USA Unsolved 14 (TX) - Elizabeth Ann Campbell

**Jessica** (0:00)
Happy New Year, everyone, and welcome back to USA Unsolved, where every episode, we revisit a case of either an unsolved murder or an unsolved disappearance. Someone of Asian descent, of course. Today, we're going back to Texas, and seeing how Texas is a huge state, there are bound to be plenty of unsolved cases to go through. This is one of them. Do note that this case is somewhat older, so while chances may seem slim of solving this case, it still needs to be shared. On the plus side, there seems to be a lot more information on this specific case, and other podcasters have also covered this. Her name is Elizabeth Ann Campbell, and before you question her very western and white sounding name, she is actually a mixed race woman. Let's begin.
Elizabeth Ann Campbell was born on May 31, 1967 She was the baby of her family, with four older siblings. Her father, Tom Campbell Jr., was a military man, and her mother, Sam Soon, was a Korean woman. The couple met while Elizabeth's father was stationed in South Korea, presumably during or right after the Korean War. As the youngest of five, it would be safe to assume that Elizabeth had tons of support and love from her family members. Her family all got along well with each other, just a typical happy family living their happy lives. Elizabeth was said to have had many friends growing up. She was responsible, never seemed to get herself into trouble, did not dabble in any bad habits as a minor, like drinking or drugs. She basically seemed like the perfect daughter. She was very close with her siblings as well, even volunteering to care for her sister's children when her sister was going through a divorce. Elizabeth was very fond of the arts, and she worked hard towards it. After graduating from high school, she first went on to Central Texas College, a public community college, to get some credits. As she was nearing the end of her final semester, she applied and was accepted into Texas A&M and was due to start her university life in September of 1988 Elizabeth took up part-time jobs, and she worked at the 7-Eleven on Ransere Avenue in Killeen, a city located in Bell County, kind of around Central Texas. At the time, Elizabeth's home was located in the city of Lompocas, about a 30-minute drive from Killeen. As per her usual routine, Elizabeth worked her shift till 9 p.m. and left the 7-Eleven on the evening of April 25, 1988 On this day, though, she had plans after her shift to go to her boyfriend, Ricky Ray's house, to do some studying. While Elizabeth had her own car, she had let her sister Carol borrow it that night, so I would assume her boyfriend came to pick her up. After arriving at her boyfriend's house for their study session, they got into an argument at around 10pm. Elizabeth was very upset and at that moment, she decided she no longer wanted to be there. Perhaps she thought it would make more sense to put some distance between her and her boyfriend so they could cool off and revisit later. But it was late at night. Elizabeth had no car. She did not want to ask her boyfriend for a ride home either, so she left his house on foot. This, of course, in hindsight, does not seem like a very good decision, especially so late at night. But sometimes it just seems like the only choice we have, even if it takes hours, to walk home. Turns out, many people witnessed Elizabeth walking along the side of the road. In one specific instance, a witness didn't think that this felt right, so they called the police to inform them, more as an FYI and less of an emergency. Then, one of Elizabeth's classmates happened to drive past her, stopped and offered to give her a ride. Elizabeth agreed, got in the car, and the classmate then dropped her off at yet another 7-Eleven, located in Copperas Cove, a city about 20 minutes away from her home. At this point, everything seemed to be pretty normal and straightforward. So to recap really quick, Elizabeth left her place of work at Killeen, Texas, went to her boyfriend Ricky Ray's house, left his house on foot, caught a ride with a friend, and ended up in Copperas Cove, closer to home but not yet home. From there, she used a payphone and called her boyfriend, asking if he could drive out to meet her and give her a ride home. I think it's understandable if the couple was still mad at each other. He told her no, and that he was upset she left without saying anything, and that it was too late for him to drive out. In hindsight again, you might feel as if Ricky Ray should have picked her up, but as someone who was not in that position, it's really difficult to say what anyone would have done. He probably didn't think anything would go wrong. Elizabeth then told Ricky Ray that she would call and ask her brother, Tom, to come pick her up instead. Except, Tom never got the call. So what happened? The next day, Elizabeth's family learned that she had not returned home, and no one knew where she was at. This next bit is a little bit confusing, but bear with me. Carol, one of Elizabeth's sisters, was said to have worked with Ricky Ray, and that Ricky Ray was pretty close to Elizabeth's family overall. In one article, it was mentioned that Ricky Ray and Carol were at work together, while Elizabeth went missing. But of course, neither one of them knew about it till later. While they were at work together, Ricky Ray told her about their argument, including the parts where he declined to pick her up, and that Elizabeth said she would call her brother for a ride instead. It seems as if everything was happening at the same time, and by this account, the reason Ricky Ray did not go pick up his girlfriend could be due to the fact that he had to be at work. With all that said, my point is that Ricky Ray and Carol have a friendship. On April 26, the day after Elizabeth was last seen, Ricky Ray went to Carol and asked if she had seen Elizabeth. The family immediately sensed danger as they realized she had not made it home. They called the police. Unfortunately though, they were living in a time period of They need to be missing for at least X amount of hours before we can do anything. Is it 24 hours, 48 or more? No one really knew because the family kept getting conflicting information. It also didn't help that Elizabeth was considered an adult at almost 20 years old. So the family took matters into their own hands when their cries for help were met with Give It Time. They made flyers with their name, information, last seen info, and posted them around the city and sent those to various police stations. Seeing the family in action, perhaps, sent the police into action mode, because a missing person's report was filed with the Lempasas PD soon after. First off, they questioned Ricky Ray. He seemed forthcoming with the events that transpired, detailing their argument and how it ended. He said he was upset that Elizabeth decided to leave his house on her own, and that he wasn't even aware that she had left till after the fact. I found conflicting information on this as well. Some say he knew she left, some saying he didn't know till after she was gone. He also stated that it was very much unlike her to just walk away. Aside from Ricky Ray's statement, police were also able to pull that one call that someone made to the police. If you recall, where they reported seeing a young woman matching Elizabeth's description, walking along the road late at night. Another important eyewitness would be the clerk working at the 7-Eleven Elizabeth ended up at. The clerk said that Elizabeth used a phone to call someone, which I would assume would be Ricky Ray, but did not believe she made any other calls.