Campbell was a student at Central Texas College in 1988 and attended classes before leaving for her part-time job on April 25, 1988. After work she went to a group study at her ex-boyfriend's residence. She argued with him there and left his home sometime between 9:30 and 10:00 p.m. Campbell never arrived home. Her family didn't realize she was missing until the next morning.

A clerk at a 7-11 store on Highway 190 in Copperas Cove, Texas reported seeing Campbell the night of her disappearance. The clerk said a man driving a light green Gremlin, whom she thought was a Central Texas College student, dropped her off and Campbell used the pay phone at about midnight. Campbell's parents were able to locate the man, who said he had been working late at the college computer lab, saw Campbell walking down the service road and offered her a ride to Copperas Cove, which was as far as he was going. The 7-11 where he dropped her off of was seventeen miles from her home.

Campbell was carrying a faded yellow jacket, a 7-11 smock with her nametag attached, her college textbooks and papers, and a maroon purse at the time of her disappearance. A photograph of the purse is posted below this case summary. Campbell's purse was located over 180 miles away, off Interstate 10 in Ozona, Texas, in 1992, four years after she was reported missing. It was turned in to the Crocket County Sheriff's Department. Authorities stated that there was no physical evidence relating to Campbell's disappearance inside the purse. Foul play is suspected in her case. Sometime after her disappearance, authorities released a sketch of a possible suspect; the sketch is posted below this case summary.

Campbell resided with her family members in Lampasas, Texas in 1988. She planned to transfer to Texas A & M University in the autumn of that year.

Left: Campbell's purse;
Right: Suspect sketch