Family of man killed near Barton Springs Pool calls for answers two years later
AUSTIN, Texas - The family of a man who was killed near Barton Springs Pool is calling for answers as it has been two years and Austin police still haven’t arrested anyone for the murder.
"I just began to wail," Camnik Campbell’s mother Nikki Olton said.
Olton’s youngest child was murdered.
"It was my greatest pain ever," Olton said.
Twenty-eight-year-old Campbell’s body was found near Barton Springs Pool.
"I just can’t believe that that happened," Camnik Campbell’s sister Brielle Doe said.
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Police responded to the scene as the sun came up on August 25, 2022.
"Right as employees were showing up to open up the Barton Springs Pool and the park area," Austin Police Department Homicide Detective Israel Pina said.
Detective Pina said a car was parked blocking the exit of the Barton Springs Pool.
"It was a little suspicious because the door was open, and they could see what kind of blood material around the driver's area," Pina said.
Campbell had been attacked while sitting in his car. A trail of blood revealed he had been followed to the pool area, where Campbell was found with multiple gunshot wounds.
"It's hard to tell based out 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," Pina said.
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Detective Pina said Campbell was first known to be in the park at around 2:30 a.m. His body was discovered about four and a half hours later.
"So, we don't know exactly when the attack occurred," Pina said.
He said he also didn’t know why someone would do this.
"It didn't appear that he was involved in any, like, drug dealing or owed any money or anything like that," Pina said. "We don't have an indication of robbery being the motive for this."
Family members don’t understand how someone could hurt Campbell.
"Last person I expected to happen to," Olton said. "Just a natural athlete, he was all-around, he loved music, he loved nature, and he was a truth seeker."
"He was so pure and so good," Doe said.
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Campbell had just moved to Austin to pursue music and was working for DoorDash.
"Camnik just released a video the day before. He was talking about his music that was going to come out in September, so he wasn't even expecting this," Olton said.
Without surveillance video, investigators are asking for help from people who were in the park at the time and may have seen or heard something.
"Maybe they're afraid that they're going to get in trouble because they're in the park after hours in violation of city ordinance. We 100% do not care about that. We care about the information they may have that might help kind of break the case," Pina said.
Campbell’s family is begging for answers.
"We just want to know why, why," Camnik Campbell’s stepfather Alvin Olton said.
"We really need that peace," Doe said.
Police have had multiple persons of interest, but no arrests have been made yet.
"Until we get resolution, 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," Pina said.
He said someone needs to say something. "We would all agree that we would want someone that did this off the streets because it affects us all," Pina said.
"Person, if you’re out there and watching this, I’d like to know who you are," Olton said.