Journey to Justice...The story of Shawn Campbell

A truck similar to the type Shawn loved to build and paint

Infidelity/Betrayal/Murder...Families torn apart. Is the right man spending life in prison...or...did the real killer flea to Costa Rica with a new wife and start a new life?

No! This is not the next James Patterson or John Grisham novel, nor is it a Hollywood blockbuster! This is a true story about my son Shawn Campbell whom was convicted in 2005 for murder in the second degree and is currently serving 25 years to life in a maximum security prison in upstate New York.

Please take a few minutes of your time to read this story.

September 27, 2004, was a day that changed a lot of lives and a day that rocked the small town of Bath, NY. A woman by the name of Rhonda Bilby was murdered that morning.

On the morning of September 29, 2004, my son Shawn received a call from Senior BCI Investigator Ricky Kemp asking him to come into the Bath State Police Barracks because they had some questions about  the “Bilbys”. Not only did Shawn agree to talk to the, since he had nothing to hide, he allowed Investigator Kemp and Investigator Albright to pick him up on Liberty Street in Bath. Little did Shawn know that would be the last time he would stand on the street as a free man!

Within the first couple of hours of the ‘interview’ Shawn voluntarily gave them his fingerprints and DNA. He knew he had nothing to hide and he knew that once they ran his DNA against anything they had, his would come back negative, which he was right. When the tests came back from the New York State Forensics Lab no match came back to Shawn. No DNA, no hair samples, no fibers, no blood or footprints from the foot castings taken around the body...matched Shawn.

After 14 straight hours of being interrogated by 3 senior BCI investigators, Shawn “confessed” to the murder! It was a false confession but he didn’t care. He needed to get away from them because he couldn’t take the pressure anymore. Shawn was stressed beyond any breaking point that any average person could handle. 2004 was a bad year for him to begin with that just got worse.

Brief Background

In late 2001, Shawn started hanging out with his ‘father’ Terry who had just come home from prison. Shawn was doing great. He had a beautiful new wife, a nice home and a great job doing what he loved. He was a subcontractor for a construction company out of Nichols, NY doing custom cabinets, custom hardwood floors, trim work, remodels, and the occasional high-end new homes. He did some commercial work as well.

Shawn has a heart of gold...and wears his heart on his sleeve. Everyone loved Shawn and he loved helping people. Shawn and his father had a strained relationship--almost a love/hate relationship. When Terry was clean, drug-free and living a ‘family life’ with his wife Teresa and their 2 kids T.J. and Tara, Terry needed and wanted Shawn in his life. He would take Shawn hunting, fishing, boating, and taught him how to work on cars. This was always short-lived, a few months at a time at best. When Terry was off getting high, his wife Teresa wanted no part of Shawn. Terry would turn on Shawn, send him to live with me when he didn’t feel like playing ‘daddy’ anymore, then tell everyone that Shawn wasn’t his kid but rather was Anthony Cavallaro’s son...which is true. Shawn did have a rough childhood which is a story for later. I am thankful that he grew up to be a strong, sensitive, loving and caring man that he is versus a cold hearted, depressed, miserable man that he could have been.

When Terry came home from prison in 1999 or 2000, Shawn did everything he could to help his father. Shawn got Terry a good job working with him, picked him up and brought him home from work. He took Terry to his parole dates, lent him money, helped get him a vehicle together and on the road. Unfortunately, Terry couldn’t stay away from the cocaine and crack. This time though, he dragged Shawn down with him. He introduced Shawn to the world of addiction. From there, things spiraled downward for Shawn. He ended up writing $30,000 worth of checks, which belonged to his boss, Mark George.

Shawn was arrested in chemung County and Steuben County for Possession of a Forged Instrument. He was sentenced to 5 years probation, 8 weekends in jail, restitution, and 16 weeks in an outpatient , drug program. He lost his job, and the following year was a losing battle for him. By this time, Shawn and his wife had a son that was a little more than a year old. That year they found out they were having another child (a girl). Even more stress for Shawn, but he dug deep and did odd jobs, fixed cars, worked at “Coach & Equipment” painting buses, and worked at “Friendly Dodge” in the body shop.

