Latest / NO FILTER / The murders of Jerome and Dora Faulkner [True Crime documentary]

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The murders of Jerome and Dora Faulkner [True Crime documentary] · NO FILTER

0:00
Speaker 1: And what happened next?
0:05
Speaker 2: I started hearing yelling, yelling, come from the house, screaming,
0:12
Speaker 2: people saying get out of my house. Yeah, welcome here.
0:21
Speaker 3: Hi everyone, I'm Kevin and this is just thought.
0:24
Speaker 4: Lounge Jtail is the true crime channel that delivers serious,
0:27
Speaker 4: well balanced coverage of the cases that really make you think.
0:30
Speaker 4: In this case, we're taking a look at the relationship
0:33
Speaker 4: between a father and son. The pair of men that
0:35
Speaker 4: left their home in Alvin, Texas on a road trip
0:38
Speaker 4: at Christmas time in twenty fourteen. They packed up their
0:41
Speaker 4: vehicle with camping gear and headed out for the road. However,
0:44
Speaker 4: they were not just camping. One week later, emergency services
0:49
Speaker 4: in the area of Oak Hill, North Carolina, would respond
0:51
Speaker 4: to a house fire where the elderly homeowners, Jerome and
0:54
Speaker 4: Dora Faulkner, were nowhere to be found. Their house left
0:58
Speaker 4: in ruins. Despite the damage, there were clues as to
1:01
Speaker 4: what had happened to the older couple. On New Year's
1:04
Speaker 4: Day twenty fifteen, the pieces of this bizarre and tragic
1:08
Speaker 4: puzzle began to come together when a vehicle with North
1:11
Speaker 4: Carolina plates was pulled over on the highway in West Virginia.
1:17
Speaker 4: There were some facts that seemed certain, but many questions remained.
1:23
Speaker 4: What really transpired in the home of Jerome and Dora
1:26
Speaker 4: Faulkner on New Year's Eve twenty fourteen. There's a lot
1:29
Speaker 4: to cover in this one, so let's take a look.
1:42
Speaker 4: The small town of Oxford, North Carolina, had a population
1:45
Speaker 4: of about eighty four hundred residents in the winter of
1:48
Speaker 4: twenty fourteen. Treelined streets led out into the countryside where
1:52
Speaker 4: rural homeowners had larger properties and greater privacy. On one
1:57
Speaker 4: of these roads, Highway ninety six, in the area of Hill.
2:00
Speaker 4: Set back from the highway was the home of Jerome
2:03
Speaker 4: and Dora Faulkner. Seventy three year old. Jerome had retired
2:06
Speaker 4: years earlier from the fire department. He had been a
2:09
Speaker 4: founding member of the Cornwall Volunteer Fire Department in the
2:12
Speaker 4: nineteen eighties and had served as its chief. In more
2:15
Speaker 4: recent years, his health was beginning to fail. He and
2:18
Speaker 4: Dora remained popular around town and active in their church.
2:22
Speaker 4: Dora was only sixty two years old and still working
2:24
Speaker 4: as a nurse. The couple had raised two sons, Ricky
2:27
Speaker 4: and Jerome Junior. New Year's Day, twenty fifteen, smoke was
2:33
Speaker 4: billowing out across the dense tree line that separated the
2:36
Speaker 4: Faulkner's home from their closest neighbors. Police and firefighters arrived
2:40
Speaker 4: on scene to find the house engulfed in flames. There
2:43
Speaker 4: was not much of the house left to salvage when
2:45
Speaker 4: the smoke cleared. However, there were indications of what had
2:48
Speaker 4: occurred on the property. Investigators from the Granville County Sheriffs
2:52
Speaker 4: noticed what appeared to be blood visible on the back doorstep.
2:55
Speaker 4: They thought it was possible that the elderly couple had
2:57
Speaker 4: been taken forcefully from their home in the early morning hours.
3:01
Speaker 4: Jerome and Dora Faulkner were nowhere to be found. No
3:04
Speaker 4: one was located inside the house. The couple's red pickup
3:07
Speaker 4: truck was also missing. Around four pm the same day,
3:15
Speaker 4: over two hundred miles northwest from the burnt out house
3:18
Speaker 4: in Oak Hill, North Carolina, a white suburban Tahoe was
3:21
Speaker 4: driving westbound on Interstate sixty four just outside of Louisbourg,
3:25
Speaker 4: West Virginia. When the suburban crossed the state line from
3:29
Speaker 4: North Carolina to West Virginia earlier that day, its license
3:32
Speaker 4: plate was captured by a highway camera and it was
3:34
Speaker 4: subsequently flagged as a stolen plate. A lady named Miriam
3:38
Speaker 4: Hogan had noticed the tags missing from her truck after
3:41
Speaker 4: a short trip to Walmart and Hillsborough a few days earlier.
