The Barbeque Murders of California

 Jim and Naomi Olive's Disappearance Leads to a Gruesome Discovery

Marlene Olive, 1975 (photo source)

No one stops
to step into my life
and those in it have long ago
fallen asleep.
I have been empty for so long.

- Marlene Olive's poetry

Early on the morning of Sunday, June 22, 1975, a firefighter found a smoldering flame in a barbeque pit at China Camp State Park in Marin County, California.   As it wasn't uncommon for hunters to roast deer in the pits, he thought nothing of the bone fragments in the ashes.   He would have had no idea that those bones were tied to a missing San Rafael couple by the name of Jim and Naomi Olive, who lived less than ten miles to the west with their teenaged daughter, Marlene.  

Marlene Olive had been born in Norfolk, Virginia in January of 1959 to an unmarried mother.  When she was a day old, she was adopted by Jim and Naomi Olive.  Jim and Naomi had married in 1944, when Jim was an Army recruit.  Once the war ended, he wanted to get in on the housing boom and so the couple moved to Panama.  They both wanted a family but as the years passed, it did not happen and so they adopted Marlene.  Naomi's vigilance as a parent was excessive from the start.  Worried about what the baby might be exposed to, she insisted that everyone around the baby, even herself and Jim, wear a surgical mask and repeatedly sterilized anything and everything that her daughter might come into contact with.  

In the summer of 1959, Jim lost their life savings in a failed business venture and found a new position with Tenneco oil company in Ecuador.  Jim loved Ecuador but Naomi hated it.  She had displayed symptoms of mental illness for a number of years but the move to Ecuador, taking place not long after she became a parent, turned her into a paranoid recluse.  She regularly accused Jim of a multitude of affairs and soothed herself with alcohol.  

In 1965, Jim's work took his family first to Colorado and then to New Mexico.  He was fired from Tenneco but found employment with the Gulf Oil Company, once again in Ecuador.  

The Olives lived a privileged lifestyle in Ecuador, complete with servants.  Marlene was treated like a princess by their household staff and by Jim, who adored his little girl.  She and Jim bonded and became very close, helped along by Naomi's illness and lack of a caring, loving relationship with Marlene.  

The little girl was ten years old when she found adoption papers in Jim's office.  Despite her father's assertions that she was just as loved as if she were his own biological child, and she was more special because she was chosen, the knowledge of her adoption left Marlene confused and hurt toward her adoptive parents and wondering why her biological mother didn't want her.

When she was in the sixth grade, she announced during class one day that she hated her mother.  She asked her teacher how she could find her biological mother, stating that while Jim had told her he would help her locate her mother when she was 21, she didn't want to wait.  

Marlene had never been close to Naomi, even before Naomi's schizophrenia took over but as Marlene entered adolescence, the friction between the two was exacerbated.  Their arguments led Marlene to bang her head against the wall and bite her own arms, leaving scars.  

Jim once again lost his job in 1973, forcing the Olives to leave Ecuador for the States in March.  He found employment in Marin County, California.  He and Naomi chose to settle in Terra Linda, a quiet community in the city of San Rafael, 14 miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge.  They moved to Hibiscus Way, a street of homes that were built in the 1950s.  

Marlene had been terrified to leave her safe haven in Ecuador for what she believed was the drug-infested culture of California and the United States.  Ironically, after starting her last term of eighth grade, she fell in with a group of kids and began emulating their behavior.  She dressed in the glam rocker style, took drugs and had sex.  She said she was a witch and told her classmates she was a member of the Church of Satan in San Francisco and that she had appeared in a pornographic movie while in South America.  Her father, she said, was in charge of the drug trade in Ecuador.  

Whether it be her daily interactions with a mentally-ill Naomi, her drug use or typical adolescent moodiness - or all three - Marlene was often sullen.  At time, she would write morose, depressing poems and then write a thoughtful, loving poem about her parents.

When she was fourteen, Marlene began to shoplift and steal her parents' credit cards.  Her first arrest was while she was in the ninth grade.    

Predictably, Naomi disliked Marlene's friends and hated the way her daughter dressed and acted.  She would often berate and verbally abuse Marlene, telling her she was going to be a whore just like her birth mother.   During one episode, Naomi allegedly stripped naked and taunted Marlene, suggesting that the lewd gyrations she was making likely represented her birth mother.

Jim apparently spent more time at work than he had in Ecuador, which Marlene took personally.  When he was at home, according to her, he was more interested in being the "white knight protector to Naomi."  

