Murdered: Camnik Campbell
In August of 2022, Camnik Campbell's body was discovered near the entrance to the Barton Springs Pool in Austin, Texas. It was clearly a homicide, but the perpetrators have yet to be caught. Who killed Camnik Campbell?
In the Fall of 2022, Camnik Campbell was 28 years old. He had just moved to Austin, Texas, on September 11th, 2021 to pursue a music career. He worked as a DoorDasher on the side while he focused on his music. His mother reported that “Camnik just released a video the day before. He was talking about his music that was going to come out in September…”
On August 25th, 2022, a phone call to police alerted them to an abandoned car, with bullet holes in it, in the parking lot at Zilker Park, and the Barton Springs Pool. The police found the car, which was blocking the exit of the Barton Springs Pool. Police noticed that the door was open and there was “blood material” in the driver’s seat. A trail of blood left the scene and led to Campbell’s body, which was near the pool area. Campbell had been shot multiple times. There is evidence that he was shot both inside and outside of the car, and that he had been followed to the spot where his body was found.
According to Detective Israel Pina of the Austin Police Homicide Department, “It’s hard to tell based [on] the ballistic evidence, whether or not, someone was in the car with him beforehand, got out and then started firing or if this is a random event where someone just walked up and started firing on him.” Detective Pina doesn’t believe that there was any drug connection, or that it was a robbery. No arrests have been made as of this post, but there are persons of interest. Detective Pina reports “... We haven’t ruled anyone out, so everyone that we’ve spoken with still remains either a person of interest or just someone that we’re going to continue to look at until we can definitively rule them out.”
His family said Campbell was “a natural athlete, he was all-around, he loved music, he loved nature, and he was a truth seeker.” His sister Brielle Doe called him “... so pure and so good.” In August of 2023, about a year after Campbell's murder, the police report that they have exhausted their resources. The family implores anyone who has information to step forward. "I would tell them, come forth, I'd like to have a conversation with you. You know, you won't get away with it. And, you know, my prayer is that this person can't even sleep at night," says his mother, Nikki Olton. Campbell had a son who will turn two in October of 2024. "I guess the most difficult part about it is just not knowing who did this to him. No one answered for it yet," says Olton. "There's some healing taking place, but I still have days that I fall apart."
If you or anyone you know has information about the murder of Camnik Campbell, please contact the APD Homicide Unit Tip Line at (512)974-8477, Crime Stoppers at (512)472-8477, or email homicide.apd@austintexas.gov.
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Sources:
Meredith Aldis
Angela Shen
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