Snapped: Women Who Murder - Eugenia Campbell

Episode Date: October 29, 2023

An Army veteran lives through two dangerous tours in Iraq, only to be gunned down within his own home.Season 23 Episode 13Originally aired: April 29, 2018Watch full episodes of Snapped for FR...EE on the Oxygen app: https://oxygentv.app.link/WatchSnappedPodSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 It's Mr. Ballin here, and I'm here to tell you about my brand new podcast. It's called Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries. You can expect things like bizarre unheard of diseases, strange medical mishaps, unexplainable deaths, and everything in between. Listen to Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. Bosh Legacy returns now streaming. Man, it's been taken. Oh, God. Nothing can stop a father. Is he alive?
Starting point is 00:00:29 From doing what the law can't. Have you had to do this the very way? You have to. I don't. Bosh Legacy watched the new season now streaming exclusively on Freevy. They were high school sweethearts with a devotion to family and country. We were all proud of them, Dad.
Starting point is 00:00:47 Hey, my big brother in the wheelchair. He loved his family, hit a big family. He provided Eugene up with everything she could want. She ate his heart. Just when their future looked its brightest, a devastating crime stopped their marriage dead in its tracks. Police arrived to a very grizzly horrific scene. I felt as though my heart had been ripped out my chest.
Starting point is 00:01:13 As detectives hunt for a killer, they discover that there is more to this picture perfect couple than meets the eye. There was something going on in the resident that's suspicious. He was actually telling me it was about her friend. It was me coming in and out into the house. The potential suspect pool was quite large. At phone call, it was a gentleman said he had some information. Her house is actually burning to the ground at the time.
Starting point is 00:01:41 She come on to you as sweet as honey, but she is mean as a macover snake. The Police The Police The Police The Police
Starting point is 00:02:07 October 12, 2011. October 12, 2011. Prichard, Alabama Police Officer, Willie Mayben, is in the middle of a patrol shift when dispatch informs him of a troubling call that just came in. Dispatch, contact the men advised that there was suspicious
Starting point is 00:02:15 circus fans at Gorman Lane. And I started hitting that way which was on the north side of the town. I was in the middle of a patrol shift when dispatch informs him of a troubling call that just came in. Dispatch, contact the men advised that there was suspicious circus dance at Gorman Lane.
Starting point is 00:02:25 And I started hitting that wave, which was on the north side of the town. As Officer Maven arrives at the scene, he's met by a frightened 29-year-old Eugenia Campbell and her sister, Satanya. Upon arriving on the scene, I spoke with Mrs. Cameron. She was upset, you know. Eugenia says she had been afraid to enter the home,
Starting point is 00:02:51 she shares, with her 32-year-old husband, Romano. She stated when she'd arrived home, her husband, Trump, was up on the car, and the door was open. She came home and just felt like things were off. It just looked strange. She knew her husband when he left those items open. And unlocked. They blew the horn, and he didn't respond,
Starting point is 00:03:17 and then they called the police. There had been a burglary reported at that house the week before, so she felt the need to call 911 before going inside. When I arrived on the scene, I noticed the same thing that Trump was up and the door was open. Like the vise heard to stay out in the vehicle with her sister. Officer Maiden cautiously enters the home.
Starting point is 00:03:45 Upon entering the resident, I kept calling for Mr. Campbell, and he still didn't spawn. And I looked around and I saw some shoes on the floor, but they was face up on the floor behind the sofa. I didn't see them blaring at the time, but I knew he wasn't responding, and I started e-mess to the location. At that time, we really had no clue as to what really transpired.
Starting point is 00:04:15 We need to pull in additional resources from law enforcement and figure out what we need to do to try and get to the bottom of the crime. For Romano Campbell, the son of an unwed teen mother, his childhood in South Alabama was one of struggle and survival. He grew up in a place they call, happy, healed. It was a bad place where it was drugged. It was, um, it was poverty.
Starting point is 00:04:43 It was killing. Unlike many of his neighborhood peers, Romano refused to succumb to the temptations of the street. He escaped so many things that he saw going up. He was a good child. He finished school with an over-mounted credit, very intelligent. He just was an athletic person.