In 1974, Marlene made a fateful and fatal acquaintance in Charles Riley.  She was on her first LSD trip, sitting on the lawn of Terra Linda High School, and it was a bad one.  Other students were laughing at her and it was Riley who ordered them to leave her alone.  

Charles, known as Chuck, was a 19-year-old high school dropout.  Since leaving school during his junior year, he had worked as a pizza deliveryman, bartender, and factory worker.   A happy and affectionate child, Chuck became obese while in school, enduring names like "Boulder" and "Fat Man" from his classmates and hearing jokes on how he must have a charge account at Jack in the Box, a local fast food restaurant.  By the time Chuck was 15 years old, he weighed 300 pounds.  A former student at Terra Linda High School, he was at the school that day in 1974 to deal drugs.  He did it not only for the money but also to help boost his popularity.  He was immediately smitten and obsessed by the 15-year-old Marlene.    

In an attempt to woo Marlene, who was initially put off by his size, Chuck love bombed her, gifting her with flowers, candy and affection.  Although she appreciated his "white knight protector" act, especially given that she believed she had lost that from her father,  it was only after Chuck agreed to provide her with drugs that Marlene agreed to have sex with him.  Chuck, who had never had a girlfriend before, became utterly devoted to Marlene, who would take him into stores and point out items she wanted, which he would then steal.  His association with Marlene would lead Chuck, wo had never before been in trouble with the law, to have a record.  

Surprisingly, Jim and Naomi Olive liked Chuck and approved of his relationship with Marlene - at least at first.  Naomi reportedly thought he was a nice young man before her daughter got to him.  As 1974 turned in 1975 and life with Marlene became a constant cycle of arrests, drug use and battles, however, Jim's opinion began to change.  In March of 1975, Marlene and Chuck were charged with grand larceny after they lifted $6,000 worth of women's clothing and accessories from a variety of stores in the area.  Jim bailed Marlene out of jail and hired an attorney to represent her in the matter due to move forward in May but also threatened to send her to a juvenile facility.  Chuck's parents, with whom he lived, bailed him out.  

In the winter of 1974-1975, Marlene became obsessive with her fantasies of murdering her mother.  Her friends apparently thought it was nothing more than typical teenage venting and wrote it off.  However, Marlene's relationship with Naomi continued to deteriorate and she decided to take action.  She crushed up prescription medication and put it into her mother's food, hoping that Naomi would ingest it and overdose.  The plan failed, though, when Naomi refused to eat the food, citing it was too bitter.  

By June of 1975, Jim Olive had had enough.  He told Marlene he planned to ground her throughout the summer and come fall, she would be sent to a boarding school.  He no longer wanted her to see Chuck Riley and Jim issued his own warning to Chuck:  stay away from Marlene or I'll kill you. 

On the first day of summer, Saturday, June 21, 1975, Marlene and Naomi had their last fight in which Naomi reportedly told Marlene she was going to get locked up in juvenile hall.  Marlene responded by calling Chuck and telling him to get his gun because "we've got to kill the bitch today."  Chuck claimed that he didn't want to kill anyone but Marlene said that if he loved her, he would do it.  When that wasn't incentive enough, according to Chuck, she said if he refused, she would no longer see him. 

With that in order, she arranged to go out shopping with Jim, leaving Naomi alone in the house.  Marlene left the door unlocked so that Chuck could easily gain entry to the home and murder Naomi.  

Chuck took some LSD before grabbing his .22 caliber revolver and a hammer and heading over the Olive residence, where Naomi was sleeping.   She was struck in the head with a claw hammer until the hammer lodged in her skull.  As that failed to kill her, Chuck ran to the kitchen where he obtained a steak knife that he used to stab her repeatedly in the chest.  He didn't use the gun on Naomi, he later said, because he worried the noise would alert neighbors.  

Although the plan allegedly had been only to kill Naomi,  Marlene and Jim returned from their shopping excursion while Chuck was still in the house.  Jim saw Chuck in the process of attempting to smother Naomi, grabbed the bloody steak knife from the nightstand and rushed at his daughter's boyfriend.  Chuck pulled his gun out and fired it four times, striking Jim in the chest and killing him.

