Career
Pritchard was convicted of murder in the second degree (aiding and abetting) and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill or do serious injury. He was sentenced to life in North Carolina on January 31, 1990, and paroled on June 2, 2007. The sensational case and trial are the subject of two books, each of which was adapted into a television movie.
The 1991 book Cruel Doubt by Joe McGinniss was released on television in May 1992 as a 2-part miniseries of the same name.
The 1992 book Blood Games by Jerry Bledsoe was adapted for television in April 1992 under the title Honor Thy Mother. Both films heavily emphasized the involvement of the conspirators in the Dungeons & Dragons game.
During the investigation, Pritchard told police he and his friends occasionally entered the steam tunnels of North Carolina State University to map them out for the purposes of incorporating them into their Dungeons & Dragons game. In a later police interview, he claimed he and his friends once got high and played Doctorate&Doctorate in the steam tunnels with martial-arts style wooden weapons.
The weapons involved were variously described as darts, knives, torches, fake samurai swords, rattan sticks and clubs.
Drugs and alcohol were said to be involved. Police investigators found the letters "CWP" spray-painted in the tunnels.