Starting point is 00:05:06 He played football for two years, but track was his little. He was a big muscle type guy. He was feared in school, but he was cool. People look at his physique and say, oh, no, I ain't gonna miss him. During high school,
Starting point is 00:05:25 Romano met the young woman who would one day become his wife. The spunky, self-assured, Eugenia Singleton. Eugenia and Romano were high school sweethearts. She's from a preacher in Alabama. And he met her. She was working at church at chicken. And she was an outpouring person outside the box, you know. She was just
Starting point is 00:05:50 on-going. I could say that would attract him. They used to take us to the movies. Just used to have fun, you know. That's how, you know, she warned me over. Although Eugenia and Romano were still in love, they decided to split up when high school ended. The following year, Romano enlisted in the army and began his basic training almost 600 miles away in Fort Knox, Kentucky. He was a hard worker, he was a dedicated person
Starting point is 00:06:22 when it come to the military. He loved that military. We were all proud of him that, hey, my big brothers in the military. Before his deployment to South Korea in the spring of 2002, Ramano paid a visit to his family back in Pritchard, where he ran into his old flame. We saw him in Windexi, and she had a little boy.
Starting point is 00:06:44 In the years since their breakup, Eugenia had weathered a rocky relationship with another local guy, with whom she'd had a child, but the father didn't stick around. This is just your average mother who is just trying to make ends meet. Despite Eugenia's struggles and Romano's impending deployment, the attraction still seemed strong. We were sitting on the porch one day and my mom, she loved reading the paper. And Ramano's family was floored when they came across an unexpected wedding announcement. She said, you didn't got married, because she calls him an ex-member. And he said, yes, ma'am, I got married.
Starting point is 00:07:28 Over the next few years, Eugenia and Romano added two more children to their family and settled into a home on a military base near Savannah, Georgia. The couple couldn't have been happier. He was a good man, a good father. Eugenia was living a normal life. She had children, she had a husband who worked hard for the family, and she was working to take care of her family like most women are. They seem to be doing fine, good, and my son was taking good care.
Starting point is 00:07:59 Despite their apparent happiness, Romano and Eugenia's relationship still had its challenges. Romano Campbell was an army sergeant, so he served seven years in the army, two tours in Iraq. With each tour in Iraq, it grew harder and harder for Romano and Eugenia to keep the fire in their romance burning. This is a woman who is working to take care of her family, quite a large family, and she has a husband who's gone a lot. Ultimately, Eugenia's loneliness drove her to find comfort
Starting point is 00:08:32 in the arms of another man. When he went to Iraq, Eugenia was born with the sergeant. She got pregnant. She ended up having the baby and giving the baby up for adoption. And the military don't really believe in divorce, so they advised him to do a legal separation. Despite Eugenia's infidelity and pressure from Romano's superiors to separate from her,
Starting point is 00:09:01 the couple refused to give up on their marriage. And when Romano wrapped up his final tour in Iraq, he chose not to reenlist. He just wanted his family more. That's why I think he wanted to be out. You know, he wanted to take care of his family. He loved his family. He got back together with her.
Starting point is 00:09:22 He loved her. I believe that she it is hard. To help strengthen their family bond, Eugenia and Romano decided to move back to their hometown of Pritchard, Alabama. They seem to be doing good, and he got on at superior all. He decided to get a job working offshore.
Starting point is 00:09:45 And anyone that works offshore, that means you're going to be gone away from home a lot. So he worked two weeks offshore, two weeks back on land. So that meant a lot of time away from Ujina and a lot of time away from the kids. For a mano, being gone for only two weeks a month was a vast improvement over being in a war zone for years at a time,
Starting point is 00:10:05 and working the oil rigs also paid better. Their finances was great. I think it was more than great. He's always had. He's never let anything. It appeared, Eugenia and Romano had managed to put their troubles behind them, and were more in love than ever. It seemed to be getting a long fine.
Starting point is 00:10:25 Everything seemed to be fine. But in October 2011, a series of events would bring the Campbell's reinvigorated romance to an abrupt and brutal end. I went back in with the EMTs, and I did notice blood on him after they was trying to resess a take him. EMT's quickly realized there's nothing they can do to save Romano Campbell.
