Relative convicted of threatening investigator in Paitin Fields case released from prison

BURGAW, N.C. (WECT) - The only person ever named a suspect in a Pender County child’s murder has been released from prison.

David Wesley Prevatte was released from Polk Correctional Institution Wednesday, according to the NC Department of Corrections.

It has been more than two years since 5-year-old Paitin Fields was killed.

While he was never charged in his niece’s death, Prevatte was convicted of intimidating a witness and communicating threats after he threatened the life of the lead investigator the Fields case. At the time, Prevatte was in the Pender County Jail on unrelated charges, which he ultimately pleaded guilty to.

In a jailhouse interview, Prevatte denied killing Fields He acknowledged that he was the one who found the child unresponsive and apparently seizing the morning she was taken to the hospital, but said his innocence was demonstrated when he rendered aid to Fields.

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