CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – The trial began this week for a 66-year-old man accused of murdering his adoptive parents 13 years ago.
William Roger Campbell sat in his wheelchair next to his defense team in the courtroom on Tuesday, as the trial finally began unfolding for a cold case that had remained dormant for 11 years.
Bodies found during snowstorm
On Jan. 29, 2010, officers responded to the home of William “Bill” and Ina Campbell, 201 Jackson Road. A neighbor, Daniel Champagne, had found the bodies when checking on them during the snowstorm. The back door window had been broken, the home was ransacked, and in their beds lay Bill and Ina Campbell, each with a single gunshot wound to the head. They were 82 and 81 years old.
Responding detectives said the main issue they dealt with when trying to investigate the scene was the Campbells’ dog, Tino, who refused to leave Bill Campbell’s side. Eventually, Animal Control was called to remove the dog.
In June 2021, 10 years after the shootings, Roger Campbell was indicted on two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of his adoptive parents. Campbell pleaded not guilty to murder on July 29, 2021.
Question about timing of shootings
During the trial this week, the prosecution argued that although the murder weapon was never found, shell casings found at the crime scene also matched the ammunition found at the victims’ residence.
Campbell had greed as a motive, prosecutors said.
“The love that they had for their son, Roger Campbell, could not overcome the greed and ultimately the betrayal that they experienced when this defendant Roger Campbell decided to put two 25-caliber bullets in the heads of his elderly parents,” Assistant District Attorney Marianne Bell said in her opening statement.
The prosecution said the defendant went out of his way to inform his ex-wife that he would be leaving that Thursday, despite not speaking to her for 13 years.
Ina Campbell kept a lengthy journal about her medication. After investigation, it was revealed that Ina had written daily in this journal, never missing a day, until the day of her death.
Likewise, Bill Campbell was an avid reader of the newspaper. He read it every morning, chatting with his neighbors occasionally as he would go to collect it. Then, he would sit on either the front porch or back deck with a cup of coffee and read. On the date of the shootings, the newspaper wasn’t retrieved from the mailbox.
The defense disputed the time of their deaths, stating there was a broad 45-hour window that the state has not been able to narrow down any further, leaving the possibility open that Roger Campbell was gone at the time of their deaths. They went on to argue that the decision was made after 11 years, raising the question, why now?
“Did my client actually do this and they simply just dropped the ball? Or do they really not know and they’re simply rushing to close a cold case with faulty evidence?” defense attorney Joseph Allen Price asked the jury.
The trial is set to resume at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday.