GRANVILLE, N.C. — The first day of the second week of testimony in the trial for a man arrested in West Virginia on New Year’s Day 2015, bringing to an end a multi-state crime spree, was dominated by testimony about what was found in the truck that was located near Lewisburg.
Monday, the sixth day of the Eric Campbell double murder trial in Granville County, North Carolina, was dominated by the introduction of evidence found in the two vehicles that Eric and his father, Edward Campbell, used to travel from North Carolina to West Virginia after they allegedly robbed and murdered Dora and Jerome Faulkner at the couple’s North Carolina home on New Year’s Eve 2014.
The prosecuting attorney called Detective Doug McPhee of the Granville County Police Department, who handled and took pictures of all the evidence presented, to the stand Monday to testify about the evidence found in the vehicles that stopped on Interstate 64 near the Lewisburg exit.
Eric Campbell, now 23, was driving a stolen white suburban through Greenbrier County when he was pulled over by police. His father Edward then pulled over in the red pick up truck that was stolen from the Faulkners, and opened fire on officers. After the shootout with police in which two officers were wounded, the Campbell’s crime spree that started in Texas came to an end. The officers eventually recovered from the shooting.
According to McPhee’s testimony Monday, among the items found in the two vehicles were shoes and prescription pills that belonged to the Faulkners and a loaded weapon. A chemical sprayer and bleach were found in the back of the Faulkner’s truck, which was used to try and clean DNA evidence and blood from the truck.
After the Campbell’s arrest West Virginia Police discovered the bodies of Dora, 62 and Jerome, 73 covered by a chained down mattress in the back of their stolen pick up truck. Sheets used to wrap their bodies stolen from their North Carolina home and bloody latex gloves purchased at Walmart by the Campbells a few days before the murders were the most substantial pieces of evidence presented on day six.
Eric Campbell faces the death penalty in North Carolina for those crimes. Edward Campbell committed suicide in jail two years ago before a trial could commence.
Eric Campbell claims that he didn’t want to harm anyone and only thought his father was planning on robbing the elderly couple. He said he believed his father to be dangerous and was not sure he would survive.
Earlier in the trial the prosecutor told the jury Campbell was with his father before the murders when he purchased chemicals, gasoline, and other items that were used to destroy the Faulkners home. The prosecutor also said Eric Campbell should have known there was something more going on, and that he made a concious decision to be involved in the crime.
Campbell is being tried under the death penalty in North Carolina.
The trial is expected to continue for most of the week.