Henry Colin Campbell
Encyclopedia
Henry Colin Campbell aka The Torch Murderer, was executed
by the State of New Jersey
for the murder
of Mildred Mowry, whom he met through a personal ad placed with a "matrimonial agency". A career criminal and bigamist whose previous crimes were non-violent, Campbell married Mowry in 1929 despite having another wife. Six months after marrying Mowry, Campbell murdered her to collect on a $1,000 investment she owned and burned her corpse.
He was also suspected in another, similar murder of Margaret Brown in 1928. Both Mowry and Brown had been shot in the head, had their bodies dumped on the side of a road, and were set on fire.
During his adult life, Campbell worked as a civil engineer and advertising executive and posed as a physician. Using a matchmaking service in Detroit, Michigan
, Campbell married several women between 1910 and 1928 although police looking into his life were never able to find any record of divorce actions.
A pair of shoes at the Mowry crime scene were traced to Campbell who subsequently confessed to killing her. He denied killing Brown and never stood trial for her murder. Police suspected he murdered some of his previous "wives".
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
by the State of New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
for the murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
of Mildred Mowry, whom he met through a personal ad placed with a "matrimonial agency". A career criminal and bigamist whose previous crimes were non-violent, Campbell married Mowry in 1929 despite having another wife. Six months after marrying Mowry, Campbell murdered her to collect on a $1,000 investment she owned and burned her corpse.
He was also suspected in another, similar murder of Margaret Brown in 1928. Both Mowry and Brown had been shot in the head, had their bodies dumped on the side of a road, and were set on fire.
During his adult life, Campbell worked as a civil engineer and advertising executive and posed as a physician. Using a matchmaking service in Detroit, Michigan
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
, Campbell married several women between 1910 and 1928 although police looking into his life were never able to find any record of divorce actions.
A pair of shoes at the Mowry crime scene were traced to Campbell who subsequently confessed to killing her. He denied killing Brown and never stood trial for her murder. Police suspected he murdered some of his previous "wives".
See also
- List of individuals executed in New Jersey
- Capital punishment in the United StatesCapital punishment in the United StatesCapital punishment in the United States, in practice, applies only for aggravated murder and more rarely for felony murder. Capital punishment was a penalty at common law, for many felonies, and was enforced in all of the American colonies prior to the Declaration of Independence...
Resources
- "Campbell, Colin," Mind of a Killer, Kozel Multimedia (DVDDVDA DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
), 1998. - "Cambell Takes Stand Today," Danville (Virginia) Bee, June 6, 1929.
- "Execute Killer in New Jersey," Athens (Ohio) Messenger,April 19, 1930.