Elizabeth Ann Campbell -- Missing 4/25/88

by FystyAngel on Sun Mar 14, 2010 5:08 am

Do You Hold the Key to Finding Elizabeth Campbell?

March 05, 2010

It has been nearly 22 years since Elizabeth Ann Campbell, a student at Central Texas College in Killeen, Texas, vanished without a trace. Elizabeth's family has had to endure over two decades of waiting, wondering and hoping for answers.

At the time of her disappearance, Elizabeth was a 20-year-old student working at a local convenience store and living at home with her parents, Tom and Sam-Soon Campbell.

"Elizabeth is a sweet, kind person. She trusted everyone and wouldn't hurt anyone," Sam-Soon said in an interview with Investigation Discovery. "Every morning, she would give me a hug and kiss. Sometimes, if I was upset with her for something, she would give me many hugs and kisses until I would laugh and forget whatever I was upset about. If she was to go out with friends, Elizabeth would take me along. She wanted me to hang out with the girls and have fun. I still can remember her sweet smell and her gentle kisses and hugs."

On April 24, 1988, Elizabeth went to work at the 7-11 store on Rancier Avenue in Killeen. After completing her shift, she went to her boyfriend's house to study for final exams.

"While at the house of her boyfriend, the two of them got into an argument, and she told him she wanted to go home," Tom said. "For some reason, he didn't want to take her home at that time, and she told him she was leaving. Her boyfriend allowed her to step out in the dark streets at around 11 o'clock that Monday night about 30 miles from her home."

Elizabeth started to walk home, and roughly an hour later, after accepting a ride from another college student, she arrived at the 7-11 in Copperas Cove, roughly 17 miles from her home. Employees there recognized Elizabeth from the Killeen store and allowed her to use the phone. According to Tom, she called her boyfriend and asked him to come pick her up, but the call resulted in another argument, so she decided to call her brother. Not wanting to make a long-distance call on the convenience store phone, Elizabeth went outside to use a pay phone. A witness later reported seeing her on the phone around midnight, but what happened to her after that remains a mystery.

"The morning of April 25, 1988, I got up early and asked my granddaughter, who at the time was two years old, if Elizabeth was upstairs asleep. She said no," Sam-Soon said. "When my daughter Barbara woke up, I had her call Elizabeth's boyfriend. He said that Elizabeth had gone to her sister's house at the Central Texas College housing complex. Barbara asked how she got there, and he said she got a ride. Since my other daughter didn't have a phone, I had Barbara drive there. It is about 30 miles away. That's when we found out Elizabeth was missing."

Concerned for their daughter's welfare, Tom and Sam-Soon attempted to file a missing person report with police, but they were turned away.

"We were told, 'She isn't missing; you just don't know where she is,'" Tom said. "This same policewoman then remarked to another policewoman, 'We don't have time for hysterical parents.'"

Tom said that since Elizabeth was an adult, the police told them that they had to wait 72 hours to file a missing person report. Unwilling to wait for answers, Elizabeth's parents went to the 7-11 in Copperas Cove and spoke with the clerks there. One of them remembered seeing Elizabeth and told them that she had been dropped off at the store by a man driving a light green Gremlin.

"We spent the rest of the day looking for the light green Gremlin and found it in a parking lot on the Central Texas College campus," Tom said. "We watched it until the owner came out to it. We asked him about Elizabeth and were told that after working late in a computer lab on the campus, he had seen Elizabeth walking down the service road at the college exit and recognized her as a student at the college. He turned back and offered her a ride as far as he was going. He lived in Corpus Cove and let her out at the 7-11 convenience store in Copperas Cove. It was shortly after that that she was seen by the clerk at the pay phone outside the store."

Uncertain what to do next, Elizabeth's parents returned to the police station and eventually convinced them to accept the missing person report. Unfortunately, the case had already gone cold, and police were unable to determine what had happed to Elizabeth.

Desperate for answers, Elizabeth's parents sent a letter to John Walsh, which resulted in a short piece on "America's Most Wanted" in September 1989. A number of people called the show with leads, but nothing panned out. Continued efforts by her parents to keep the case alive resulted in Elizabeth's case appearing on the television show "Unsolved Mysteries." More tips came in, but, again, they led nowhere.

It would be another four years before a clue to her disappearance was found – some 250 miles away.

"Four years later, Elizabeth's purse was found in Ozona, Texas. It is off Interstate 10 in west Texas south of San Angelo," Sam-Soon said.

Unfortunately, the Crockett County Sheriff's Office was unable to say when or by whom the purse had been dropped off. No paperwork had been filed with it. The sheriff at the time, who is now deceased, estimated that it had been turned in sometime between April 1988 and January 1989.

Despite the passage of time, Elizabeth's family has never given up searching for her. They've written hundreds of letters to law enforcement agencies throughout Texas and have attempted to get coverage for her case whenever they can. Unfortunately, that is not always an easy task.

"For many years, I have begged the media to [tell] my daughter's story," Sam-Soon said. "They always tell me since I have no new leads and it is very old, they cannot do anything with it. To me, it feels like Elizabeth's life is not important to anyone. If they would just listen, maybe someone will hear about it and finally give us answers."

In addition to the difficulty in getting coverage for the case, Sam-Soon said she remains haunted by a dream she had ten years after her daughter went missing.

"I had a dream that Elizabeth was home," Sam-Soon said. "I kept telling Elizabeth I was dreaming and 'You aren't really here.'" She continued, "I asked, 'Where have you been?' Elizabeth couldn't remember who she was. She said she saw the flyers everywhere but didn't know that the picture on the flyer was she. Elizabeth told me when she was abducted a man shoved her into a car and she hit her head hard. That's when she lost her memories of who she was and everyone in her life. When I woke up, Elizabeth wasn't truly home as I had hoped. For weeks I cried, and I am still, all the years later, very upset about that dream."

Elizabeth's parent's are in their 70s today. Their health is failing, and they do not believe they will live much longer. As a result, they are desperate to know the truth before they pass on.

"I'm 75-years-old. I do not have much time to live," Sam-Soon said. "Tom has had three heart attacks, a tumor in his top left chamber of his heart, and a pacemaker put in. Now he has failing kidneys. The doctors informed us that one of his kidneys has a tumor. Please help us. I fear my husband may not have more time to live before he finds an answer to his question. Where is my child? Where is Elizabeth? Is she still alive somewhere and needs our help in escaping her captives? I truly hope this is not. Is she dead? If they killed Elizabeth, where is her body so we can put her into a proper resting place?

"Elizabeth would buy gifts for the family and hide them. She would buy them months in advance. We still have some, which we have never opened. We are waiting for Elizabeth to come home and give them to us to open."

Elizabeth Ann Campbell is described as an Asian female, 5' 2" tall, 100 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes. Anyone with information in this case is asked to contact the Copperas Cove Police Department at 254-547-4273.