"The other guys were going to handle things. They were going to get everybody on the floor and all I had to do was go in and get the stuff," Campbell said on the tape.
But while he and Mundy turned the car around, the plan went awry inside the trailer. When they returned to the residence, Campbell said he heard the rapid-fire sound of gunfire inside. He went in to get the drugs, but saw a body on the floor and turned around.
That was all Campbell wanted to say at that point and Owens let him go, saying he viewed Campbell as a cooperating witness. Campbell agreed to try and get some names and return on Saturday, but he never showed, Owens testified.
Story changes in second interview
After his arrest a month later, Campbell offered a different take in his second interview with Owens. He said that he and Mundy had pooled $6,300 to buy cocaine and headed to Shangraw's to make the deal. Mundy called someone on his cell phone to get directions as they traveled from Richmond to Lincoln County, Campbell said.
The three men in the back seat, whom Campbell again maintained he did not know, were armed and carrying blue bandannas. Their job, according to Campbell, was to go into the trailer and sample the drugs to make sure of their quality and then signal Campbell to come in with the money to complete the deal. They had guns to make sure the Richmond crew did not get robbed, Campbell said.
Owens asked if it was common practice to go buy drugs with strangers. Campbell said it was. "Everyone was listening to music and getting high" on the way to the deal, so there were no introductions. Owens continued to press him to name names.
"I'm just a white boy who ain't into this. You're going to have to help me out," Owens tells Campbell at one point.
One by one, Campbell identifies Matthew Tolson, Deonte Simmons and Charles Smith as the other passengers in the vehicle. Those three went inside the trailer, the deal went bad when Shangraw reached for a gun, Campbell again said he heard the machine gun sound from outside the trailer and everyone scattered, eventually getting back in the car and heading for Richmond.
Inside the car, it was Tolson who reported what happened, Campbell said.
"We went in, dawg, and he had a gun, man. He went for the gun and I don't know, fires started everywhere," Campbell said that Tolson claimed.
Tolson had a semi-automatic rifle, Simmons and Smith had handguns. "To my knowledge, everyone fired a weapon," Campbell said.
Owens then asked Campbell on the tape, "Did you go in there to rob these guys or buy dope?"
Campbell answered, "I was going to buy dope."
Campbell's versions contradicted Wednesday's testimony from Tolson, who said the plan all along was to steal the cocaine. Tolson said he, Campbell and Simmons went into the trailer to take the drugs. It was Campbell who carried the semi-automatic rifle, shot Shangraw and did most of the shooting after the deal went south, and that Simmons also fired shots at the couch where Upton and two girls were sitting. Tolson said he fired two or three rounds as he was fleeing.
Tolson has already pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and agreed to testify against the other four in a deal with prosecutors. Simmons, Mundy and Smith are scheduled to go to trial in July.
Tabitha Wilder and Tara Strunk, who were 15 when they were at Shangraw's trailer that night, testified Wednesday that four black men wearing blue bandannas over the faces burst in and demanded drugs and money. They identified the tallest among the intruders as the one who carried a rifle and did most of the shooting.
Owens said Thursday that Campbell, at 6 feet, 3 inches tall, is the tallest among the five defendants by at least two inches.
Campbell's former girlfriend takes the stand