Starting point is 00:10:51 He had multiple gunshots about his body, and we couldn't determine at that time whether they were interest wounds or exit wounds. It's clear to the officers that Romano's death is no accident. This particular level of crime obviously was not a self-inflicted crime. It was one in which that had to be some type of cell
Starting point is 00:11:13 and involved. Coming up, as investigators work to track down a killer, they open a Pandora's box of secrets and lies that reveal an unexpected, tumble life. It did run through our mind that maybe there was some connection with this, but we didn't know exactly how every question we asked him.
Starting point is 00:11:35 He just denied, denied, denied, denied. She said, come to my house now. My house is on fire. [♪ Music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in background, music playing in of nearly 10 years of marriage, and their relationship seemed that much stronger for it. I didn't see any squirreling with them. I didn't see any kind of lack of anything. She was the perfect wife. But on October 12, 2011,
Starting point is 00:12:19 police in Pritchard, Alabama discovered Romano, an army veteran who survived two tours in Iraq, dead on the floor of his own living room, with what appeared to be multiple gunshot wounds. This is a man who survived IED explosions and then came home to be murdered. As patrol officers secure the perimeter, friends and neighbors gather to comfort Eugenia. Patrol officers secure the perimeter, friends and neighbors gather to comfort Eugenia. Inside the house, homicide detectives are getting their first look at the crime scene.
Starting point is 00:12:53 I did observe the victim, Mr. Campbell lying behind a sofa or a couch. His feet were faced up towards the bedroom area where the bedrooms were on the far end of the house. This is a man who had just gotten home from work. He worked offshore. He had just walked in the door. The keys were still in the door.
Starting point is 00:13:14 The trunk of his car was still open. There wasn't an extreme amount of blood on the victim's body at the time and nothing appeared to be disturbed, so we were kind of puzzled. Numerous things ran from here. It could have been a burglar that broke into the house. Breakfast for me, Mr. Kamakame home. And Mr. Kamakame will start them.
Starting point is 00:13:38 Or it could have been somebody else waiting outside. And it came in and shot them. There were a lot of possibilities at the time. outside and came in and shot him. There were a lot of possibilities at the time. One thing police do know is that this isn't the first time they've been called to this residence. About a week before Mr. Kammer was killed, I responded to that location regards to a burglary.
Starting point is 00:14:02 There had been a prior incident where the wife of the victim had called and reported a burglary at the house. In an attempt to gather information, detectives invite Romano's wife, Eugenia, and her sister Satanya down to the station for an interview. She stated that her and her sister had went to the casino down in Blexon. And that Mr. Campbell had called and told her that he was coming home a little later. And she decided to spend the night over to us
Starting point is 00:14:33 sister's house and just come over the next day. Romano worked offshore, so he was out for two weeks, and then he'd be home for two weeks. On this particular occasion, his wife was not at home that night, and so she was not present at the time of his murder. Eugenia explains she had a good reason for not wanting to be at home alone that night. Miss Eugenia, she had reported a burglary at the house,
Starting point is 00:15:00 maybe about a week prior. She was scared to stay there by herself, so she had been staying with her sister. My sister was interviewer also. She gave the same alabas and that they was in the Luxe at the casino and said afterwards they came home. Investigators ask the sisters if they know anybody who might want Romano dead.
Starting point is 00:15:25 Neither of them can think of a single person. However, Eugenia tells detectives that whoever broke into their home the previous week had stolen Romano's 9-millimeter pistol. I thought it may have been a connection to that person. That broke in before might have been there when Mr. Campbell came home. Romano and Eugenia would have been in what we call the urbanized areas of the city of
Starting point is 00:15:47 Prytra. Whereby typically it's characterized by a lot of low employment. Typically a lot of high crime as far as burglary's and things of that nature and every now and then shootings. You have a lot of areas that are rough and it wouldn't be unexpected for there to be a burglary or robbery gone bad that turns into a murder. Back at the crime scene, the CSI officer has yet to uncover any evidence to support an
Starting point is 00:16:19 armed robbery theory. Nothing appeared to be disturbed, so we were kind of puzzled at that time, because normally, if this was a typical home invasion where the victim came home and encountered someone in the house, there would have probably been a struggle or things would have been missing, like TVs, game systems. So we basically looked throughout the house. We noticed that items of value were not taken.
