MOBILE, Ala. — The man charged this week in the death of Lelia Smith has a connection to a decade-old Mobile killing that was never solved, and investigators are now taking another look at the cold case.
Kenny Lee Campbell was arrested Wednesday evening and charged in the death of Smith, with whom he had fathered a child, according to Mobile police. Her body was discovered in a car on Bear Fork Road in March.
The 2008 Shannon Campbell case
The arrest has drawn attention to the February 2008 death of Shannon Campbell, whom county marriage records show married Kenny Lee Campbell in 2005. She was found shot to death in front of her home, her toddler at her side.
Court and jail records show that in early February 2008, weeks before her death, Shannon Campbell applied for a domestic abuse restraining order against her husband. Two days later, on February 7, 2008, Kenny Campbell was arrested and charged with domestic violence. Jail records indicate he was released less than two hours later.
On February 23, 2008, officers responding to Woodley Road found Shannon Campbell’s body. No one was ever charged in her death.
Mobile police confirmed that detectives are now re-examining that case in light of the new arrest.