Guest’s death mars reception
Apparent suicide follows quarrel after wedding
Staff writer
The death of rural Hillsboro man by apparent suicide was a sad ending to a weekend of celebration.
Jesse Campbell, 23, had been the guest at the Saturday wedding of Lori Kaufmann and Brendon Schafer at Barkman Farm in Hillsboro.
Marion sheriff Robert Craft said Campbell “died of a single gunshot wound, self-inflicted.”
“This is a tremendously sad situation for the family and friends of this young man,” he said.
James Schafer, father of the groom, said Campbell went missing long after the wedding had taken place and the bride and groom called it a night.
People at were cleaning up at 9:30 p.m. when Campbell suddenly left. When he did not return about 20 minutes later, his friends became concerned.
They looked for Campbell, but were unable to find him.
“They must have looked, and looked, and looked,” Schafer said. “Because it wasn’t until about 3 a.m. when, my boy came in and told me that they still couldn’t find him.”
Campbell’s friends pulled his keys from his vehicle, which had been left at the wedding venue, and took a firearm from it, he said.
“They were, you know, just trying to do the best they could to keep him safe,” Schafer said, adding they didn’t know he must have had one.
Early Sunday, the group enlisted the help of law enforcement in their search.
At 8:17 a.m., dispatchers alerted sheriff’s deputies that one of his friends had found him about ¼ west of Mustang Rd. south of 210th St.
Dispatchers advised they did not believe Campbell to be breathing. Sheriff’s deputies, a Hillsboro ambulance, and firefighters all responded to the scene.
Craft said he couldn’t answer whether Campbell legally should have had access to firearms.
“I don’t know what mental history he had that would have denied him the right to have a gun,” he said.
Services for Campbell are set for today.
Memorials have been established with Hillsboro Fire Department and the Ross Campbell Support Fund, both in care of Jost Funeral Home.