Starting point is 00:16:48 We didn't find a point of entry prior to Mr. Campbell opening the front door. We checked the perimeter and didn't find anything out of place. Anyone that's broken, the back door was kind of enchantment, but it was from a prior burger. One of the curious things about the investigation from the very beginning was Romano was shot multiple times. At the scene, we only found two shell casings.
Starting point is 00:17:17 And what was interesting, both those shell casings were found under furniture, under something where they would have been hidden. And so it appeared as if someone picked up the shell casings in attempt to hide their evidence. That is very unusual for me, burglaries standpoint. Is it possible that the thief had returned to rob the house once again and ends up using Romano's own gun against him?
Starting point is 00:17:47 While it seems like a long shot, investigators aren't willing to rule anything out just yet. We basically had no clue other than he was killed inside the residence. And somebody evidently was inside the residence or came in in the residence while he was returning home. In the meantime, investigators face another difficult task, informing Romano's mother Patricia of her son's death.
Starting point is 00:18:21 My mom is a chaplain for a preacher police department. When detectives reach out to Miss Campbell, the case takes another unexpected turn. On the day that Mr. Campbell was found murdered in his house, when his mother was notified, her house is actually burning to the ground at the time. Everyone was coming to my house, my neighbors, and my sisters and everybody was coming there because of my loss of their house and fire.
Starting point is 00:18:53 But they didn't have any idea that I was losing my firstborn son. One day this woman lost everything. She lost her son and she lost her home. It was just a devastating day. I've been on that side of the fence, consoling that family. But now I need somebody to console me. We talked about my child,
Starting point is 00:19:16 listening to him on that floor. Dad, it was a feeling that I wasn't in reality. With the cause of the fire unknown, I was in that, I wasn't in reality. With the cause of the fire unknown, investigators are concerned that someone is specifically targeting the family. And they did run through our mind that maybe there was some connection with this, but we didn't know exactly how it fit it.
Starting point is 00:19:40 He is shot inside his own home. And then the same day, you have his mother, whose house catches fire. Something was off. Coming up, as the investigation moves forward, a new witness could change everything. And the identity of Romano Campbell's killer will stun both friends and family.
Starting point is 00:20:05 I had a phone call and it was a gentleman said that he had some information on the case. Some of the questions that he asked him, he was evasive to, he was just straight out of line. This is 48 hours correspondent, Aaron Moriarty. My podcast, My Life of Crime, is delving into a new season of true crime cases like no other. For a number of years, they thought they had committed the perfect crime. With decades of experience as a lawyer and reporter involved in murder cases, I'm taking on the most chilling investigations.
Starting point is 00:20:48 This season I'm looking into the labyrinth of crime and secrets within families. You are under arrest for murder of your mother. Do you know that I was kidnapped? Do you know that? Join me in my journey to go beyond the scene of each crime behind Prism Walls and into the killer's inner thoughts. Enjoy my life of crime with Aaron Moriarty on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcast. You can listen to my life of crime with Aaron Moriarty, add free on Wondery Plus.
Starting point is 00:21:21 Get started with your free trial at Wundery.com slash plus. Bosh Legacy returns. My name's Harry Bosch. I'm a private investigator. Now streaming in a two-episode premiere event. Maddie's been taken. Oh, God. His daughter is in the hands of a madman. What are the police looking for me?
Starting point is 00:21:44 The missing office. And the clock is running out. in the hands of a madman. What are the police have been looking for me? The missing officer. And the clock is running out. Is he alive? I'm not gonna tell you that. But nothing can stop a father. And we want to find her just as much as you do. I doubt that very much.
Starting point is 00:21:59 From doing what the law can't. You gotta let us do our job. Don't cut me out of this. We have no idea what I'm feeling right now. Harry, we have to do this the very way. You have to. I don't. Nowhere is my daughter. Bosch Legacy.
Starting point is 00:22:18 Watch the new season, now streaming, exclusively on FreeV. In Prichard, Alabama, Romano and Eugenia Campbell's life together has tragically been cut short. 32-year-old Romano has been gunned down in his own home. And before his family has even had a chance to process what's happened, another tragedy strikes. You have a mother who, on the same day, her son was murdered. Across town, her house goes up in flames. You think those two things may be connected,
Starting point is 00:23:01 surely this isn't a coincidence. Well, basically, that day, everything was still up and air. We basically had no clue. It could have been very well some connection, but we were unsure at that time. Mobile County Arson investigators are dispatched to Patricia Campbell's residence and begin combing through the wreckage.