3:45
Speaker 4: Lieutenant Jeremy Dove and Patrolman Nicholas Sam's spotted the vehicle.
3:52
Speaker 4: Their cruiser's dash camera recorded what followed, pulling over to
3:55
Speaker 4: the shoulder of the highway. The first observation that the
3:58
Speaker 4: lieutenant made was that the white suv must be traveling
4:01
Speaker 4: with the red pickup truck that was in front of it.
4:04
Speaker 4: The truck pulled over and stopped on the shoulder of
4:06
Speaker 4: the highway, just ahead of the suburban which appeared to
4:09
Speaker 4: follow it. The officers did not approach the vehicle. The
4:15
Speaker 4: back windows were almost entirely blocked by containers and piles
4:18
Speaker 4: of items. Police could not see clearly into the vehicle
4:21
Speaker 4: to determine if there was anyone else inside. For their
4:24
Speaker 4: own safety, Lieutenant Dove called the driver back towards him,
4:28
Speaker 4: and the two jointly walked behind the police cruiser, where
4:31
Speaker 4: they could be heard discussing the stolen plates.
4:34
Speaker 5: Coom out here, you're at to play before the cold Sorry,
4:42
Speaker 5: you're at to play with before the dollars to pay.
4:47
Speaker 6: Yeah.
4:50
Speaker 4: Moments later, the driver of the red truck walks back
4:52
Speaker 4: towards the police car, Then out of scope of the camera,
4:56
Speaker 4: the red truck driver pulls out a handgun and opens
4:58
Speaker 4: fire on the officers. Both men are wearing protective vests.
5:12
Speaker 4: They are both hit. Lieutenant Dove was grazed in the
5:15
Speaker 4: back of his neck, while Patrolman Sam's suffered shrapnel in
5:18
Speaker 4: his forehead. Dove responded quickly, however, and returned fire, hitting
5:22
Speaker 4: the gunman once in the leg. The gunman nonetheless managed
5:26
Speaker 4: to run off towards the nearby woods. He would not
5:29
Speaker 4: get very far. The driver of the suburban, having immediately
5:32
Speaker 4: ran towards the red truck when the firing began, had
5:35
Speaker 4: succeeded in reaching it and had driven off.
5:40
Speaker 3: Backup.
5:40
Speaker 4: Law enforcement, including West Virginia State Troopers, were called out
5:44
Speaker 4: and the highway was shut down. About ninety minutes later,
5:51
Speaker 4: the rear lights to the red pickup truck were spotted
5:53
Speaker 4: by law enforcement in amongst the woodland, only a few
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Speaker 4: miles down the highway from where the shooting had occurred.
5:59
Speaker 4: The mountainous West Virginia landscape meant that the drop from
6:01
Speaker 4: the highway was a ravine down which the truck had
6:04
Speaker 4: appeared to descend and crash with some force. The driver
6:08
Speaker 4: was not with the vehicle, and had in fact wandered
6:10
Speaker 4: off into the woodland for a time. He had been
6:13
Speaker 4: passed some time hiding behind an interstate guardrail. Eventually, however,
6:17
Speaker 4: he gave up these efforts, walked out, and surrendered himself
6:20
Speaker 4: to law enforcement without further incident. The young driver was
6:24
Speaker 4: identified as twenty one year old Eric Campbell of Alvin, Texas,
6:28
Speaker 4: a small town just outside of Houston. He had been
6:31
Speaker 4: traveling with his father, fifty four year old Edward Campbell,
6:34
Speaker 4: since leaving Texas in the stolen suburban on Christmas Eve.