Even if Jim had not been part of the murder plot, Marlene apparently did not mourn him or have no remorse over his murder.  She and Chuck wrapped his body and Naomi's in rugs, placed them in Chuck's car and drove to China Camp State Park.  The bodies were then dumped into a barbeque pit, doused with gasoline and set on fire.  The teenagers returned to Terra Linda, where they enlisted a friend for help in cleaning up the blood.  For the next four days, Marlene and Chuck lived in the house on Hibiscus Way, where, using Jim and Naomi's credit cards, checkbook, and cash, they partied, ate takeout food and went to concerts.  They also bragged about the murders to friends.  Reportedly, the couple's plan was to wait until Jim and Naomi were declared dead, then collect the insurance money and move to Ecuador. 

Jim Olive's business partner became concerned when Jim missed multiple meetings at work and dropped by the Olive residence.  No one answered the door but the man noticed the overall disarray through the windows.  Believing that Jim had been the victim of a burglary or home invasion, he notified police.  The police also received no response to their door knocking and left a note for the home's residents to contact them as soon as they returned home.  Marlene did that, showing up at the police station with a variety of conflicting stories.  First, she claimed that her parents had gone to Lake Tahoe on vacation, then said that they had been kidnapped and killed by Hell's Angels.  She even suggested that one of her parents had killed the other and disappeared with the body.  She also provided several different alibis for herself and Chuck over the preceding days.

Police searched the messy, disorderly residence and while they found nothing of note, they did acknowledge that, unlike the rest of the house, the master bedroom was recently cleaned and spotless.

The friend who had been employed by Chuck and Marlene to help in cleaning up after the murders of Jim and Naomi went to law enforcement to make a statement not only about the blood that was present in the bedroom but about comments made by Chuck and Marlene about killing the Olives.  With this information, Marlene owned up to where her parents were and led the police to the China Camp State Park and the pit where the bodies of Jim and Naomi Olive had been set alight.  Human bone fragments were found in the ash.

Chuck Riley's mug shot (photo source)

On July 10, 1975, Chuck Riley and Marlene Olive were arrested and each charged with two counts of first-degree murder.  Chuck immediately confessed, saying he committed the killings because Marlene told him to, although he would later recant a portion of his confession.  As Marlene was a minor, a psychiatric evaluation was ordered for her.  She was considered troubled but competent to stand trial.  

In September, the attorney who had represented Marlene when she had been arrested for shoplifting at the local mall successfully argued on her behalf that she should be tried in juvenile court rather than as an adult in superior court.  He conceded that she and Chuck were both heavily involved in drugs, sex and fantasy but it was Chuck who carried out the murders.  Following a short hearing in the Marin County Juvenile Court, sixteen-year-old Marlene was ordered to spend three years at The Ventura School, the California Youth Authority's juvenile detention facility about an hour north of Los Angeles.

Chuck, as a legal adult, wasn't so lucky.  His trial began on October 30, 1975.  As he had confessed to both murders (although he had since claimed that he found Naomi Olive with the hammer already embedded in her head and he had stabbed her to put her out of her misery), his defense team attempted to show that a person like Chuck would be susceptible to someone like Marlene, even going so far as to kill for her.  Chuck allowed himself to be hypnotized but it didn't sway the jury.  Following the seven-week trial, he was found guilty of bludgeoning Naomi Olive to death and shooting Jim Olive to death at close range.  He was sentenced to death and in early 1976, was sent to San Quentin State Prison to await execution.

Marin County and Terra Linda settled back in to normal life but Marlene Olive couldn't seem to stay out of trouble.  

Upon arriving at The Ventura School, Marlene tracked down the attorney that handled her adoption back in 1959 and learned the name of her biological mother.  Despite what Naomi had told her for years, the woman was not a prostitute impregnated by a client but a 19-year-old teenager impregnated by a sailor on leave.

In late 1978, with only weeks to go before being paroled, Marlene escaped from a holding cell in Los Angeles and headed east to New York, where she resumed her heavy drug habit and became a high-priced prostitute.  She would remain free until she was picked up in July 1979 at a brothel.  Returned to California to finish her sentence, she was released in 1980 when she was 21.  

In 1981, accompanied by writer Richard M. Levine, who would go on to write 1982's Bad Blood: A Family Murder in Marin County, she saw Chuck for the first time in five years when she visited him in prison.  He correctly observed after the visit, "I'll never see her again."  

