CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Resting in the center of Resthaven Memorial Gardens for the last 13 years have been William “Bill” and Ina Campbell. The cemetery was gripped by frosty winter weather on Monday as their grandson, Shawn Campbell, arrived to deliver the long-awaited good news: The Campbells’ adoptive son, Roger Campbell, had been found guilty of their murders.
“They were genuinely good people,” Shawn said. “I don’t have a bad word to say about them. They did right by everybody. They did what they thought was in the best interest of everyone.”
On Jan. 29, 2010, officers responded to the Campbell home on Jackson Road where a neighbor had found their bodies when checking on them during the snowstorm. The back door window had been broken, the home was ransacked, and in their beds lay 82-year-old Bill and 81-year-old Ina Campbell, each with a single gunshot wound to the head.
The trial for William “Roger” Campbell ended Monday with a verdict of guilty on two counts of first-degree murder.
Happy together, buried together
The Campbells were a happy couple and loved animals. Shawn recalled that they regularly donated to the Humane Society.
He remembered going fishing with his grandfather, Bill Campbell.
“I can remember back, being 9, 10, and going fishing with my grandfather, vaguely. I can remember always coming back and always telling my grandmother, ‘I caught more fish than he did, I caught more fish than he did!'” Shawn said with a smile. He told Clarksville Now it always made him feel accomplished, that he was a good kid and always did the best he could.
Shawn regrets that now there were more bad memories than good. Even those good memories came to a sudden end in 2010. Shawn pointed to a building in the cemetery, explaining that that’s where the funerals were held.
Roger Campbell handled the funeral arrangements, and he had his parents cremated.
“They didn’t even want to be cremated. They wanted to be buried, intact, together,” said Shawn’s wife, the disappointment clear in her voice. Out of all the requests for funeral and burial arrangements, it appeared that Roger Campbell had done only one thing the deceased had requested: that they be buried next to each other.
“Every time I’ve come out here, it’s been to contemplate the bane of my existence,” Shawn said. “I’ve never been able to come out here and say, ‘Look guys, we did it. This is for y’all.’ … This means more to me than anything.
“I told my wife on the way over here, I’ve envisioned this ride out here in my brain a million times as to what it would feel like to get here and bring them justice. And how I feel? It’s a whole bunch of things. I’m happy, I’m sad. … I’m everything.”
Shawn told Clarksville Now his dad was the reason he lost the relationship he had with his grandparents. Although Bill was able to see past what Roger was doing to them, Ina was “blinded” by the love she had for her son.
When asked if he could have one more conversation with his grandparents, Shawn smiled and tearfully replied, “It’s been probably 17 years since I was able to sit down and have a conversation with them. And it’s hard, because I know one day when I go, I may get the opportunity. Because I’d love to apologize. I’d love to tell them I’m sorry for walking away from it all.”
When asked how he felt when the verdict was read, Shawn let out a laugh.
“I’m only gonna say it one time,” Shawn said with a grin. “Truthfully, I wanted to look at that man and tell that man, ‘I’ve been waiting 35 years to say f— you.’ And the jury did it for me.”
Delayed justice in cold case
Assistant District Attorney Marianne Bell said the 11-year-old case was brought back up after a review of evidence and the discovery of an additional witness.
Clarksville Police Detective Keenan Carlton, newly assigned to the cold case investigator position, began reviewing every piece of evidence, sending all of it back to the Tennesse Bureau of Investigation for testing, and reinterviewed all of the witnesses. One big piece of the puzzle Carlton discovered was that Linda Campbell, Roger’s ex-wife, had not been extensively interviewed.
On Jan. 26, 2010, three days before the bodies were found, Roger visited Linda at work, bringing Ina with him. Before then, Linda hadn’t seen or spoken to Roger in almost 13 years. He told her he was in town visiting and would be leaving on the 28th, establishing a possible timeline.
The maximum sentence for first-degree murder is a life sentence, and in the state of Tennessee a life sentence is considered 52 years. Campbell, 66, could be facing up to two life sentences to be served consecutively.
Sentencing is set for March 8 in Montgomery County court.