Byng man charged in killing says he ‘snapped,’ shot wife

BYNG — A man is accused of shooting his wife to death with a rifle after they argued over his leaving the loaded weapon near their back door.

Johnny Quinn Campbell, 39, of Byng, was charged Tuesday in Pontotoc County District Court with first-degree murder in the Jan. 1 death of Jennifer Louise Campbell, 33.

He is being held in the county jail without bail.

Campbell was shot in the kitchen of her home. Two empty shell casings were found near her body. A state medical examiner reported the fatal gunshot wound was to her upper left torso, a court affidavit states.

Children were home

Sheriff John Christian said the couple’s two children were home when the shots were fired. Their teenage son, Quinn Campbell, took his 10year-old sister to their neighboring grandparents’ home and called 911, he said.

Christian said when authorities arrived Johnny Campbell already had run from the house into the woods, taking a pistol and the shotgun. He said more than a dozen officers searched the area in the dark for hours. An Oklahoma Highway Patrol helicopter was also used in the manhunt.

Christian said he and Chickasaw Nation Lighthorseman Gary Dodd found Johnny Campbell about 6 a.m. Monday hiding in a field about 300 yards from his house. Along with the loaded pistol, he had a full box of ammunition, he said.

Johnny Campbell told an investigator that he and his wife had been arguing since she got home about 11:20 p.m. and one of the issues they fought about was that he had left his rifle next to the back door, according to the affidavit.

“Johnny stated that he picked up the rifle and began to walk toward the spare bedroom when he just ‘snapped’ and shot his wife,” the affidavit states.

He allegedly told authorities he thought he shot Jennifer Campbell twice.

Victim is remembered

Jennifer Campbell attended school in Vanoss and Byng.

Relatives say she was a natural caregiver and doted over her grandparents. They said preserving family tradition was very important to her. She recently collected generations of family recipes and put them together in a cookbook, an aunt said.

Jennifer Campbell was a longtime nurse at Mccall’s Chapel School, a residential center for developmentally disabled adults east of Ada. She was always smiling, had a positive attitude and made others feel at ease, her supervisor, Kortni Perry said.

“She truly cared about the individuals she worked with,” Perry said. “She went above and beyond her position to ensure peo- ple were cared for and well taken care of, comfortable and happy.”

Johnny Campbell is employed as an oil-field worker.

Christian said family members told investigators the two may have been having marital problems, but there was never any indication it could escalate to violence. There are no reports of his deputies ever responding to domestic disputes at the couples’ home before the shooting, he said.

Court records show the Campbells married in 2001.