(Photo source)

Marlene went to L.A. and changed her name numerous times - possibly due to her multiple arrests (at least seven) for forgery and drug-related charges.  Her arrests led to two one-year jail sentences.  In 1986, she was busted, along with others, for her involvement in a large counterfeit and forgery ring for which she was suspected of being the ringleader.  Sentenced to five years, she was again convicted in 1992 for for making a false financial settlement and in 1995 for possession of a forged driver's license.  In between her forgeries, credit card fraud and cashing bad checks, she was admitted to UCLA through her The Ventura School community-college equivalency degree but she soon dropped out.  In 2003, she was arrested in Bakersfield, California on suspicion of being under the influence of drugs, possession of stolen property, drug paraphernalia and counterfeit checks and sentenced to seven years.   Authorities remarked that they had never before seen a street level forger as skilled or prolific as Marlene Olive, who could commit forgery and fraud from documents she obtained from the trash.

Marlene served her sentence at a Kern County's women prison for the Bakersfield charges and her present whereabouts are unknown.  

Drawing by Marlene McCarty (photo source)

In the 1990s, artist Marlene McCarty, inspired by Levine's book, created a series of drawings on the teenaged Marlene Olive which became a series called "Murder Girls."  One of those drawings is now in the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Chuck in 2013 (photo source)

Chuck Riley's life was spared when the death penalty was nullified in 1978 after being ruled unconstitutional; his death sentence was commuted to one of life with the possibility of parole.  Transferred from San Quentin to the Men's Correctional Facility in San Luis Obispo, Chuck slimmed down to 190 pounds and earned his GED and the equivalent of a college degree.   He became eligible for parole seven years into his commuted sentence; ultimately, he would be denied more than a dozen times.  In 2011,  following a denial, he appealed, citing that there was no evidence that he continued to be a danger to the community, that the parole board did not consider his age, and that his sentence was unconstitutionally excessive.  In May of 2014, the Court of Appeals in San Francisco agreed with Chuck and ordered a new parole hearing.  The subsequent parole hearing found him suitable for release.  On February 6, 2015, California's then-governor Jerry Brown reversed the parole board's decision.  He did acknowledge that Chuck had taken positive steps in prison, such as participating in the behavioral programs and earning his associate and bachelor degrees but felt that he continued to minimize his involvement in the crime.  Chuck appealed Brown's decision and on December 3, 2015, Brown's reversal was vacated and five days later, Chuck Riley was granted parole.  

Chuck Riley and Marlene Olive, by all accounts, have not seen each other since 1981.

Jim and Naomi's grave marker (photo source)

Sources:

20th Century Murder (2019). Teen Girls Who Murdered Their Parents (1970s)-Marlene Olive/The Barbecue Pit Murders — 20th Century Murder: A True Crime Blog and Podcast (home.blog)

Catt’s True Crime Corner, (2019). Catt’s True Crime Corner“We Had To Do It.”

Crime Library, (2014). Kill my parents: The story of Marlene Olive (archive.org)

Levine, Richard M. Bad Blood: A Family Murder in Marin County. Signet, 1983.

Marin Independent Journal, (2015) Governor reverses parole board decision to release Marin double-murderer — Marin Independent Journal (marinij.com)

Marin Magazine, (2008). A Local Murder — Marin Magazine

New York Daily News (2017), Adopted California teen convinces boyfriend to kill parents in 1975 ‘Barbecue Murders’ — New York Daily News (nydailynews.com)

Wikipedia, (2021). Barbecue murders — Wikipedia

 

The Murders of Renae and Shannah Wicklund and Barbara Hendrickson

April 16, 1982 edition of the Walla Walla Union Bulletin

with news of the murders on the bottom of the first page

Renae Wicklund was 23 years old in December of 1974, married not quite three years and a devoted mother to her nearly 2-year-old daughter, Shannah.  The Wicklund family, which included Renae's husband and Shannah's father Jack, lived in Clearview, Washington, a community about half an hour northeast of Seattle, nestled between Woodinville and Snohomish.  Although the Seattle area had been devastated through more than half of 1974 by missing and murdered women (crimes eventually attributed to Ted Bundy), crime had not touched the small hamlet of Clearview or the Wicklund family.

Not until the afternoon of December 11.    It was unseasonably warm and sunny that day, a time of year when it was normally rainy.  Renae decided to take advantage of the good weather and give herself and Shannah some fresh air and time out of the house, while Jack was working, and wash the family home's windows.  While the Wicklund's one-story rambler style home sat on a good acre or so of property surrounded by fir trees, it was a Wednesday afternoon and Renae had little cause to be concerned or worry about her safety or that of her daughter.  Clearview was safe; nothing ever happened there.  Besides, the Wicklunds' closest neighbors, Don and Barbara Hendrickson, were within shouting distance across the street.