6:37
Speaker 4: They swapped out plates in North Carolina, and after a
6:40
Speaker 4: few days near Hillsboro, they left for West Virginia. Their
6:44
Speaker 4: multi state road trip came to an end a week
6:46
Speaker 4: later on Interstate sixty four, when Edward took out his
6:49
Speaker 4: handgun and began shooting. The incident on the highway was
6:55
Speaker 4: investigated in two parts. Crime Scene number one was the
6:58
Speaker 4: area surrounding the white suburb where the officers had been shot. Here,
7:02
Speaker 4: the team was assessing the considerable amount of items packed
7:05
Speaker 4: into the vehicle large totes full of items, as though
7:08
Speaker 4: the campbells were moving or as though they had just
7:11
Speaker 4: cleaned out a house. Crime Scene number two surrounded the
7:14
Speaker 4: second vehicle, the red truck. Here, Sergeant Vance approached and
7:18
Speaker 4: lifted a large tarp covering the bed of the pickup
7:21
Speaker 4: truck and found a mattress underneath. Lifting this mattress, the
7:25
Speaker 4: sergeant discovered the bodies of two people. These individuals would
7:28
Speaker 4: later be identified as Jerome and Dora Faulkner. Two medical
7:35
Speaker 4: examiners were employed to conduct autopsies on the older couple.
7:39
Speaker 4: Both reached the same conclusion this had been a brutal attack,
7:43
Speaker 4: inflicting numerous injuries from a variety of weapons. Defensive wounds
7:47
Speaker 4: indicated that both Jerome and Dora had put up a
7:49
Speaker 4: fight and that neither of them had passed quickly. There
7:52
Speaker 4: was evidence that a spear, a plastic bag, a twenty
7:56
Speaker 4: two caliber gun, a crossbow, and some kind of corrosive
7:59
Speaker 4: chemmical had all been employed in the attack. Along with
8:03
Speaker 4: the bulk of items found in the suburban, police found
8:06
Speaker 4: a handheld pump sprayer, one that could be in theory
8:09
Speaker 4: used to spray harsh chemicals, personal belongings in the form
8:12
Speaker 4: of jewelry, banking information, and other financial paperwork. Letters, as
8:17
Speaker 4: well as change purses owned by the Faulkners were found
8:20
Speaker 4: scattered in the woods around where the truck had crashed.
8:23
Speaker 4: As the sun rose that morning, investigators uncovered more areas
8:26
Speaker 4: where items had been buried under the dirt and leaves,
8:29
Speaker 4: some even placed in the nook of trees, seemingly in
8:32
Speaker 4: a failed attempt at concealing them. A receipt to an
8:37
Speaker 4: auto shop located in Georgia and others from shops along
8:41
Speaker 4: the Campbell's route provided further links between the father and
8:44
Speaker 4: son's trip up from Texas and the horrific scene at
8:47
Speaker 4: the Faulkner's Oak Hill home. The gun used to shoot
8:50
Speaker 4: Jerome Faulkner was also located, so was a collapsible spear,
8:53
Speaker 4: a weapon that matched injury sustained by Dora. Eric Campbell
9:02
Speaker 4: and his older brother Nick had been raised to obey
9:04
Speaker 4: their father. By all accounts, Edward was a dominating and
9:07
Speaker 4: at times a violent man. He was also the singular,
9:10
Speaker 4: consistent and constant adult presence in young Eric's life. By
9:14
Speaker 4: the age of seven, Eric's mother, Valerie had grown extremely ill,
9:18
Speaker 4: required constant care and was bedridden. During this time, his father, Edward,
9:23
Speaker 4: a nurse by profession, began a relationship with a woman
9:26
Speaker 4: that Eric would come to call mum. Her name was
9:29
Speaker 4: Linda LaMotte, but in what would become a pattern in
9:32
Speaker 4: the Campbell household, Linda would not stay. Fearing for her
9:35
Speaker 4: own safety, She ended her relationship with Edward after only
9:38
Speaker 4: a few years and escaped the situation.
9:41
Speaker 3: A few years.
9:41
Speaker 4: Later, when Eric was twelve years old, Edward married again,
9:45
Speaker 4: this time to another nurse, a woman named Holly Smooth.
9:48
Speaker 4: Together they had three more children, whom Eric adored and
9:52
Speaker 4: helped to care for. But things were not all well
9:54
Speaker 4: at home. Ed was arrested for drug use in two
9:57
Speaker 4: thousand and six and then lost his job as a nurse.
9:59
Speaker 4: The fie following year, his behavior became extremely erratic, and
10:03
Speaker 4: the man became paranoid. Ed managed to sustain his drug
10:07
Speaker 4: habit by cooking his own meth, a process that he
10:10
Speaker 4: drew both of his sons into as well. In early
10:13
Speaker 4: December twenty fourteen, ed was released on bond after his
10:17
Speaker 4: arrest for a brutal assault on his wife, Holly.
