He has been fleeing for decades, searched for murder attempt after a bomb that he allegedly planted his wife separated in Wyoming in 1982, according to the authorities.
Now, Stephen Craig Campbell, 76, who has been living in New Mexico under the name and assumed the identity of Walter Lee Coffman, according to the FBI, is in custody after a dramatic arrest last week.
The authorities said that Campbell’s double life began to unravel after a 2019 renewal of his driver’s license that told researchers that something was not right.
Stephen Campbell in the police photo.
To the Marshals of the USA.
Campbell had originally been arrested for attempted murder in 1982 after the authorities said he planted a bomb in a toolbox at the door of his separate wife. The bomb exploded when his wife opened the toolbox, making him lose a finger and suffering other wounds.
Campbell, who also faced a federal position of firearms in relation to that incident, was released on bail in 1983, and then disappeared.
It was then that, the authorities say, Campbell assumed Coffman’s identity.
Coffman, according to the authorities, died at 22 in 1975 and was buried in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
The researchers believe that Cambell and Coffman were engineering students at the University of Arkansas in the mid -1970s, “suggesting a probable connection between the two,” according to a judicial presentation.
Over the years, Campbell was able to obtain a driver’s license, American passport and even a social security card in Coffman’s name, authorities said.
The authorities claim that Stephen Craig Campbell, 76, had been living under the name and identity of Walter Lee Coffman, who actually died in 1975.
United States District Court
In the 1990s, the researchers said: “Campbell tried to eliminate Coffman’s death state from Social Security records by disputing the Coffman Death Agency registry” and in 1995, “managed to obtain a replacement social security card in the name of Coffman, using a Muskogee address, Oklahoma.”
Campbell, who lives as Walter Coffman for decades, even requested and received social security benefits for a sum of $ 140,000, according to judicial records.
It was a renewal of the 2019 New Mexico driver’s license by Campbell, using the name of Coffman, which apparently indicated to the authorities, according to judicial documents
The renewal finally caused a check of agents of the fraud detection unit of the National Passport Center. In 2024, those diplomatic security agents discovered that Coffman had been dead for a long time and suspected that his identity had been used fraudulently for decades.
The authorities claim that Stephen Craig Campbell, 76, had been living under the name and identity of Walter Lee Coffman, who actually died in 1975.
United States District Court
Last week, a FBI SWAT team, with the support of Social Security Administration agents, Customs Airplanes and Border Protection and agents of the Sheriff of the Otero County, executed a search warrant on a 44 -acres land plot in the south of New Mexico that is believed that Campbell possessed in the name of Coffman.
When the agents approached the residence, Campbell allegedly greeted them dresses with camouflage, auditory protection and armed with a .302 caliber rifle scope, according to a detention memorandum presented in a federal court in New Mexico.
Campbell “was placed in a high and partially hidden place” along a tree line as Swat agents approached in Bearcats and displayed flashbangs. Initially, Campbell did not respond to the calls, but was finally arrested, the judicial registry said.
The prosecutors said the rifle was loaded with high -power ammunition capable of drilling the armor of the body, with open reach covers, and was ready to shoot.
A photo of Stephen Campbell Court’s documents.
United States District Court
When searching the property, the FBI agents recovered a cache of weapons, including 57 firearms and large amounts of ammunition. The authorities also recovered fraudulent documents in the name of Coffman, including a Social Security card and multiple passport cards.
An examination of his digital footprints after his arrest later confirmed the true identity of Campbell, authorities said.
In addition to the original 1982 charges, Campbell is now accused of misuse of a passport. However, prosecutors said they are evaluating the possibility of additional charges against Campbell.
At a detention hearing on Wednesday, Campbell was ordered waiting for trial, and the judge cited Campbell as a flight risk