Renae first saw the man coming up the driveway.  He was young, very tall and had reddish hair.  She looked him the eye and he turned and headed back toward the road, leaving her to assume he had been lost or chosen the wrong house.  She had gone back into her home, to grab more rags to use to wipe down the windows, when she saw him approaching again, this time much faster.  Thinking that he was after Shannah, who was on the lawn, Renae ran back outside to grab the baby and flee back to the house and its safety.  She was no match for the big man, who forced the door before she could fully close and lock it.   Armed with a knife, the intruder demanded Renae disrobe and perform oral sex on him or he would kill her and her baby.  To prove his point, he held the knife against Shannah's throat.  Renae complied and once finished, her attacker left with a "Thanks."   She quickly got redressed, grabbed her crying baby, and ran across the street, where Barbara Hendrickson let the pair in and locked the house up tight.  Armed with a shotgun, she called the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office.

Renae

Renae Wicklund proved to be an excellent witness.  She gave a thorough and detailed description of her attacker, including that she had detected a faint odor of alcohol on his breath.    Based on her description, the detectives quickly narrowed in on Charles Rodman Campbell, who had been in trouble most of his life.

Born in Hawaii, Campbell was uprooted to Snohomish along with his sister, who was crippled.  Both Campbell children were taunted and teased at school; their parents, never much for the responsibility of children, soon left them in the care of their grandparents.  The grandparents, however, appeared to have little idea how to handle the children and Charles grew up to be a very angry individual.

School had little priority for him; he was more interested in drugs and alcohol.  His first arrest came when he was sixteen, after he stole a car.  The authorities, however, had known of him since before he began junior high.  His juvenile record was dotted with auto thefts, burglaries, and resisting arrest and he had spent time in a juvenile detention facility.

At 19, he married a 22 year old woman; they would divorce only 10 months later, one month after she gave birth to a child.   She would claim that Campbell both physically abused her and the child and neglected them.  She was awarded $75 a month in child support with no visitation rights for Campbell,.  By that point, Campbell had been charged with defrauding an innkeeper.  The following year, in 1974, he would be arrested for allegedly possessing amphetamines and in the fall, before he attacked Renae Wicklund, he would be charged with violation of the federal firearms act, criminal trespass, burglary, grand larceny, carrying a concealed weapon, assault and resisting arrest.

The charges from the fall of 1974 were still pending when Renae Wicklund was attacked and raped that December.

Shannah

Although she had provided a detailed description of Campbell, it would be March of 1976 before he was arrested and charged with one count of first degree assault with intent to kill and one count of sodomy.  Renae, along with Barbara Hendrickson, testified against Campbell during his trial.  He was found guilty of both the assault and sodomy charges and was sentenced to 30 years, with a 7 year minimum for his attack on Renae.  He plead guilty to his outstanding burglary charge and was given up to 15 years, with a 7 year minimum.  It seemed that Charles Campbell would not be free for a very long time.

Renae's marriage to Jack Wicklund suffered in the aftermath of her attack; the couple separated and eventually divorced but remained friendly, with Renae and Shannah remaining in the Clearview house.  Renae worked as both a beautician and accountant for beauty salons.  Whatever help she needed, whether it be with Shannah or with household chores, was gladly assisted by Don and Barbara Hendrickson.

In December of 1977, Jack Wicklund became the victim of a bizarre attack in his home.  He recalled that a man walked into his home carrying a package, wished him a Merry Christmas and then tied him to a chair, poured gasoline over him and struck a match.  It was a miracle that he survived.  The incident left him burned and scarred over most of his body, suffering with excruciating pain and requiring that he wear a rubber body suit in order to protect his skin and minimize the formation of scar tissue.  He told authorities that the man who had attacked him was a stranger.

Only four months later, in April of 1978, the car in which Jack Wicklund was driving crashed into a tree, killing him instantly.  There were no witnesses and it appeared there was no other vehicle involved.  There was a dangerous curve on the road he crashed on, and it was where his vehicle had left the road, but Jack had traveled the road many times before and knew the curve was there.  Authorities never determined who had set Jack on fire in December 1977 or if the April 1978 car accident was indeed an accident, suicide, or the completion of the prior assault.

Barbara 

The terrible fate that befell her ex-husband left Renae with a constant sense of anxiety.  Her friends reported that she told them she lived in constant fear that something would, again, happen to her.

