The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office released a 900 page report on Wednesday into the family of four found dead inside a burning Avila mansion in May and detectives state after a lengthy six month investigation they were unable to determine Darrin Campbell's motive for the murder-suicide.
"The digital information that was collected was unable to establish a motive," detective Charles Keene wrote in the report. "Based on my investigation and the information I have at this time, I am unable to determine Darrin Campbell's motive."
Campbell, 49, shot and killed his wife, Kimberly, 51, son, Colin 18, and daughter Megan, 15, before setting the mansion on fire with gasoline and fireworks on May 7, according to the report. Campbell then took his own life.
The lengthy investigation does shed some light on the trouble the Campbell family was having leading up to the murder-suicide. Detective Sean Appel said after reviewing the spending and payment habits of the Campbell's, it is obvious that some financial distress occurred after the first of the year.
"Those balances that would normally be paid off, were not," Appel stated. "Bills that were paid by Kimberly began being partially paid by Darrin or not paid at all."
According to the report, Darrin Campbell was not getting along with his wife, daughter or son in the days leading up to the murder-suicide.
Megan Campbell told a friend that her dad is too judgmental. The night before the murder, Megan planned to spend the night at a friend's house but her dad called her home for a family dinner.
"She thought it was a little strange that her dad wouldn't let her stay over," Megan's friend told detectives. "Megan Campbell's dad was real hard on her and she believes they did not have a good relationship."
A few hours later, Megan was killed by her dad.
Campbell had a better relationship with his son but that too soured about six months before the murder, according to the report. One of Colin's friends told detectives that Darrin and Colin seemed more like best friends than father and son.
"Darrin Campbell would always be at the ball field with his son," the friend told detectives. "Campbell was a little unusual and extremely emotional."
The friend also told detectives that Campbell appeared to be really stressed out that his son didn't have the academic scores to go anywhere except to a junior college and didn't posses the talent to play baseball to the next level. Another friend said Campbell had become very distant and not as active with Colin as he had been in years past.
Campbell's relationship with his wife was also rocky, according to the report. Kimberly Campbell went on a weekend trip to Nashville prior to the fire with a friend during their anniversary and said that she and Darrin don't talk much anymore. The friend told detectives that Kimberly said, "Darren is extremely difficult to live with and considered splitting" but they seemed to get over that and continued on together raising the children, according to the report.
Kimberly's friend described Darrin Campbell as not social at all, drank expensive red wine but more recently moved to Vodka drinks, he also grew increasingly isolated and introverted over the years. Another family friend said she got a text from Kimberly a day before the murder that Darrin was finally going to the doctor and she thought it was something worse than flu.
A co-worker told detectives that Campbell had requested a leave of absence two days before the murder-suicide. That co-worker said she texted Campbell on May 7, asking if 'everything was ok' and he replied 'no.'