Witness describes body in freezer

Thursday, July 28, 2005 | 9:52 a.m.

A female drinking buddy of Lawrence Pruett said it wasn't until after the pair saw a freezer in his yard that Pruett told her his roommate had not left Las Vegas, but instead was dead and on ice.

The 62-year-old Pruett is on trial for the murder of his 45-year-old roommate, Bradley Millisor, in July 2004. Millisor was found dead inside a freezer outside Pruett's double-wide mobile home near Lake Mead and Nellis boulevards.

Annette Wharton testified Wednesday that she would "check on" Pruett and clean his house at least once a week, but on July 8, 2004, she went over to drink beers with Pruett for "six hours."

When she arrived, Wharton said, she noticed bruises on Pruett. After Pruett said he had received the bruises during a fight with Millisor the night before, she was upset and went to Millisor's room to confront him.

Wharton, who had spent the night in jail after failing to appear to testify under subpoena on Tuesday, said Pruett told her Millisor had "met up with some girl" and drove off to California.

She said as she was leaving to go home and make dinner for her husband, she walked out of Pruett's home to see a freezer. Wharton said Pruett told her "he didn't know how it ended up in his backyard."

Wharton said when she arrived at Pruett's home the freezer wasn't there.

She said Pruett became a "nervous wreck" and said "Oh my God, I need to talk to you." After going back inside the trailer she said Pruett told her "Brad was in there (the freezer)."

Wharton said she didn't believe Pruett, who then got a key and opened the locked freezer.

"I seen a body, but I did not get to see the face. It was wrapped up in a sheet," Wharton said. "The legs were showing and I knew what his shoes looked like."

Wharton said Pruett first told her Millisor "was shot" before conceding "he blew his head off."

Wharton appeared groggy during her testimony and at times was unintelligible and also had to have many simple questions repeated to her.

After a short struggle, she testified, she was able to tell Chief Deputy Chief Deputy District Attorney Erik Jorgensen that "he (Pruett) said self-defense, but like I said I wasn't there to see what happened."

"He said Brad and him got into it and Brad got a knife," Wharton said. "That's when he (Pruett) got the gun to protect himself."

Prosecutors allege Pruett was frustrated with Millisor as a roommate, and because the law kept him from evicting Millisor without 30 days' notice, he took the law into his own hands and shot him twice.

Pruett said he was sleeping and when he awoke to find Millisor with a knife to his throat, he grabbed his shotgun. Pruett said he followed Millisor as his roommate ran to his bedroom.

Pruett said that when he reached the bedroom door, Pruett shot him once just as Millisor was attempting to throw the knife at him.

Pruett told police he feared for his life and shot Millisor and then placed his body in the freezer. He paid friends to bury the body in the desert, but they dumped the freezer with the body inside in Pruett's driveway a few days later instead, according to the arrest report.

The prosecution expected to finish its case this afternoon.