A man accused of sending a bomb to his ex-wife’s new boyfriend’s house in Green River, Wyoming, in 1982 — causing a blast that blew off one of her fingers and injured her hand, chest, legs and feet — has been caught in New Mexico after more than 40 years, the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office says.
Stephen Craig Campbell, 76, was captured Feb. 19 after a dramatic standoff with New Mexico and federal authorities.
He’d been living under an identity he stole from a dead college classmate, Walter Lee Coffman, who died at age 22 in 1975, says a statement from the U.S. Attorney for New Mexico.
The Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office statement says Campbell bonded out of jail after being charged with attempted first-degree murder in 1982 for the alleged bombing, and has been a mystery figure until now.
When authorities from agencies including the FBI, U.S. Marshals Service, the Social Security Administration and the Otero County Sheriff’s Office converged to arrest Campbell at his 44-acre compound in the mountains of New Mexico, a standoff followed, says a Wednesday statement by the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office.
Campbell met agents with a high-powered rifle and took a concealed and elevated position, refusing to surrender. Officers deployed flashbang stun devices, commanded Campbell to surrender and used “tactical maneuvers,” says the statement.
“He finally emerged from the wooded hideout and was taken into custody without shots fired,” the statement says.
Authorities secured his rifle, loaded with armor-piercing ammunition with a round chambered. The property search revealed 57 firearms and large quantities of ammunition, the statement says.
“Campbell’s wanted poster has been on the wall at our office since I started here nearly 20 years ago,” said Sweetwater County Sheriff’s spokesman Jason Mower in the statement. “I’ve worked hundreds of fugitive cases, helping track down and capture fugitives all across the country. But never Campbell — every lead went cold, no matter what tools we used. Now, I finally understand why.”
Undersheriff Joe Tomich called the original bombing “cold and calculated” that drove decades of searching.
“We’ve all taken our turns trying to catch Campbell,” said Tomich in the statement. “I have a case file on him the size of a novel, filled with leads that went nowhere. But we never gave up, and now we finally know why he was always one step ahead.”
Sweetwater County Sheriff John Grossnickle called it one of the most significant and dramatic fugitive cases in Wyoming law enforcement history, adding the office is grateful to have played a role in it, and thanking “our federal partners for their persistence and collaboration over the years,” as well as the local community for its support and trust.
Campbell appeared in federal court early Wednesday on a charge of fraud relating to using a stolen identity. If convicted on that charge he faces up to 10 years in federal prison, then would be extradited to Wyoming to stand trial for the bombing.
Sweetwater County authorities placed a detainer on Campbell, or a request that if he’s ever eligible to be released from federal custody, he’ll be brought to Sweetwater County to face the justice system.
Forty-Three Years Ago
The original affidavit by Green River Police Lt. Mont Mecham says an explosion happened July 17, 1982, at 775 West 3rd North, apartment No. 6B in Green River, Wyoming.
Sarah Campbell found a package on the front porch of her boyfriend Mike Holder’s home that day, and brought it to her apartment. She noticed the package bore no postage and had been addressed by her husband, she told investigators at the time.
Inside, the parcel was wrapped with a grocery sack turned inside out, which was how Campbell “invariably wrapped packages,” the affidavit says.
She also found Salt Lake Tribune newspapers stuffed in the parcel, which looked like the same ones she’d taken to his house prior to pack up her things, says the document.
She noticed a toolbox in the package and tried to open it with her left hand.
The latch popped up, and the package exploded, says the document.
She was hospitalized with injuries to her hand, chest, legs and feet. The home and a neighboring unit both caught fire.
The ex-wife was not the intended target of the bomb, the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office’s recent statement says.
Rock Springs Police Department Bomb Squad agent Ron Noorda said the blast should have caused her death, the document indicates.
Sarah Campbell’s boyfriend Mike Holder was on the phone with her when the package exploded, the affidavit says.
When Campbell had learned that Holder was dating his ex-wife, Campbell told Holder he should carry a gun, Mecham wrote.
Rock Springs Police Department Lt. Robert Overy, an expert in explosives, told investigators the bomb would have required a technical knowledge of electrical engineering and circuits, plus access to explosives, the affidavit says.
“Stephen C. Campbell has an electrical engineering degree and has had specialized training in small electrical engine repair,” wrote Mecham, adding that Campbell also had access to topside explosives at a chemical company.
Holder’s neighbor had noticed a man who looked like Campbell parking a vehicle the day before the explosion and walking to the front porch of Holder’s home, the affidavit says.
Mecham wrote that an employee at the chemical company told investigators that, in late June or early July, Campbell had someone ask him to cut four pieces of 12-by-2-inch threaded metal pipe.
Investigators found a fragment of two inch two-inch threaded metal pipe at the scene, says the document.
Barry Stroh, a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent, told Mecham a handwriting comparison between Campbell’s script and the writing on the bomb package showed they were written by the same person, the affidavit concludes.
Give Back That Bond
The appearance bond order from that Campbell’s Aug. 2, 1982, court appearance under Sweetwater County Judge Brad Schroeder indicates he was given a surety bond. Later filings say the bond was for $25,000.
Then-Sweetwater County Attorney Robert J. Reese signed a motion for a bench warrant for Campbell’s arrest on Sept. 20, 1982, the day Campbell missed a scheduled court hearing.
Schroeder signed off on the warrant.
By March 3, 1982, Deputy County Attorney Harold Moneyhun was asking the ABC Bonding Agency to forfeit the bond.
The Alias
An investigation uncovered Campbell’s use of Coffman’s identity in New Mexico, says a press release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office of New Mexico.
Coffman had graduated from the University of Arkansas two months before he died. University records showed Campbell and Coffman attended the same school and both pursued engineering degrees, says the statement.
Campbell first applied for a passport under Coffman’s name in 1984 and renewed it multiple times, always giving a photograph of himself and his current address. He obtained a replacement Social Security card in Coffman’s name in 1995 using an Oklahoma driver’s license in Coffman’s name, says the statement.
Campbell relocated to Weed, New Mexico, in about 2003. The federal prosecutor’s statement says he bought land under Coffman’s name and kept renewing the passport.
But the scheme started to unravel when in September 2019, Campbell visited the New Mexico Motor Vehicle Department in Cloudcroft trying to renew his driver’s license.
Agents from the National Passport Center’s Fraud Prevention Unit found Coffman’s death certificate around that time, says the statement.
Campbell is now suspected of having received about $140,000 in U.S. government funds through the Social Security Administration.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