Renae had figured that when Charles Campbell was sentenced to a total of 45 years, he would actually serve every one of those 45 years.  She certainly didn't realize that his sentences were running concurrently and not consecutively, meaning the most time he would spend behind bars would be the 30 years for her assault and that he could actually be free after serving the minimum of 7 years.

Campbell was only 25 miles away, incarcerated at the Monroe Reformatory, a mid-level penal institution.  He had acquired a  nickname while there - - "One Punch," on account of his strength.  He bullied fellow prisoners and trafficked drugs while behind bars, something that the guards were allegedly well aware of.  Despite this, he would be granted work release, beginning in 1981, for good behavior.

He had apparently spent his years in prison not only continuing with his criminal activities but simmering with anger against the person he felt was responsible for his incarceration -- Renae Wicklund.

Tragically, Renae was never informed that her rapist had furloughs from prison and was, effectively, free.  She also had no idea that he had acquired copies of his trial transcripts that had her name and address, as well as Barbara Hendrickson's.

In early January of 1982, it had snowed in Clearview and both Don Hendrickson and Renae had noticed large footprints outside their homes.  Since her home sat off the road, the footprints frightened Renae.   Her dog, a large Afghan hound she had acquired after her divorce, had gone crazy, barking wildly around that same time.  As the dog rarely barked, it was upsetting.

As the authorities had not informed Renae, or the Hendricksons, of Campbell's work release, they also chose not to share the fact that he had been transferred to a work-release facility less than ten miles from Clearview.

On Easter Sunday of 1982, Renae was sick with what was diagnosed as strep throat.  Given medication and told to stay in bed, she was doing just that on Wednesday, April 14.  Barbara dropped by that morning, to check in on her, and found Renae watching t.v. and attempting to read a book.  She promised to return that afternoon.

Don Hendrickson remembered that his wife went to collect the afternoon mail and saw Shannah returning home from school.  She told the little girl to tell her mother Barbara would be over shortly to make Jell-O, as it would be easy for Renae to swallow.  It was 4:20 p.m. when Barbara asked Don if she could borrow his wristwatch so that she might take Renae's pulse and then left to head across the street to the Wicklund residence.

Don thought nothing of his wife being gone a little while; she and Renae were friends and probably got to chatting.  But by 6 p.m., when she had been gone for an hour and a half, he put on a jacket and went to the Wicklunds' to fetch her.  Seeing the sliding glass doors that led into the kitchen, where he would normally enter, partially open was the first sign that not all was right.  Entering the kitchen, he noticed a dining chair knocked over and heard the sound of running water, which was coming from the kitchen faucet.  Other than the water, the house was overwhelmingly silent.

He found his wife first.  Barbara lay in the hallway that led to the bedrooms, blood spreading out around and on her head in an eerie halo effect.  Her throat had been slashed so viciously she likely would have died from blood less within a moment or two.

Don found Shannah's bedroom empty but any relief he may have felt was quickly dashed when he entered Renae's bedroom.  Shannah, only 8 years old, had been killed as Barbara had.  The wound to her throat was so severe, she was nearly decapitated.  Her mother lay across the room, on the floor, nude and beaten.  She too had suffered a fatal knife wound to the neck.

The Snohomish County deputies that responded to Don Hendrickson's 911 call, as well as the city of Clearview as a whole, were horrified.  Brutal, gruesome killings were not the norm, and especially not to people like Renae and Shannah Wicklund and Barbara Hendrickson and not in the middle of a sunny Wednesday in April.

The investigators very quickly honed in on Charles Campbell.  Neither of the Wicklunds nor Barbara Hendrickson had any enemies and certainly no one that would wish such violence upon them.  Don Hendrickson informed authorities that the man who had attacked Renae back in 1974 was the only person he could think of that would do such a thing; Renae's other friends and neighbors recalled that she had been attacked eight years earlier and that she had lived in fear ever since.

The sheriff's office in Snohomish County was shocked when they discovered that not only had Charles Campbell been living in a work-release facility with little supervision located only two blocks from the county courthouse, and no more than a dozen miles from the Wicklund and Hendrickson residences, but the sheriff's office had not been notified that a convicted felon had been released to their jurisdiction.

On the evening of April 14, 1982 - - only hours after Renae, Shannah, and Barbara met violent
ends -- Charles Campbell returned to the halfway house clearly under the influence of alcohol.  When tested, his blood alcohol was nearly three times the legal limit and he tested positive for morphine, codeine, quinine, methadone, and cocaine.  As one of the ground rules for living in the residence was no alcohol or drug consumption, Campbell was carted back off to the Monroe Reformatory.