10:20
Speaker 3: In his fits of delusions and drug abuse.
10:22
Speaker 4: Ed had come to believe that Holly was having an
10:24
Speaker 4: affair with an old friend and ex coworker of hers.
10:27
Speaker 4: Investigators in the Falkner's murder believed that tracking down this
10:31
Speaker 4: man in North Carolina was the reason for Ed Campbell's
10:34
Speaker 4: impromptu road trip later that month. While on the road
10:37
Speaker 4: near to Dusk on the thirty first of December, Ed
10:40
Speaker 4: spotted Jerome Faulkner out at his mailbox. He identified the
10:44
Speaker 4: man as an easy target, according to Eric. The two
10:47
Speaker 4: then entered the wooded area towards the back of the
10:50
Speaker 4: Falkner's property. The Falkners had been selected as the victims
10:54
Speaker 4: of this brutal crime, more or less at random. Both
11:01
Speaker 4: Ed and Eric made a series of statements to the
11:03
Speaker 4: police following their arrests. Amongst them was Ed's unequivocal insistence
11:07
Speaker 4: that his son, Eric was not involved in the murders.
11:10
Speaker 4: He said that boy didn't have anything to do with
11:13
Speaker 4: this North Carolina stuff. I'm going in for it. You
11:16
Speaker 4: aren't going to find any prince from him anywhere around there.
11:20
Speaker 4: Edward Campbell told police up and there in what you
11:22
Speaker 4: call it West Virginia, they beat the crap out of him,
11:26
Speaker 4: and he probably said whatever they wanted him to say.
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Speaker 3: He had some suspicions.
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Speaker 4: Ed said of his son Eric, but I am an
11:32
Speaker 4: authoritarian dad, and he is not going to question me.
11:35
Speaker 3: He was trying to get me to go back to Texas.
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Speaker 4: A spokesperson for West Virginia Law Enforcement stated that they
11:41
Speaker 4: did not know how Eric received the bruising across his
11:44
Speaker 4: face shown in his mugshot, but that he had just
11:47
Speaker 4: crashed a truck into a ravine. Ed's statements would seem
11:51
Speaker 4: at face value to exonerate his son from any wrongdoing. Indeed,
11:56
Speaker 4: Eric insisted that he believed his father's only intention was
11:59
Speaker 4: to rob the Faulkner, not to hurt them, and he
12:01
Speaker 4: remained obedient to his father out of fear alone. As
12:06
Speaker 4: the two both faced indictments for two counts of first
12:08
Speaker 4: degree murder, as well as arson, burglary and other crimes
12:12
Speaker 4: related to the attack on the Falkners, Edward Campbell waited
12:15
Speaker 4: in custody at Central Prison in Raleigh. Ed would not
12:19
Speaker 4: see the inside of the courtroom. However, in mid March
12:22
Speaker 4: of that year, state prison officials found him hanged and
12:25
Speaker 4: unresponsive in his cell. Edward's suicide left Eric to stand
12:28
Speaker 4: trial on his own, and in a significant setback to
12:32
Speaker 4: Eric's defense, his father's earlier statements proclaiming Eric's innocence were
12:37
Speaker 4: deemed inadmissible. Ed had every reason to lie to try
12:41
Speaker 4: to save his son.
12:42
Speaker 3: The judge had ruled.
12:44
Speaker 4: The trial commenced in the summer of twenty seventeen. The
12:47
Speaker 4: state prosecution argued that both men had taken part equally
12:50
Speaker 4: in the crime. Eric, now twenty three years old, argued
12:54
Speaker 4: that his father had acted alone. It found guilty of
12:57
Speaker 4: the first degree murder charges. Eric faced aenti death sentence.
13:04
Speaker 7: We believe the evidence will show that the path that
13:07
Speaker 7: led to this was filled with deliberate decisions and conscious
13:14
Speaker 7: choices of this.
13:16
Speaker 1: Defendant and his father.
13:21
Speaker 7: Deliberate decisions and conscious choices.
13:27
Speaker 8: Eric's mother, Valerie, when he was four years old, suffered
13:32
Speaker 8: a brain injury, again under mysterious circumstances, and Eric and.
13:35
Speaker 1: His older brother Nick were left in the sole care
13:38
Speaker 1: of their father.
