SCOTTSBURG, Ind. (WDRB) – Neighbors in Scott County, Indiana, are frustrated after learning a convicted murderer with a history of mental illness was living in a recovery home next door — and is now missing.
On Nov. 6, 1996, Andy Campbell was working as the caretaker of a Boy Scout camp in Clark County when he was shot in the stomach. Before he died, Campbell gave police a description of his attacker and the car he was driving.
A few hours later, Clark County sheriff’s deputies arrested Roger Caldwell, who was later convicted of Campbell’s murder and sentenced to 70 years in prison. Court records show Caldwell’s behavior raised serious concerns during the case.
He believed the trial judge was a member of the Ku Klux Klan, that his defense attorney was a federal agent connected to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and that cancer cells were planted in lime Jell-O at the jail. Records also show he claimed the Pope and the Masons were conspiring with the prosecutor and the federal government.
Caldwell was deemed mentally ill but still convicted of murder. After serving 25 years behind bars, the Indiana Department of Correction placed him at Kannon Men’s Oxford House in Scottsburg, a facility that describes itself as dedicated to helping men build stable lives in recovery from substance abuse.
Neighbors said they were never told a convicted murderer was living among them.
“They’re good guys, you know, we are not holding nothing against them,” said Steve Heacock, who lives next door to the Oxford House. “We don’t think the house should be here in this neighborhood. I mean, there’s kids, young kids who live around here. And especially, you know, where this guy that’s missing was a convicted murderer.”
Neighbor Stacy Pelfrey said he was uneasy when the home opened, but only later realized the type of residents who might be placed there.
“Well, when it was a recovery house, I really didn’t care that much for it,” Pelfrey said. “But I was OK with that once it got started. None of the neighbors knew anything about it before it got turned into what it is. Come to find out, it’s a halfway house, not a recovery house.”
Neighbors said Caldwell had been at the house since February, but they didn’t know he was there until he disappeared. Police told residents they gathered surveillance video when Caldwell was first reported missing in September. But since then, neighbors said, communication has stopped.
“In fact, they said he’d been here since February. We were totally unaware of it until he ended up missing,” Heacock said.
Now, neighbors said they’re left with more questions than answers as a convicted murderer remains missing from their community.
If you have information on Caldwell's whereabouts, call 911 or the Scottsburg Police Department at 812-752-4462.
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