Having him returned to the facility made it easier for cops to arrest him for the murders, which they did on April 19.  Although Renae's assault back in 1974 had created little news, her murder in 1982 did.  Never a state known for its propensity for the death penalty, many residents in Clearview signed a petition at Rick's Clearview Foods, where both Renae and Barbara shopped, demanding that Campbell be given the death penalty if he were found guilty.  People reportedly traveled from all over the state to Clearview to sign the petition.

In May of 1982, Charles Campbell entered a plea of innocent in the three charges of first degree murder leveled against him.  His trial began in November.  The case against him was rock-solid.  A bloody hand print found in the Wicklund residence was identified as his.  He had allegedly stolen some of Renae's jewelry from the home, which he then attempted to sell.  His ex-wife told authorities that during the Christmas holiday of 1981, as well as the few months following, she had been repeatedly raped by Campbell.  When she had gone to swear out a complaint against him, the authorities told her the case would be too weak to bring before a court.  That had been in March of 1982, the month before the murders.

Perhaps most galling was the knowledge gleaned just before the trial about Campbell's prison record.  Rather than the "good behavior" he had been cited with, and the three minor infractions the parole board had been informed of, this "model prisoner" had been anything but.  In addition to the drug trafficking, he had also used drugs while incarcerated, had regularly gotten into beefs with other inmates, was known to carry a club under his clothing, had attempted to assault a female nurse when she refused him medication, had broken a lunch tray in two with his bare hands after cutting in the food line and had been cited multiple times for contraband.  Smaller, weaker inmates were forced to sell drugs for Campbell and often raped by him.  The guards at Monroe were known to be afraid of Campbell and had requested that he be transferred to the more secure state pen at Walla Walla.  Apparently nothing came of this request.

He had begun seeing a drug and alcohol counselor in 1980, while still at Monroe.  This female counselor had developed a close, personal relationship with Campbell that resulted in not only her quitting her job but becoming pregnant with Campbell's child.

The Washington State parole board discovered that, much to their horror, it was not only Charles Campbell's records they had not been provided with by Monroe.  Literally hundreds of prisoners had been paroled without their prison behavior being properly evaluated.

Campbell requested a change of venue before his trial started, wanting to move the case out of state, as he believed he could not get a fair trial in Washington due to all the publicity.  His request was denied.

Other than his desire for a change of venue, Campbell participated very little in his trial.  He refused to entertain the idea of testifying in his own defense and would not talk about the murders.   He did, however, according to Peggi Hendrickson, Don and Barbara's daughter, draw pictures of gravestones and hangman's nooses and hold them up so the galley could see them.

Neighbors of the Wicklunds and the Hendricksons testified that they remembered seeing the very tall man with a shock of red hair close to the Wicklund house on the day of the crimes.  Campbell's girlfriend testified that the day after the killings, she had noticed one of her kitchen knives missing.  She also said that he had "considerable resentment" toward Renae and had driven by her home several times while on work release.

The horrors inflicted on the victims was publicly heard for the first time.  Jurors and spectators heard of Renae's broken jaw, broken nose, broken ribs and a body terribly bruised, on top of being raped with a blunt instrument, being strangled and having her throat cut.  Shannah had lost so much blood from her wound, samples had to be collected from the floor.  Barbara's throat wound was so deep, her carotid artery had been severed.

The defense called no witnesses and presented no evidence.  They only characterized the case as a miscarriage of justice and stated their belief that the investigators had tunnel vision with the case and had not investigated anyone else after hearing Campbell's name.

His case went to the jury on November 26, 1982, the day after Thanksgiving.  The jury needed only four hours to find him guilty.  His detached and aloof demeanor, coupled with his absolute lack of remorse, helped to secure not only the conviction but the recommendation to fix the penalty at death. Campbell, during the penalty phase, had reportedly grinned at the jury while asking his attorney if they had to "go through all that crap again."

The killer 

Campbell was officially sentenced to death in December 1984.  For the next decade, the man who had no regard for the lives of the people he had killed, who believed he had the right to do what he wanted, to whomever he wanted, fought to save his.  In Washington, inmates on death row have the right to choose their method of execution from either legal injection or hanging; if no choice is made, hanging is used.  Campbell refused to choose, stating that it was akin to suicide and went against his religion.  That set off debate over whether hanging, given Campbell's huge size, would be cruel and unusual punishment as decapitation could very well be the end result.