Starting point is 00:23:23 It doesn't take them long to determine the source of the fire. The fire department determined that this was an electrical fire, that these two incidents were not related, that this just happened to be a situation where a woman had really bad luck. In one day, this woman lost everything. She lost her son and she lost her home. It was just a devastating day. I was dealing with the loss of everything.
Starting point is 00:23:50 All my members, I was dealing with a whole lot. But what kept me from she was my faith in God. The mystery of Patricia Campbell's house fire has been quickly solved. But across town at Eugenia and Romano's residents, investigators are no closer to determining who killed Romano or why. There were a lot of possibilities at the time, but we didn't have the key ingredients or key components
Starting point is 00:24:18 to just put everything together. Investigators had hoped an interview with Romano's grieving widow, Eugenia, and her sister, Satanya, might generate some new leads. But neither woman could think of anybody who'd want to harm Romano. When police speak with the rest of Romano's friends and family, they say the same thing. I talked to his boss, even one of the shipmates. He dropped out prior to coming to his residence. And all of them talked very highly of him. We couldn't find out one person that we knew
Starting point is 00:24:55 that he may have gotten into some type of education or wanted him dead. Romano Campbell was a man who was not a criminal. He wasn't a bad man. He was a great man. He served our country. He served tours in criminal. He wasn't a bad man. He was a great man. He served our country. He served tours in Iraq. He provided for his large family.
Starting point is 00:25:09 He loved his wife. He was a hard worker. He's a model citizen. He's the type of citizen that we take pride in and that we celebrate. The following morning, the coroner's office performs an autopsy on Romano's body and uncovers a chilling new detail.
Starting point is 00:25:29 He was shot 16 times. You could tell anger was in there, you know, because if you, if you're gonna kill him, you know, you could have used one or two bullets. You didn't have to. In the whole clip, if this had been a regular home invasion, maybe a person that's trying to flee would have maybe shot once or twice, but being there, he was shot multiple times, means he was ambushed. It was an overkill. Let me take one bullet to kill.
Starting point is 00:26:02 If it was a robber, you know, one shot, you know, somebody trying to get away, they not been a clergy with that men of bullets. When I heard about that, I knew it was a passion. By examining the levity of Romano's body, the coroner's office is also able to determine time of death. So we shot in the early morning hours right when he got home around midnight.
Starting point is 00:26:23 So we shot in the early morning hours right when he got home around midnight. Now that the coroner has established a timeline, investigators fan out across the Campbell's neighborhood, looking for anybody who may have seen something that night. We spoke to a few neighbors in the area. A couple that stayed next door, we asked them did they hear any gunshots or did they see anyone at the residence or what time of the day it was
Starting point is 00:26:51 that he returned home or so. And they really didn't have any clue. We didn't have any witnesses at the time. The time of morning that had happened, and normally everybody was asleep. So I didn't think that we would get anything to solidify. Although the canvassing effort yields no eyewitnesses,
Starting point is 00:27:11 several of the Campbell's neighbors do report seeing a lot of unusual activity around the home in the last two weeks. Some of the neighbors had told us that some other people had started coming to the house, and one neighbor actually took down a licensed plate number. to tell us that some other people had started coming to the house. And one day, they actually had to down a licensed plate number. Police traced the license plate to a vehicle registered to a man
Starting point is 00:27:33 who lived in the area. And we tracked him down, interviewed him. And he was actually telling us about our fare. Investigators are stunned that they are now interviewing Eugeneia Campbell's lover. I was quite surprised at that. Point blank, detectives ask the man if he had anything to do with Romano's murder.
Starting point is 00:27:54 He did not even know Mr. Campbell, and basically stated that he and Eugeneia had just a very casual, very friendly, very short-term relationship. After a little investigation in that matter, we kind of ruled him out. He gave us an alibi for that day where he was at it and he did check out.