At the beginning of May, his daughter was born. By July, his wife left him, taking the children, while he was at work. He came home to a half empty house, no wife, no kids, no note. This pushed Shawn over the edge. He couldn’t find his wife and children, and friends and family actually betrayed him. They encouraged his wife to go to a women’s safe house, This crushed Shawn. He had never hurt his wife or any woman for that matter. Shawn became depressed and went to a doctor who prescribed him “Lexapro”! Shawn then went and filed for custody of his children and won.

Fast forward to September 29, 2004…

After 14 hours of interrogation, Shawn was booked on murder in the second degree. In the 13 months to follow, a whole lot of questions were raised and facts brought out. So why is my son still in prison? Here is what we know...to be facts:

> Rhonda Bilby was killed outside of her home on the morning of September 27, 2004. She had been hit in the head several times with a hammer or pipe. Her body was then dragged from her front yard, through her side yard and backyard into the woods behind a large propane tank. (This happened between 8:00 and 9:00 a.m.) Her home had no forced entry into it, it was locked yet items were missing. Her husband, Roland Bilby was at his antique store with...conveniently...an alibi: he was with his best friend and mistress.

> Roland came home between 3:30 and 4:00 p.m. noticing his wife’s car was in the driveway. He unlocked the door, went in and didn’t notice anything wrong nor did he go into his wife’s bedroom, to check on her, kiss her and let her know he was home (as a normal husband might do).  Roland claimed he grabbed a beer and went to his garage and worked for a while. He then stated he went back into the house, watched TV and was waiting for Rhonda to wake up. He stated he started to get hungry and was surprised Rhonda wasn’t up to make dinner for them and get ready for work. (Rhonda worked graveyard shift at Avinex-Corning Incorporated.)

> Roland stated he figured she was extra tired and decided to let her sleep, and heated some pizza for his dinner. It was after 9:00 p.m. that he thought he had better check on her since she still hadn’t gotten up, and that’s when he realized that she was not in bed. The bed was still made.

> Roland continued saying he went searching for Rhonda around their property and the pond, thinking maybe she had decided to mow with the riding mower, and he thought maybe she was laying hurt someplace. After allegedly searching the property and finding nothing, he called her friend to see if they’d gone shopping and maybe were running late. Rhonda’s friend said he hadn’t seen or heard from Rhonda that day. He said he called her job to see if she was there but she was not. His next call was to the Steuben County Sheriff’s Department. Deputy Sheriff Dale Campbell responded to Roland’s call. D.S. Campbell stated he spoke to Roland for some time, asked questions and took notes. D.S. Campbell stated he didn’t have a good vibe about Roland’s story so he left  and drove down the road a ways and parked. He watched to see if there was any suspicious activity around the Bilby's home but after some time, he left. D.S. Campbell would later state in his testimony at Shawn’s trial that there was “no evidence” to link Shawn to the Bilby crime.

> The following morning, Steuben County Sheriff's Department collaborated with the New York State Police and conducted a search of the Bilby property. Mrs. Bilby’s body was found decomposing in the woods behind the propane tank.

> Roland Bilby was having an affair with a woman named Karen Skyles for more than 4 years prior to the death of Rhonda. Karen was also married and her husband died only months before Rhonda. How? Why was this never looked into? Furthermore, Rhonda was Roland’s second wife, his wife also died. Hmmmm….

> From the time of Mrs. Bilby’s murder to my son’s trial was just under 13 months. In that time, roland moved Karen into his home he had shared with Rhonda. Within months, they were married. They started selling everything off...her home, personal property, his home and personal property, vehicles, and the antique store. They were flying back and forth to Costa Rica while having a home built there for them. This is where they fled to and remain today. A non-extradition country! Oh--and Roland has money in the N.Y. State Comptroller’s office...which has not come back to collect. Why?

Here comes a twist...

A man by the name of Loral Huffman was incarcerated at Wende Correctional Facility in 2004. Several weeks prior to the murder of Rhonda Bilby, Mr. Huffman sends letters to Steuben County’s District Attorney’s office giving them the heads-up on a “murder-for-hire plot”. (Some of these letters were written, dated, signed, notarized and stamped ‘received’ by the Steuben D.A.’s office.)

