Julia Campbell (journalist)

Julia Campbell (January 25, 1967 – April 8, 2007) was an American journalist. She disappeared on April 8, 2007 while working as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in the Philippines and discovered on April 18 in a shallow grave where she had been buried after being murdered.
The Philippine House of Representatives awarded her with its "Congressional Medal of Achievement" in June 2007. Later, an eco-park in the Philippines was established as a memorial.

Julia Campbell was the daughter of US Marine Lt. Col. William R. Campbell Jr and Linda Martin Campbell. She graduated with an English degree from James Madison University (Virginia Senate Joint Resolution, No. 149, 1988).

She began her journalism career with The Connection, which is a newspaper in Virginia. From there she worked for the Greenwich Time in Connecticut, The Times Herald-Record in New York, and the St. Petersburg Times in Florida (Virginia Senate Joint Resolution, No. 149, 1988). Prior to her Peace Corps stint, she worked as a journalist based in New York City, having worked for ABCNews.com and CourtTVand had contributed as a freelancer to The New York Times and People magazine, among others. A notable event while working as a freelance reporter with the Times was when she was arrested while covering the funeral of Notorious B.I.G., a rapper. She was charged with disorderly conduct for verbally arguing with a police officer at the funeral. The charges were later dropped. She covered Typhoon Durian, also known as Reming, from the Philippines.

Campbell's career in journalism took a change, when she became a Peace Corp volunteer and went to the Philippines in 2005 until her murder in 2007.

On April 18, her body was found in a shallow grave near the village of Batad in Ifugao Province. A search party of Philippine army soldiers noticed her feet sticking out of a mound of fresh earth in a creek near the remote village.

Juan Duntugan confessed to killing Campbell, claimed that Campbell's death was not premeditated. He stated that he had just finished having a fight with his neighbor when Campbell bumped into him, making him drop what he was carrying. In his anger, he hit Campbell with a rock.

In a controversial statement made during the April 20, 2007 broadcast of a local news program, Philippine Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez stated that Campbell was partially to blame for her demise. He stated that the Peace Corps volunteer was "a little irresponsible" and that "if she was not alone, it would not have happened.". He also called Campbell "careless" in the same statement.

Juan Duntugan, 27, was found guilty of murder ("treachery and use of superior strength" as 2 of the aggravating circumstances) and sentenced to 40 years imprisonment (reclusion perpetua) without parole. Campbell's elder sister and her American friends were present, when Judge Ester Piscoso-Flor on June 30, 2008, RTC, Ifugao, ordered Duntugan to pay Campbell's family P 39.67 million ($889,000) in damages, including her funeral expenses.

On April 25, 2007, her remains were cremated in Manila. After her remains were cremated, a memorial service for her was held at the Roman Catholic church in Fairfax, Virginia. Her brother-in-law, Ed Morris, speaking on behalf of the family, said her greatest contribution was her Peace Corps service in the Philippines.

JCampbell Park, also known as Julia Campbell Agroforest Memorial Eco-Park, is an eco-park was established in June 2007 in Campbell's memory, to advance the causes she had advocated as a community volunteer. The 40-hectare ecology park is located in Barangay Pula, in the town of Asipulo, in the province of Ifugao, Philippines. Activities include camping, trekking and hiking aside from planting of fruit-bearing trees in the park. The land was donated by the family of Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Puguon Sr.