Starting point is 00:28:15 But just as investigators are about to release the man, he reveals another interesting piece of information. During the investigation we did find out that she was having numerous affairs. She had multiple men in her life that she appeared to have some type of sexual relationship with. When detectives inform Romano's family of Eugenia's alleged infidelity, they're not entirely shocked. She had so many affairs with different guys,
Starting point is 00:28:50 and it was a disgrace to our family. She had had multiple affairs while her husband was working off shore. She lived a completely different life for those two weeks that Romano was out of town. We looked at those people she was having a affair with, it's being possible so to speak. So of course, they're going to look at these lovers.
Starting point is 00:29:12 They're going to question them, because that would obviously be a motive in this case. If the statement about Eugenia's revolving door of lovers is accurate, then the pool of potential suspects just got a whole lot deeper. We believe that the potential suspect pool was quite large, and so we had to go through all of these individuals. Is this person potentially involved? Where was he at the time?
Starting point is 00:29:45 Investigators begin tracking down Eugenia's alleged lovers one by one. where was he at the time? The investigation of the investigation of the investigation of the investigation of the investigation of the investigation of the investigation
Starting point is 00:29:53 of the investigation of the investigation of the investigation of the investigation of the investigation of the investigation of the
Starting point is 00:30:01 investigation of the investigation of the investigation of the investigation of the investigation of the investigation of the investigation of the investigation of the on ultimately through phone records. With this new information about all of her affairs, detectives begin to question Eugenia's involvement in the murder.
Starting point is 00:30:15 In a follow-up interview with detectives, Eugenia doesn't deny cheating on Romano, but she remains adamant she had nothing to do with his death. And given her rock-solid alibi from the night of the crime, investigators believe she may not have been there when Ramano was murdered, but they still have suspicions. Eugenia had called Ramano 30 minutes before he was scheduled to arrive home. So we were very curious about that.
Starting point is 00:30:41 I would say that Eugenia was probably at the top of the list of potential candidates to have committed this crime, but we did not believe that she was there. I don't think she was the shooter, but I thought she had something to do with. With no evidence at the time, I couldn't stand on that alone, so we started looking elsewhere in the best of case. so we started looking elsewhere in the best of case.
Starting point is 00:31:10 With no other leads, the case begins to lose momentum. For Amano's family, it feels like they're living through a nightmare. I felt as though my heart had been ripped out of my chest. Every day, I got up with the challenge. Every day, and it felt like I was walking along, it felt like it was so dark. And I just want just a little peak of sunshine. As for Eugenia, it seems that the loss of her husband coupled with the public revelation that she'd been unfaithful
Starting point is 00:31:40 to him made life in pritchard, unbearable. Turns out, and it wasn't too long after that, that Ujina moved to Baluxi, Mississippi. Two and a half years transpired with no new developments in the case. The family did a great job of convincing me of that justice had not been served fairly. It was to the point, though, we could not tie all the dots
Starting point is 00:32:05 and measure all the pieces together to figure out who, what, where, and why. More than two years later, in 2014, police received a phone call from a man in the nearby town of Ocean Springs, Mississippi that changes everything. I was sitting at my desk and the dispatch call and it advised me that I had a phone call.
Starting point is 00:32:32 It was a gentleman said that he had some information on the case. So I took the call. The guy introduced himself. And he said that we had a homicide in preacher and that the gentleman that did it basically confessed to him. And once he told us that I immediately asked him, did he know for sure what case it was and he stated that it was the husband of Eugene McCabble.
Starting point is 00:33:04 What case it was, and he stated that it was the husband of Eugene a camel. So I contacted Sergeant Martin and told him that we was going to take a ride to Mississippi. Coming up, is this the break investigators have been waiting for? Or will it prove to be yet another dead end? Through everything we had at him. March 2014. It's now been over two years since Eugenia Campbell's husband Romano was brutally gunned down
Starting point is 00:33:44 in their South Alabama home. But just when it seems the case might never be solved, a Mississippi man named Ross has come forward, claiming to have information about the murder. So I contacted Sergeant Martin and told him that we was gonna take a ride to Ocean Springs, Mississippi. We proceeded to drive down to Mississippi, and we met him at a local gas station there.
