A mother is grieving the loss of her son, a Citadel cadet, who was tragically killed along with his closest friend. She fondly remembers her son as “such a light” in their lives. Meanwhile, a former detective suggests that the key to understanding the motive behind their deaths might be hidden within their cellphones.
On the night of July 29, at about 10:40 p.m., officers from the DeLand Police Department in Florida made a grim discovery. They found the bodies of 19-year-old Dustin Rose and 18-year-old Samson Campbell.
In a recent development, authorities have announced that an arrest warrant has been issued for a 17-year-old suspect. This teenager was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service on Wednesday.
During a Wednesday news briefing, officials revealed that all three individuals involved were familiar with each other to some extent. They also noted that the arrested teenager has a “pretty good criminal history,” which might offer clues to the crime.
Dustin Rose, only 19, was a dedicated Citadel cadet working towards his childhood dream of a military career when his life was cut short. (GoFundMe)
Rose attended The Citadel Military College of South Carolina and was home on break at the time. In a message to the campus community shared with News Media, The Citadel President Gen. Frank McKenzie described Rose as a “team leader and was a valued friend and classmate.”
In addition, Rose was also a member of the South Carolina National Guard, a spokeswoman confirmed with News Media.
Rachel Rose, Dustin’s mother, said he was “such a light in our family.”
“When they took him they took the very best part of me. We are devastated,” she told News Media.
Childhood friends Dustin Rose, left, and Samson Campbell, right, were fatally shot in a vacant Florida lot. (DeLand Police Department)
Patrick McGeehan, a criminal defense attorney and former homicide detective, told News Media that since their phones weren’t stolen, investigators could use them as they try to piece together a potential motive.
“And they still have the phone, the one kid still had the phone, which leads me to believe that’s not a robbery. It may be something else, because who’s going to leave a thousand dollar smart phone if they’re doing robbery? That’s something else that jumped out at me,” McGeehan said. “They will go through their phones. They will do a forensic audit of their phones, that is something that agencies in the area are capable of doing.”
“The information they can gather from the phone is fairly extensive,” he added.
Police released a screenshot of surveillance video showing the two walking together on Tuesday evening. It’s not yet known if the two were targeted.
One of the victims’ mothers may have been among the family members who found the two dead after they went unreachable by phone, police previously said.
Campbell, a DeLand native, had been staying with his aunt, Karen Chobin, in the Chicago area. Chobin said he was in town to grieve the recent death of the family’s 8-year-old dog and was staying with Rose’s grandparents.
Rose was in DeLand to help Campbell spread his dog’s ashes, Chobin said.
Surveillance video shows Dustin Rose and Samson Campbell walking together on Tuesday evening, the day before they were found dead. (DeLand Police Department)
“It was a traumatic loss. It wasn’t a passing of old age. It was awful. And then for this to be what he’s welcomed with when he goes down there to mourn his loss is devastating,” Chobin said.
Rose’s aunt, Jaimie Scarola, told FOX 35 his life was taken too soon.
“He was willing to go to the front line and fight for our freedom, including the freedom of the one who took him from us,” Scarola said. “You took him away from not only his family, but you robbed an entire country of a future soldier who didn’t get to answer that call.”