Witness Statements Shed New Light on Rose Hill Teen's Death

Wyatt Campbell, an 18-year-old Rose Hill resident, on October 14 after being stabbed. Next month, the teenager charged with murdering him will go on trial.

But the events surrounding Campbell's death--how he ended up in an alley behind a Rose Hill 7-Eleven, why he supposedly got in an altercation in front of the store minutes before--remain confused. Three new witness statements obtained by Kingstowne Patch help explain.

The defendant is under 18, and it is Patch policy not to name minors charged with crimes.

The statements, available in court records, were made public in a letter to the defendant's lawyer from Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Camille Turner dated February 18. The defense also from the prosecution, including recorded interviews with the defendant and surveillance footage from the 7-Eleven.

Randolph Taylor, a witness for the prosecution and a friend of Campbell's, the prosecution's storyline at a juvenile court hearing in December. Taylor said he had gone to the 7-Eleven with Campbell, when they encountered the defendant's older brother, who Taylor said punched Campbell.

The defendant's brother accused Campbell of robbing the defendant. This is similar to the newly-released statement of the first witness, who said he was in the 7-Eleven parking lot around 10:20 p.m. The witness said he saw a white teenage male with dark hair and a thin mustache start to leave the store in his car, then return and park next to a Toyota.

The witness said the teen began yelling at the Toyota's two occupants through the car's sun roof.

"[The witness] heard the teenager who approached the Toyota yell, 'Were you the one who robbed my (either friend or brother) a month ago?'", the account of the witness's statement to police reads. The witness then entered the store and did not see anything further.

In Taylor's testimony, the two groups then agreed to meet behind the store, because Taylor was on probation and hoped to avoid a public fight. After going to Campbell's grandmother's house to drop off some marijuana, according to Taylor's testimony, he returned with Campbell to the alley behind the store, where the defendant and his older brother fought with Campbell and Taylor.

The second witness's statement concern this alley fight. The witness was walking his dog near the alley behind the 7-Eleven around 10:30 p.m. He said he saw five or six kids moving quickly around the alley. "He thought he heard wheels like a skaeteboard, heard a car alarm go off and also heard them cursing at one another," the report reads.

The witness said he also saw a dark hatchback car quickly leaving the alley.

After the fight, according to Taylor, Campbell said he was having trouble breathing, and another friend drove Campbell to Inova Springfield Hospital, where he later succumbed to his injuries.

A third witness's statement concerns the incident months before that allegedly precipitated the encounter between Campbell and the defendant's brother in the 7-Eleven parking lot. A friend of the defendant told police that he, the defendant, and another man were walking on Franconia Road between June 19, 2010 and July 4, 2010.

According to the witness's statement, Campbell appeared with two other white males. Campbell's companions pushed the defendant, the witness, and the other man into a fence, saying they were with the Fairfax County Police Department. Campbell and his companions then asked if the witness and his friends had marijuana, according to the witness's statement.

The witness said Campbell and his companions took iPods and cell phones from the defendant and his friend, but nothing from the witness.

The defendant's trial is scheduled for April 11.