13:40
Speaker 6: Thank you, I be.
13:43
Speaker 9: Growing up in the home of Ed Campbell was a
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Speaker 9: scary player, and he tells Eric to gather some supplies
13:51
Speaker 9: to go camping, and among the things, he tells them
13:54
Speaker 9: to bring.
13:54
Speaker 8: Our bows and crossbow and a spear, and.
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Speaker 1: None of these things seem odd to Eric.
14:01
Speaker 8: They've gone camping before, They've had those kind of things
14:04
Speaker 8: for hunting and other mes.
14:06
Speaker 1: And at some point Ed Campbell runs out of money.
14:08
Speaker 10: Eric still has some money and he still has access
14:10
Speaker 10: to money.
14:11
Speaker 1: He's got grant money coming in another thing. But Ed
14:13
Speaker 1: Campbell's out of money and he starts talking about it.
14:16
Speaker 8: Now, Ed Campbell, you got to understand, just talks and
14:19
Speaker 8: talks and talks. One of the things that Ed Campbell
14:21
Speaker 8: started talking about is how he's going to get money.
14:24
Speaker 8: His dad always has schemes, many of them are pretty horrible.
14:27
Speaker 4: Head In the days before the murders, the Campbell's made
14:31
Speaker 4: a couple of stops for supplies, and their shopping list
14:35
Speaker 4: was curious. On December twenty eighth, the two entered a
14:38
Speaker 4: home Depot homework store in South Carolina. There, they were
14:41
Speaker 4: captured on camera at three separate angles purchasing items that
14:45
Speaker 4: could have been used to make drugs, as Eric believed
14:48
Speaker 4: was the case, or could have been employed in a
14:50
Speaker 4: potential attack. At the home store, they purchased drain cleaner,
14:55
Speaker 4: lie being the key ingredient in the cleaner, two hand
14:58
Speaker 4: pumped sprayer containers which would hold the liquid chemicals, chains, padlocks,
15:03
Speaker 4: u bolts, and muriatic acid. At a second stop, the
15:07
Speaker 4: two obtained sets of goggles and gloves, items that could
15:10
Speaker 4: be used to protect themselves from the harsh chemicals they
15:12
Speaker 4: intended to use or spray. During the same period, witnesses
15:17
Speaker 4: along Highway ninety six in Oakhill reported seeing a white
15:20
Speaker 4: suburban driving slowly along the road as though lost, perhaps
15:24
Speaker 4: near to the Falkner's property. Prosecutors argued that these elements
15:28
Speaker 4: all led to one logical conclusion. The Campbells had purchased
15:32
Speaker 4: supplies in advance for the attack and scoped out the house.
15:35
Speaker 4: This was an intentional, planned and premeditated attack. There was
15:40
Speaker 4: simply no way that Eric Campbell could have been unaware
15:43
Speaker 4: of what was about to occur. Indeed, with so many
15:47
Speaker 4: key items purchased in pairs, there was no way that
15:50
Speaker 4: he was not an equal partner in the crime. The
15:54
Speaker 4: prosecution showed footage of a local Walmart around midnight on
15:58
Speaker 4: the night of the attack at the Faulkner's. By this time,
16:00
Speaker 4: the house had been broken into and the Faulkners were
16:03
Speaker 4: likely already dead. Footage showed Eric driving his father to
16:07
Speaker 4: the door. He waits in the parking lot while his
16:09
Speaker 4: father runs in just before store closing and purchases large
16:13
Speaker 4: storage toats, the same ones that will later be found
16:16
Speaker 4: full of the Falkner's belongings. In the back of the
16:18
Speaker 4: white suburban. Eric waited in the suv for his father
16:22
Speaker 4: to return. The two then returned to the property in
16:24
Speaker 4: Oak Hill together and cleaned out the house, packed up
16:28
Speaker 4: the falconers and their belongings. Eric took the stand to
16:34
Speaker 4: explain what he said really happened and his justification for
16:37
Speaker 4: the items purchased. They planned on having a camping trip,
16:40
Speaker 4: he said, and needed supplies to live off the land.
16:44
Speaker 4: He admits that he suspected that his father had ulterior
16:46
Speaker 4: motives for the chemicals, goggles and gloves, but nothing violent.
16:52
Speaker 10: Do you remember did you go to that Connapolis Walmart?
16:56
Speaker 10: Do you remember your dad buying those things? Yes, sir,
16:58
Speaker 10: And what did you think when he was buying those items?
