CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Witnesses in this week’s trial for 66-year-old William Roger Campbell, charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of his elderly adoptive parents, ranged from police detectives to a horologist – a clock specialist.
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 a snowstorm. The back door window had been broken, the home appeared ransacked, and in their beds lay the Campbells, each with a single gunshot wound to the head. They were 82 and 81 years old.
The slaying remained a cold case for over a decade, until Roger Campbell was arrested 11 years later, in July 2021.
“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 … decided to put two 25-caliber bullets in the heads of his elderly parents,” said Assistant District Attorney Marianne Bell, who led the state’s case.
Here are six takeaways from this week’s testimony in Montgomery County court.
1. Defense questions timing, evidence
Defense attorney Joseph Allen Price told the jury that the prosecution’s timeline was but a rough estimate of sometime between 9 p.m. on Jan. 27 and 6 p.m. on Jan 29: a 45-hour window.
He implored the jury to listen carefully to witness testimony. “The state said my client, William Roger Campbell, did it. The way the comments go, somehow, they made that decision 11 years after,” Price told the jury. “Not then. Why now? Not then. If all the evidence was there, why did they wait 11 years?”
Price reassured the jury that there was no new evidence, no new witnesses, and no new confessions. All evidence to be presented during the trial was collected in 2010.
2. Valuables, guns left untouched
Clarksville Police Detective Tim Anderson, the lead detective of the case at the time, told the court that despite the scene appearing burglarized, the Campbells’ valuables were still in place. Jewelry boxes appeared undisturbed, lock boxes had not been tampered with, approximately $2,800 was still there, checks remained on the dining room table, and, most shockingly, the guns were all there.
“Guns are the No. 1 thing that gets stolen during a burglary,” Anderson told the courtroom.
The only disruption appeared to be that drawers and cabinets throughout the house had been pulled out haphazardly.
Bill Campbell’s estate worth was over $130,000, and his wife Ina’s estate worth was over $120,000. Altogether, their sole heir, Roger Campbell, received over $180,000 from his parents’ estate.
3. Defendant’s son and ex-wife testify against him
William “Shawn” Campbell, 35, son of the defendant, described having a close relationship with his late grandparents, but he had only seen his father, Roger Campbell, a handful of times growing up.
“I’ve been on this earth 35 years, and in that 35 years, I have spent less than 24 hours around him,” Shawn Campbell said.
After the funerals of Bill and Ina Campbell, Shawn Campbell was made aware of an estate auction that took place at the Campbells’ residence. According to him, he was never contacted by his father, the defendant, to keep any of his grandparents’ items as keepsakes.
Linda Campbell, 70, ex-wife of the defendant and mother of Shawn, also testified. At the time, she worked at the Commissary.
On Jan. 26, 2010, three days before the bodies were found, Linda was paged to Register 17, where she was startled to see the defendant and his mother, Ina. Before then, she hadn’t seen or spoken to him in almost 13 years. Campbell struck up a conversation with her and told her he was in town visiting and would be leaving on the 28th, within the previously mentioned 45-hour time frame.
“I thought, Why do I care when you’re leaving?” Linda Campbell said. She had never been paged by Ina, William or Roger before then.
4. Blood at sink, bullet casings in rooms
Agent Frederick McClintock, a CPD drug agent and crime scene investigator in 2010, said that during their detailed search of the crime scene, he found a bottle of Palmolive dish soap with a red-brown material on the back that “appeared to be blood.” In a field test swab, the material tested positive for blood. Later, this blood was identified through DNA to be Roger Campbell’s.
When the Palmolive was logged into evidence, it was mislabeled as “Dawn” dish soap.
Alan Charvis, a CPD homicide investigator at the time of the murders, opened items of evidence collected from the scene on the stand. Among these items was the upstairs bathroom sink drain. According to presumptive field testing swabs, it, too tested positive for blood.
Two .25 caliber shell casings were found in the victims’ rooms. Both casings were matched to the same firearm, but only one matched a box of ammunition found at the crime scene that belonged to Bill Campbell.
5. House kept extremely warm
Dr. Amy Hawes worked at the Davidson County Medical Examiner’s Office at the time of the Campbell murders and performed the autopsies on Jan. 31, 2010. She said victims both had early to moderate levels of decomposition, which could have been advanced by the heat in the home.
Many witnesses who entered the house recalled the inside being warm. Agent Frederick McClintock, Clarksville Police Department, testified that the temperature in the home was 79 degrees, and in the basement, a gas log heater was on, additionally keeping the house warm.
Scott Beaubien, a training officer and member of the crime scene unit with CPD at the time, recalled there being an odor. He said the victims were both still lying in their beds, covered in their blankets, with their oxygen tubes on.
6. Grandfather clock sold after murders
Bill and Ina Campbell owned an antique Lenzkirch grandfather clock, and according to Andrew Smith, owner of It’s Time Clock Shop, it was rare. Smith holds a degree in horology, which is the study and measurement of time. He had serviced the Campbells’ grandfather clock for many years, visiting the home to perform maintenance annually.
When he first laid eyes on the clock, he said, he offered Bill Campbell $5,000 for it, coincidentally, in front of Roger, the defendant. But Bill turned him down, saying he knew the clock was a rare antique, and he wasn’t willing to part with it.
In February 2010, less than a month after the murders, Smith received a call asking if he was interested in buying a Lenzkirch grandfather clock. He scheduled to meet and look at the clock after being given directions to the location. When he arrived at the Campbell residence, Smith expressed his excitement to the courtroom that he was finally going to be able to buy the clock. However, instead of his normal customers, he was met by the defendant.
“I said, ‘Where’s your mom and dad?'” Smith told the court. “He seemed nervous, shaky. And said, ‘Didn’t you hear? Mom and Dad were shot and killed in the bedrooms.'”
Immediately, Smith tried to stop the transaction, he said. But the defendant insisted he was the sole heir and that he was able to handle the estate. When Smith decided to follow through with the transaction, he claimed that Roger Campbell tried to haggle by asking for $6,000. Smith ended up paying the original $5,000 and left with the clock. It remains in his possession today.
Court is in recess until Monday at 8:30 a.m., when closing arguments are scheduled to begin.