Starting point is 00:34:11 According to Ross, a 27-year-old friend of his named Frank Williams had recently made a disturbing confession to Ross and his brother. What he told us was that he and Frank had been talking. Frank was just some kind of way just started, just ramming and telling him some things. He spills the beans. He ends up telling these two guys in Baluxi that he killed a man named Romano Campbell in Pritchard.
Starting point is 00:34:41 Investigators asked Ross if Mr. Williams explained why he'd murdered Romano Campbell. He basically told us that Eugene and Frank had been dating at one point. They moved to Biluxi, Mississippi. They started a new life there. In fact, they had a child together. Years had gone by. Apparently, they got into some sort of falling out.
Starting point is 00:35:03 He moves in with his friends. Once a warrant was signed for the arrest of Mr. Williams, we contacted the Marshall Service to try and locate him because we were not sure exactly where he was. Ultimately, he was actually arrested at his mother's house in Pritchard. So as soon as he was arrested, he was taken to the Pritchard Police Department. Frank Williams proves to be a tough nut to crack.
Starting point is 00:35:32 Through everything we had at him, well, where were you at this time? Well, I wasn't there. I was never there. Well, did you and Eugene have a relationship together? No, she was just my friend. We just talked to each other and stuff like that. Every question we asked him, he just denied, denied, denied, denied.
Starting point is 00:35:52 But he was kind of nervous about some things. I can tell some of the questions that we asked him, he was evasive too. And a lot of things he was just straight out line about. We just put the hammer down on him and told him, look, if you want to sit here and continue line about this, we already know certain things that you've already told another person. We just put everything out in front of him
Starting point is 00:36:17 and just told him, look, regardless of what you say right here. You're still going to jail. There's an awful lot about this entire scenario. That's right. That I know. One thing after another. OK, I'm going to be honest with you. And this is what I don't want.
Starting point is 00:36:40 Don't go down by yourself. OK. You basically at that instant say, OK, I'm really top. Don't go down by yourself. Okay. You basically at that instant say, okay, I'm ready to talk. And you basically told us a story from the beginning. According to Frank, it all began in August of 2011 when he first met Eugene Yacambal. From the time y'all met, how long was it before y'all started a sexual relationship? About two weeks, OK? He knew that she was married.
Starting point is 00:37:12 Her husband would go off to work out of town, and then he would come by. Frank admits that he fell hard for Eugenia. Not long after the two began sleeping together, Frank introduced Eugenia and her four kids to his family. I met her, and you know, she just said she didn't have anybody to help her. She said she was married, but she was in the process of getting a divorce. Initially, he told them that Ramono used to be a very abusive daughter,
Starting point is 00:37:42 and she wanted to basically get out that situation. Yougenia had informed him that her and her husband had some domestic instances with each other and that she was basically tired of it. Yougenia told him that she wanted to hire him to take her husband out, which means to kill him. She made the comment to him that if something would have happened, she would collect Social Security benefits for the children and there was life insurance, substantial life insurance that would help her be able to support the children
Starting point is 00:38:19 and then she would be able to give him half of that life insurance policy. Initially, he kept putting Eugene it off and did not want to get involved. However, when he learned of the level of domestic violence that she claimed that calls her to go to the hospital, he decided that yes, that he would kill her husband. Okay, from that point on, to the time that she first asked you to do this for her, to kill her husband, how long was that?
Starting point is 00:38:49 From the first time you all had sex until she asked you to kill her husband. About a month and a half. Okay. She basically tore me in a minute. I got to get a lot of ideas. Frank claims that in the weeks leading up to the murder, Eugenius spelled out her plan for eliminating her husband. The breaking was staged. It was kind of ironic that the only thing that was stolen at the time at the first breaking
Starting point is 00:39:17 was a 9-millimeter handpillar. And the two shell casing that we did, fine-on-scene, was a 9-millimeter hand-pilster. Frank says on the night Ramana was due back from his stint in the Gulf, Eugenia left her kids at her sister's house, then met up with him to put the second part of the plan into action.