17:01
Speaker 2: It's items that he's we've always used for shaking and baking.
17:06
Speaker 10: Well when you were at either the walmart or the
17:08
Speaker 10: home depot, do you remember going to a sporting goods store? Yes,
17:13
Speaker 10: we did, and what did and I know, there hasn't
17:15
Speaker 10: been any evidence about that, any videos or anything.
17:17
Speaker 1: What did what did your dad purchase at the sporting
17:20
Speaker 1: goods store?
17:21
Speaker 2: Now, we looked at warm clothes and also more bolts
17:28
Speaker 2: and arrows for when you go hunting you lose, You
17:32
Speaker 2: lose them when you miss.
17:35
Speaker 10: And did your dad tell you any reason why he
17:37
Speaker 10: wanted those bolts or and arrows.
17:40
Speaker 6: He live on the land, you need something to hunt
17:44
Speaker 6: and eat with.
17:45
Speaker 4: Eric testified that he felt that he had no choice
17:48
Speaker 4: but to do as his father instructed. He did not
17:51
Speaker 4: take part in the murders. In fact, Eric claimed to
17:54
Speaker 4: have witnessed only portions of the attack. During most of
17:57
Speaker 4: the brutality, he was outside or distracted and in another
18:00
Speaker 4: area of the house. He remained unsure of what would happen.
18:04
Speaker 4: As his father approached the Faulkner's front doorway at dusk
18:07
Speaker 4: on New Year's Eve.
18:12
Speaker 1: He who's he?
18:14
Speaker 6: My dad rang the doorbell.
18:17
Speaker 1: And what happened after your dad rang the doorbell?
18:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, he waited, there's a man that answered the door,
18:26
Speaker 2: and so my dad saying that you know, our truck
18:32
Speaker 2: is broken down.
18:32
Speaker 6: If I could, if I could use your phone?
18:36
Speaker 1: And what did you think when you heard your dad.
18:38
Speaker 6: Say that we didn't have any phones to begin with.
18:42
Speaker 2: I believe that, you know, maybe he truly just wanted
18:45
Speaker 2: to call somebody to see if anybody was there first.
18:48
Speaker 1: And then what happened.
18:51
Speaker 6: He walked right in and.
18:53
Speaker 1: He being is that your father walked right in? And
18:56
Speaker 1: what happened next?
19:01
Speaker 2: I started hearing yelling, yelling, come from the house, screaming,
19:08
Speaker 2: people saying, get out of my house. You know, welcome here.
19:15
Speaker 6: Yeah, m hm.
19:19
Speaker 4: Only when his father joined him in the Faulkner's office,
19:21
Speaker 4: where they searched for financial documents and other papers, did
19:25
Speaker 4: Eric learn of everything that had transpired during the attack.
19:31
Speaker 1: After that, where where did you go? Where did your
19:37
Speaker 1: father go.
19:45
Speaker 6: Back inside? He lit lanterns, and he took me back
19:50
Speaker 6: to the office.
19:52
Speaker 1: And what did you do in the office?
19:54
Speaker 6: The same thing I'd been doing, And.
19:59
Speaker 10: I was looking for the financial documents or no documents
20:02
Speaker 10: related to him. Did you want any of those documents?
20:06
Speaker 7: No?
20:09
Speaker 10: Well? And why did you do that? I mean, did
20:11
Speaker 10: your dad tell you to do that or did you
20:13
Speaker 10: just go do that on your own?
20:14
Speaker 6: He told me to do it.
20:18
Speaker 4: It's notable that during his recollection of these events to police,
20:22
Speaker 4: Eric provided many details pertaining to the act, and spoke
20:25
Speaker 4: entirely in the first person, as though he was there
20:28
Speaker 4: to witness them. When on the stand, however, Eric insisted
20:32
Speaker 4: this was not the case. He knew facts and details
20:35
Speaker 4: only as they had been relayed to him by his father.
20:41
Speaker 6: Did he stab the guy with the spear that you
20:44
Speaker 6: had in your back? He said that he stabbed him, Yes,
20:50
Speaker 6: well did you see it? I didn't see him stab him,
20:54
Speaker 6: but you had the spear in your bag, yes, sir,
20:57
Speaker 6: I did.
20:59
Speaker 11: So how did he get the spear out of your
21:02
Speaker 11: bag to stab them if you didn't see it.
