trial, one of his attorneys explained that calling oneself a “killer” is merely a slang expression and similar to saying “player.”

Egner was waiting outside the Wendy’s to pick up a family member who had worked the night shift when he was slain.