In one letter, Mr. Huffman stated he was incarcerated with an inmate by the name of ‘William Butler’, a.k.a. ‘Jamie’, a.k.a. ‘Jib’. Huffman states that Butler was asking forensic questions on how to cover up a murder, to make it look like a ‘robbery gone bad’. Butler stated he had been paid to kill a woman when he got out. Butler was in fact released in May of 2004. He was paroled to his mother’s home in Campbell, N.Y. about 20 miles from Bath, N.Y.

In another letter Huffman penned to Steuben County’s D.A.’s office, he stated a woman by the name of “Roda Biby” (very close to the name Rhonda Bilby wouldn’t you say?) was going to be killed, that her husband would be at his antique shop with an alibi, the house would be made to appear as if it had been robbed, and her body would be dragged into the woods to decompose.

Everything that Loral Huffman wrote would happen...happened and Steuben County’s District Attorney’s office did absolutely nothing to investigate or warn one of their own citizens.

FYI: Loral Huffman has helped New York State and the Federal Government secure more than 26 convictions on high profile cases: murders, rapes, gang members...including the murder of an off duty N.Y.P.D. officer. Huffman has many letters from state and federal prosecutors and state and federal judges praising him for his testimonies, asking other agencies to not only use him but to help keep him safe. And for the record, I saw every copy of the letters Mr. Huffman wrote to the D.A.’s office as well as every letter of recommendation from King and Queens Counties in New York State.

Ready for another twist???

As I stated earlier, Shawn’s wife had left him and Shawn had ended up with custody of their children. Sometime in August of 2004, his wife started dating a man, whom she refused to name to anyone on our side of the family. However, only weeks after Shawn had been arrested and placed in Steuben County Jail, his estranged wife moved herself, their children in with the new boyfriend...William Butler!

We also found out that Shawn’s wife and Mr. Butler were hanging out quite heavily with Terry Campbell. They would dine together at Mr. Campbell’s home, go hunting together and work in Terry’s garage.

I am sorry but I have always held that Terry was involved in this somehow too. Terry stated in a live interview with the local news channel, that he believed that Shawn did kill Mrs. Bilby and he was going to testify against Shawn. What Terry failed to tell the media and everyone else is why he was planning to testify against Shawn.

Terry was arrested for possession of firearms (amongst other charges) several months after Shawn was placed in the county jail. What I believe happened is Terry was pulled over by the state police one evening after he was done hunting. In his vehicle was a shotgun. Terry is a predicate/persistent felon and is NOT allowed to possessor own firearms. Therefore, it’s likely the Feds charged Terry and Terry decided to testify against Shawn for a reduced sentence. This is Terry’s M.O.--testify against someone to reduce his sentence.

Terry has been known to work for the state as a “snitch”. Rick Kirkum, a retired investigative reporter wanted to help Shawn bring major light to his case. Terry...through Facebook, threatened Rick. That was the end of that help.

Shawn has been fighting to prove his innocence so he can come home to his family and children. I know the legal end of his case is quite complicated and I would feel more comfortable for you to talk to Shawn directly about the trial, and all of his pre and post conviction motions.

I will say that Shawn had a horrible trial attorney, William Kelly. Mr. Kelly spent all of 4-12 hours with Shawn in the year’s time to preparing his defense. Mr. Kelly would call me, yell at me, harass me and tell me it was my responsibility to go the the jail and tell my son to take the plea of 24 to Life. Furthermore, Kelly on the 7th day of the trial, went nuts on Shawn and 5 of his family members in a conference room prior to the start of that trial date. Not only did Kelly threaten and scare Shawn but he attacked Shawn’s Great Aunt Pat--reaching across the table and poking her in the chest because she dared to call Mr. Kelly a liar! All because he did not have a defense prepared for Shawn and he has helping the D.A. to get Shawn to plea out. Kelly told me flat-out that it was election year and he wasn’t going to make waves in the D.A.’s office.

Shawn has had 11 attorneys on his case, 8 of which have been assigned out of Steuben County. Why the revolving door of attorneys?

There is so, so much more to Shawn’s story. We are asking for help. Please consider doing a story on my son’s case, help him bring light to this horrible nightmare, As a mother I am pleading with you to bring Shawn home and put the real murderer behind bars.

This has been a nightmare for me as well. I never thought I would see my oldest child be placed in prison. I can’t tell you the nights I cried myself to sleep, the feeling of such loss, such sadness. My heart still breaks for my grandchildren who are growing up without their dad.

Thank you for reading this.