21:05
Speaker 6: He had jerked the bag off me and told me
21:07
Speaker 6: to go in the living.
21:07
Speaker 1: Room, but you were outside.
21:09
Speaker 6: Remember it pulled me inside.
21:11
Speaker 1: But you were outside for five minutes or more? Is
21:14
Speaker 1: that what you said?
21:15
Speaker 6: I don't know how long I was outside. When you
21:19
Speaker 6: put that bag on your shoulder, the shoulder strap was
21:22
Speaker 6: not like this, was it. No, sir, It was a
21:27
Speaker 6: normal bag.
21:28
Speaker 9: Or it was a normal bag with a black strap, right,
21:34
Speaker 9: and it did not have the bleaching from the lie.
21:36
Speaker 6: Did it?
21:39
Speaker 1: Because that's what this is, Yes, sir, that is it is.
21:43
Speaker 9: And it's got that right there because you wore it
21:49
Speaker 9: into the house that way right.
21:52
Speaker 2: My dad took it from me, Sir, I don't know
21:55
Speaker 2: how I got lye on it from him.
22:03
Speaker 4: Key to explaining how Eric could have been coerced into
22:06
Speaker 4: taking part in this horrific crime, Yet Baar no responsibility
22:09
Speaker 4: was his mental state. Doctor Aisha Chowdry, a forensic psychologist,
22:14
Speaker 4: testified over a few days that Eric was under the
22:17
Speaker 4: control of his father. She assessed that he suffered from
22:20
Speaker 4: post traumatic stress from the events. She testified that Eric
22:24
Speaker 4: had been so controlled by his father that he was
22:26
Speaker 4: afraid to contact authorities or do anything that would have
22:30
Speaker 4: prevented the murders. She was stunned by the amount of
22:33
Speaker 4: time that Family Protective Services in Texas had investigated the
22:37
Speaker 4: Campbell family, stating that there were over a thousand pages
22:41
Speaker 4: of material to review in relation to his treatment. Eric
22:44
Speaker 4: had told the doctor that he believed he was helping
22:47
Speaker 4: to protect both his father and his family members, including
22:51
Speaker 4: his stepmother Holly, by agreeing to the road trip with
22:54
Speaker 4: his father and by staying by his side. In rebuttal,
22:58
Speaker 4: the state called doctor Nicole Wolfe, who reviewed the available
23:01
Speaker 4: footage of the pair and noted that Eric did not
23:04
Speaker 4: appear to be demonstrating the behaviors one would associate with
23:07
Speaker 4: a traumatic state. He did not appear paralyzed with fear
23:11
Speaker 4: of his father.
23:15
Speaker 12: Well, snake can be suffering from post traumatic stress disorder
23:19
Speaker 12: any day. But even if they have post traumatic stress disorder,
23:23
Speaker 12: it doesn't stop them from going through a list and
23:25
Speaker 12: putting these items.
23:26
Speaker 3: In a car.
23:29
Speaker 12: And having some awareness of each of these items functions.
23:35
Speaker 12: And again the behavior is quite unremarkable. There's attention to
23:40
Speaker 12: what's being placed in the basket, and later at the
23:44
Speaker 12: at the cash register, he has a very casual demeanor.
23:48
Speaker 7: Is this consistent with someone who is in.
23:51
Speaker 6: A disserciative episode?
23:53
Speaker 7: No, it is not someone who is exhibiting the symptoms
23:57
Speaker 7: of hypervigilance.
23:59
Speaker 6: No, frozen with fear.
24:02
Speaker 11: Now, they also have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt
24:07
Speaker 11: that even if Eric knew or had some inkling that
24:10
Speaker 11: that was what was going to happen, that he joined
24:14
Speaker 11: in that common purpose, that he shared it, that that
24:17
Speaker 11: was his purpose, that he wanted those things to happen.
24:21
Speaker 11: And they can't prove that. They can't prove that beyond
24:23
Speaker 11: a reasonable doubt. And if they can't prove that beyond
24:27
Speaker 11: a reasonable doubt. Then Eric cannot be held liable for
24:30
Speaker 11: any of the things that's fauthored. He can only be
24:33
Speaker 11: held liable for things that he did.