The following year, allegations were made against Monroe Reformatory counselor Roger Button that he covered up certain inmates' infractions in exchange for sex and drugs.  Charles Campbell was reportedly one of those inmates who curried favor with Button.  These favored inmates also reportedly collected debts for Button, protected those prisoners Button liked, and beat up those prisoners that Button did not like.  Roger Button denied the allegations.

On April 14, 1994, 12 years to the day that he had killed Renae, Shannah, and Barbara, the state of Washington lifted its stay of execution on Campbell and set his execution for May

27.   Mike Lowry, then governor of Washington, was opposed to the death penalty but after hearing the details of Campbell's crimes, and meeting with the killer face to face, he refused to consider commuting his sentence to that of life imprisonment.  By that point, the remorseless Campbell had gone through some 15 attorneys and cost the state of Washington more than $775,000 in legal fees and care.

When time for his execution arrived, Campbell refused his last meal and would not get off the floor of his cell, necessitating the use of pepper spray.  He would not walk to or stand on the execution platform and so had to be carried and then strapped to a board.  He would not remain still so the noose and hood could be placed easily on his head.   He died roughly within two minutes after the trap was opened and offered no final words.  It has been reported in some outlets that the drop and/or Campbell's weight was misjudged, resulting in the prisoner nearly being decapitated.  Campbell was only the second person in the United States to be executed by hanging since 1965, when the infamous Clutter family killers of "In Cold Blood" infamy were executed.

New York Times, May 28, 1994

Family members of the victims had requested to view Campbell's execution but were denied.  However, Don Hendrickson, along with the son he had with Barbara', were there even though they couldn't see Campbell and Campbell couldn't see them.

After his execution and while cleaning out Campbell's holding cell, authorities found a four-inch piece of metal that Campbell had been sharpening into a knife.

Following his trial and before his execution, Campbell's ex-wife sued the State of Washington for negligence in allowing Campbell to roam freely and thus for him to rape her.  Renae's mother and Don Hendrickson filed a lawsuit seeking damages for the same negligence that led to the deaths of Renae, Shannah, and Barbara.  They were awarded $2.3 million in damages.




No one can say with absolute certainty what happened that April day in 1982 since none of his victims survived and Campbell chose never to speak of it.  Investigators believe that Campbell entered the home and attacked Renae, beating and raping her, before killing her.  When Shannah returned home from school, he dragged the child into the bedroom, forcing her to look at the remains of her mother, before he killed her as well.  He then apparently sat the in kitchen and ate a sandwich.  Either Renae may have told him about Shannah and Barbara expected at the home in an attempt to get him to leave, or he could have heard Barbara speaking to Shannah, or he just happened to be in the home when Barbara dropped by.  It appeared that Barbara may have attempted to escape, based on the knocked over dinette chair, but Campbell caught her and dragged her to the hallway, where he killed her.

The fear Renae must have felt is unimaginable.  She had lived with this terror since 1974, worried that someone else may harm her or Shannah.  But she surely never expected to see Charles Campbell again; she thought he would be locked up for at least another 30 years.  Did she know immediately he was there to permanently silence her?   Did she think he would assault her once again and then leave?  We will never know.

Renae Wicklund was a fighter.  She fought to the death, as evidenced by her battered and bruised knuckles.  She identified Charles Campbell after her assault and testified against him in court at a time when victims didn't always do that.  She did the right thing and the State of Washington failed her miserably when they should have been protecting her.  

After the slayings of Renae, Shannah, and Barbara, Washington enacted a law which would grant violent crime victims the right to know when their attackers are released.  Renae's mother Hilda was a driving force behind the law and she became an advocate for victims' rights.

Renae and Shannah were laid to rest in Renae's home state of North Dakota.  When Renae's mother Hilda passed away in October of 2005, she was laid to rest beside her daughter and granddaughter.

Barbara Hendrickson was interred in Lynwood, Washington.  Following her murder, Don Hendrickson became active in a victims' support group.  While there, he met Doreen Hanson, whose daughter Janna had been murdered in December of 1974.  The two married but would divorce only a few years later, as there was too much grief between the two of them.  According to Peggi Hendrickson, her father had begun drinking as a way of coping with his wife's murder and finding the bodies of the three victims and it was that drinking that led to his death.  Don died in January of 1999 and was interred next to Barbara.

Peggi Hendrickson's marriage ended in divorce, another ripple-effect casualty of murder.    

The little white house that Renae and Shannah lived, and died, in was reportedly torn down.