The case against 'Burnt Face'

Turner sustained two minor wounds to the thumb and chin and two stab wounds to his upper chest. The fatal wound was in the subclavian vein, according to the coroner. Turner bled to death.

Campbell became a suspect early in the investigation because a neighbor, Donna Roberts, supposedly saw a man known as "Burnt Face." He'd been leaning against the vacant building next to Turner's early in the morning of Dec. 24.

Campbell, who has prominent scarring on the left side of his face and head, was severely burned in a house fire when he was 5 years old. He spent most of a year in the hospital. Years of surgeries followed. People around the York Street area called him "Burnt Face."

The case against Campbell was highly circumstantial, according to his current attorneys, Ohio Public Defender Joe Wilhelm and Pamela J. Prude-Smithers. One of Campbell's fingerprints was found on a lightbulb outside Turner's apartment. His palm print was found on the outside surface of Turner's back kitchen door.

But Campbell had lived in that building until a month or so earlier. The fingerprints were in a common hallway. Campbell had also been in Turner's "house joint" to purchase alcohol, as were many other people in the neighborhood. But his prints weren't found there -- nor, more to the point, on the knife the killer left in Turner's body.

Campbell was arrested Dec. 30 -- six days after the homicide -- at his sister Pamela's house. Police didn't have a murder warrant; they picked him up on a rape complaint by his live-in girlfriend.

Pamela Campbell signed a consent form allowing police to search her house. But she later testified she signed only because the police threatened to take her kids to Allen House, a shelter run by the county.

During the search, police seized a bag of Jerome Campbell's clothing. The Pony gym shoes were in the bag. Investigators were looking for a pair of shoes with the victim's blood on them. One of Campbell's shoes had reddish brown spots, which tested positive for human blood.

Two days after arresting Campbell, Police Specialist Ron Camden made a note about the homicide investigation.

"We got a suspect now, just need a little evidence to nail his second hand to the wall," he wrote.

But a funny thing happened to the investigators' theory after they found Campbell's shoes: they didn't match the prints at the crime scene. The bloody shoeprint found near Turner's body wasn't from Campbell's shoes.

After being mentioned during a pre-trial hearing, the shoeprint seems to have disappeared from the case altogether. The jury never learned that Campbell's shoes didn't make the bloody imprint. Instead, prosecutors focused on the fact that his shoe had drops of blood on it.

Campbell was indicted Jan. 9, 1989 on one count of aggravated murder and two counts of aggravated burglary. His girlfriend dismissed the rape charge.

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