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This story is a confusing one of family tensions going to the extreme. In the “idyllic” 1950s America, such things just did not happen in “good families.”
On Aug. 8, 1954, Robert Monroe Campbell, the estranged son-in-law of former Burlingame Mayor Peter Dahl, arrived on Dahl’s doorstep. Dahl was at home with his wife Maureen and their daughter Marilyn, Campbell’s wife (who had recently filed for divorce on the grounds of extreme cruelty). When the Dahls wouldn’t let him in, Campbell broke down the front door. There was an argument about the proposed custody agreement of Campbell and Marilyn’s young son. At some point, Campbell pulled out a pistol and shot all three – killing Dahl and wounding Maureen and Marilyn.
Campbell was soon arrested, and then the whole situation got messy and bizarre.
It was discovered that Campbell, a sheet metal worker living in Sacramento, had a telling criminal history. His crime: assault with a deadly weapon, which resulted in a six-month prison sentence in 1952. In Campbell’s October trial in Redwood City, the prosecution would make much of this fact.
Maureen would inadvertently become a star in Campbell’s trial. She frequently shouted at the defense lawyer and was eventually charged with contempt of court. She tried to explain to The Times newspaper: “I promised (my late husband) I would do everything I could by him. I cried all last night… I felt pretty good this morning when I got up, but I just couldn’t stand it in the courtroom when he stood up and started lying – it just broke my heart.” She would, outside of court, try to overdose on sleeping pills. This resulted in her being taken to the hospital and placed under security, from which she escaped and hitchhiked to her stepdaughter’s house in San Mateo, wearing only a red nightgown and a robe.
Meanwhile, back at the six-day trial, the defense presented the “fact” that Campbell blacked out and didn’t remember the shootings at all. He had brought the gun with him, and his lawyer claimed it was because he was afraid of Dahl, who had assaulted him in the past. The subject of custody of the young son was at the heart of the matter. The defense said, “…the mother wanted custody of the child to get support money from Campbell. She did not really want the child.” According to Campbell, he and Marilyn had verbally agreed that Campbell would get sole custody of the boy (almost unheard of in the 1950s). Campbell had traveled from Sacramento to Burlingame to get her signature on the custody agreement.
Both sides presented their cases, and the judge gave the jury his instructions. Surprisingly (to me), although Campbell had possibly obtained the gun illegally and brought it 100 miles from Sacramento to Burlingame and kicked in a door to gain entry to the house where he would ultimately gun down three people, Campbell was found guilty of only second-degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon. Despite all of the evidence to the contrary, the jury did not believe that Campbell consciously wanted to kill anyone.
So the story faded and remains a blip in Burlingame’s history.
