Inset: Jeremyah Campbell (Brevard County Sheriff’s Office). Background: Home in Melbourne, Florida, where his grandparents lived. He is accused of killing them (Google Maps).
A man from Texas has been arrested after driving approximately 1,200 miles to Florida to his grandparents’ home, where he allegedly murdered them. Upon discovery by police, he was found “sobbing uncontrollably” and claimed that “God told him to send his grandparents to him,” as per authorities.
Jeremyah Campbell, 22, faces two charges of second-degree murder for killing his grandparents, 83-year-old George White and 81-year-old Mary White.
Deputies from the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office arrived around 8:45 p.m. on July 23 at a residence on the 2500 block of Washington Street in Melbourne following a reported shooting. According to an arrest affidavit, George White ran to a neighbor’s house, asking for them to call 911.
After allowing George White inside, the neighbor went to call 911 but then heard gunshots coming through her door, as detailed in the affidavit. George White was shot in the chest, and the neighbor’s 25-year-old granddaughter was also struck. George White passed away in the hospital, while the granddaughter sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
Cops then entered the White home where they found Mary White in a breezeway, shot in her face and hand. She was pronounced dead.
While investigating the scene, deputies noticed a man identified as Campbell walking nearby. He was “sobbing uncontrollably and shouting incoherently,” according to police. When deputies approached, he yelled about wanting his Porsche. Eventually, he was detained.
While he was in the back of the police cruiser, he allegedly yelled that “‘God’ told him to send his grandparents to him.” He then identified George White as his grandfather, the affidavit stated.
Later, he allegedly told detectives, “Now Satan sees. I am a valuable man of the Kingdom.” He also said his grandfather was “Going to take my butt. My manhood,” per cops. He declined to speak further with investigators who have not publicly-divulged a motive.
Campbell had recently driven from his home in McKinney, Texas, to visit his grandparents in Melbourne, Florida. He remains in the Brevard County Jail without bond. His next court date is scheduled for Aug. 21.
As Law&Crime previously reported, neighbor Terry French spoke to local affiliate NBC affiliate WESH about what allegedly unfolded and how George White was frantically trying to get his help before being shot.
“George was standing here inside the door, and we had it locked so nobody could get in,” French said. “Somebody over in this area, I think, had a 9-millimeter, and he put these holes in the door,” he alleged, noting how George was shot inside French’s home. “He went in the bathroom … shut the door, and that was it.”
Neighbors in the area described the situation as terrifying in interviews with WESH, with nearly half a dozen gunshots ringing out at one point.
“Five gunshots, a pause, then the last one,” said resident Shea Stewart. “Then, I heard the scream of a woman.”
French remembered the victims fondly.
“George was probably — and Mary — to me, and I’ve been knowing him for 30 years … one of the best neighbors I ever had,” French told WESH. “He’d do anything for you.”