Starting point is 00:39:36 She picked him up, took him over to the house, let him in, and gave him the gun, and he waited inside. Frank tells detectives that once he gave him the gun, and he waited inside. Frank tells detectives that once he was inside the residence, Eugenia returned to her sister's house and waited. She left her car there, again, to make it appear
Starting point is 00:39:55 as if she's at home, like Ramona would expect when he arrived home. He said, he sat there for a while inside the house waiting for her husband to return. Finally he said when her husband returned, he was already inside the house. Even when he came home, tell him what happened. He came home and he came to the door. He came to the door. I was standing right there in the hallway.
Starting point is 00:40:21 And once he got right there behind the couch, he turned the door. It's the hallway, where I was seeing him. I shot him. All right. How many times do you shoot about? Two times. Till the gun stop.
Starting point is 00:40:33 What did you do then? All right? He advised he also ain't any Nike gym bag around the gun. So when he shoot, he would catch all the bullets. One of two fell out the bag, that's how we got shell casings. He said he called her and he told her to come pick him up and she was going to pick him up and meet him on the back road. There's a convenient store right on the other side of a very small patch of woods from their house.
Starting point is 00:41:02 He basically left the house, walked through that little cut, and was picked up by Eugenia at the convenience store. The next day, she called the police and the police discovered his body inside the house. Frank says that despite carrying out Eugenia's plan to a T, he never received his half of the $200,000 insurance payout, even after he and Eugenia moved to Biluxi together. He was mad at her. She owed him some money.
Starting point is 00:41:31 She had never given me the money, and he was worried that she was trying to cheat him out of that money. With Frank's confession on the record, police formally charged him with first-degree murder. He was distraught after it, and that's what I believe led him to tell us everything what had transpired. We did arrest him and charge him with the murder of Mr. Campbell. Coming up, after charging Frank Williams, investigators turned their attention to Eugenia Campbell
Starting point is 00:42:02 and find out what a wicked game this wife and mother of five had really been playing. She had a gambling problem. I think the Lord hit her a couple of times, but the devil won. Amen. MUSIC On March 26, 2014, Frank Williams, the 27-year-old lover
Starting point is 00:42:27 of Eugenia Campbell, confessed to firing the 16 bullets that killed Eugenia's husband, Romano Campbell. But Frank claims that Eugenia was the crime's true mastermind. When he confessed to his part of the murder and also confessed to Eugenius part and it was her idea, her planning, she set this plan in motion. We then signed a warrant for her arrest. At Riss, Eugenia, the next day, the 27th of March, 2014, I never forget. Her story is she didn't do it.
Starting point is 00:43:05 She put it all on him. He did it. Detectives continue to dig deeper into Eugenia's personal life and discover the reason she was so desperate to cash in on the ample military benefits her husband had accrued. She had a gambling problem. She said that though, she stayed down at the casino's alive. She was spending more money and gambling
Starting point is 00:43:31 than she should be, and not using it for a roundhouse. She doesn't let all the bills get behind. My theory was she had to get rid of him for that purpose because of her gambling addiction. for that purpose because of her gamelon addiction. With her gambling addiction revealed, and with multiple sources acknowledging Eugenia's attempts to hire a hitman, investigators take another run
Starting point is 00:43:56 at eliciting a concession from her. She was brought in by the marshals, and she was questioned by the DAE office. Initially, I believe her story was the same as he is. She kind of denied, denied, denied, until they basically dangled all the evidence in front of her and informed her that, hey, the gig is up. We know what happened.
Starting point is 00:44:19 Almost a year after she had been arrested, we went over to the jail, brought her in, and she gave a complete confession. Nearly five years after Romano's murder, in a Mobile County criminal court, both Eugenia Campbell and Frank Williams plead guilty to the murder of Eugenius husband Romano. Honestly, I was quite surprised that they both decided
Starting point is 00:44:49 to plead guilty and just leave their sentence up to the judge. I was quite surprised at that. Both Miss Campbell and Mr. Williams were sentenced to a life sentence. That's a long time to think about what you're doing. I can't use the word satisfy, but I got justice. I think the Lord hit her a couple of times, but the devil won and then.
Starting point is 00:45:16 She was a horrible person. When she killed them like that, it really showed it. Just what type of person she was. It really did. Eugenia is currently housed at Tut Wiler Prison for women in Wittemke, Alabama. She will be eligible for parole in March, 2029. She will be 48 years old.
Starting point is 00:45:44 you

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