24:37
Speaker 7: The defense wants you to think that Ed did this
24:39
Speaker 7: all by himself. A pair of gloves that were paying
24:45
Speaker 7: in the truck. These the pair of gloves that you found,
24:51
Speaker 7: they said, in the console of the truck stays exhibit
24:56
Speaker 7: finally for work. And the next things you saw were
25:01
Speaker 7: the first piece of evidence that we introduced from the suburban,
25:05
Speaker 7: were the same gloves, the same type of gloves taking
25:10
Speaker 7: off discarded into the floorward of the suburban. We know
25:14
Speaker 7: who was driving the suburban, we saw it on the video.
25:19
Speaker 7: We know who was driving the truck. We saw that
25:21
Speaker 7: on the video.
25:24
Speaker 3: There's two of.
25:25
Speaker 1: Everything in this that.
25:31
Speaker 12: The same name.
25:32
Speaker 7: The defendant says that he was carrying the only thing
25:35
Speaker 7: that he says was caring because there wasn't necessarily a weapon.
25:39
Speaker 1: Heinnant.
25:41
Speaker 7: But we found a lectrical tape on the inside of this.
25:52
Speaker 7: Tape up the shoes so you don't get the chemical
25:55
Speaker 7: spray up into your legs. Taping up your jeans and
26:01
Speaker 7: your huge porn attack is premeditation and deliberation, first degree murder.
26:12
Speaker 4: The jury was given instructions for their deliberations after weeks
26:16
Speaker 4: of witness testimony, but then after just two and a
26:19
Speaker 4: half hours, attorneys on both sides were called back into
26:22
Speaker 4: the courtroom. The judge had some news. Juror number three
26:26
Speaker 4: had passed a note to the judge stating that they
26:28
Speaker 4: felt they were not capable of making this decision. Deliberations
26:32
Speaker 4: had already commenced. An alternative juror was not an option.
26:36
Speaker 4: The judge asked counsel how they would like to proceed.
26:43
Speaker 1: Understand my understanding the baby that would cause on this job.
26:52
Speaker 10: I don't know if that Nevis, if she she can't
26:56
Speaker 10: evaluate the case, and I mean she if she was
26:59
Speaker 10: straws from the liberation, that means eleven jurors are deciding
27:05
Speaker 10: the case.
27:06
Speaker 1: I mean it makes me uncomfortable both ways.
27:08
Speaker 10: Yes, really, that looked to say.
27:16
Speaker 4: Ultimately, the jury was recessed early for a long weekend.
27:19
Speaker 4: The hope was that every juror would be happy to
27:21
Speaker 4: proceed following the break. However, over the course of the weekend,
27:25
Speaker 4: the same juror number three was involved in a relatively
27:28
Speaker 4: serious traffic accident. Deliberations were placed on hold for three
27:33
Speaker 4: weeks while the juror had necessary surgery and time to recuperate.
27:40
Speaker 4: In the end, the verdict was returned by the original
27:42
Speaker 4: twelve jurors unanimously. Eric Campbell was found guilty of first
27:46
Speaker 4: degree murder, first degree burglary, robbery with a dangerous weapon,
27:51
Speaker 4: second degree arson, and two counts of animal cruelty.
27:55
Speaker 10: Well, he's struggling with the verdict, but he's keeping his
27:57
Speaker 10: head up because he has the confidence of someone in
28:00
Speaker 10: he's innocent. Eric had trouble being in the court room.
28:03
Speaker 10: This was all very stressful for him, but he was
28:06
Speaker 10: always very genuine person. He always struck me as someone
28:10
Speaker 10: who was honest, and I always believed him that he
28:12
Speaker 10: was innocent.
28:15
Speaker 4: Eric was spared death row. He was given life in prison.
28:23
Speaker 4: Jerome and Dora's two sons, who had successfully avoided the
28:25
Speaker 4: media throughout the ordeal, expressed their relief in the verdict
28:29
Speaker 4: and sentencing, as well as their appreciation for the work
28:32
Speaker 4: of the many law enforcement entities involved in their parents' case.
28:37
Speaker 4: Eric Campbell appealed his conviction on the basis that Juror
28:40
Speaker 4: number three's lack of confidence in the deliberations should have
28:43
Speaker 4: immediately sparked a mistrial. This initial appeal failed. That was
28:49
Speaker 4: the messy case of the Campbells and the tragic story
28:52
Speaker 4: of Jerome and Dora Faulkner. Thank you for joining me.
28:56
Speaker 4: I'm Kevin. This is just Thought Lounge and I'll see
28:59
Speaker 4: in the next one.