Ep. 21: Missed Thanksgiving Calls

On November 23, 2011, Narleen Campton was murdered in her home in the small town of Northport, Washington. Who did it and why, is a question that still lingers today.

Transcript

Hi, and welcome back to crime on the Clark Fork. The true crime podcast, where I tell you about big crimes that happen in small places, with each case having occurred in areas with populations of fifteen thousand or less. My name is Mackenzie Spence and I am your host. I hope everyone had a good Halloween. Not gonna lie, Halloween is probably my least favorite holiday. Not that I dislike it, but it's just not one that I get really excited about. If I do dress up, it's for a group costume, which is what happened this year. otherwise, I probably wouldn't dress up for the holiday. but I know a lot of people really enjoy it, and I'm not going to yuck their yum. So I hope you had a good one and a safe Halloween. and halloweekend, if it sounds a little bit different or echoey, I apologize. I am dog sitting. So also if you hear any click clack noises, or like sniffing noises, that is why, and I'm not at my house, so it's a little more echoey in here than where I usually record. So I apologize in advance. I'm going to try and edit out, any of the echoes or anything like that when I go through and of listen, before I post this. With that being said, I am excited to bring you another episode for November. This is the twenty first episode I'm releasing, which is exciting. We finally hit that twenty mark last month, and I'm just excited to be back with another case for you today It. Now, the sources for this episode are somewhat limited. That comes with covering these cases that happen in smaller areas. There's not as much news coverage. And what I found is if I find another source, a lot of the times it's the exact same article, just on a different website. So I don't put that in the sources as well. I just keep I try and find the one that posted it originally and utilize that. With that being said, the sources for this episode are the United States Census Bureau, The Independent, the Spokesman-Review, The Cinema Holic, and Non-Stop local. Northport, Washington twenty eleven population two hundred and ninety seven. The night before Thanksgiving twenty Eleven, sixty two year old Narlene Campton was murdered in her home. She was found three days later on November twenty sixth, by her neighbor, who went to check on her after her children had not heard from her for a few days, and after the neighbor also had not heard or seen her come out of her house. She was found around two forty p m in her bathroom with indications of blunt force trauma, cuts on her face and it seemed as if she was strangled as well. This made authorities believe that she had been tortured prior to being murdered. There were also bloody footprints in Narlene's home. And when authorities saw these, they believed that they belonged to at least two different people. Narlene was born in Los Angeles County, California on May third, nineteen forty nine. She was raised in a middle class Jewish family and was often at ballet or music lessons as a young girl. She went to college and eventually had four children. Her daughter Sabrina, and three sons, Nathan, Taro, and Azaria. All four children were from different fathers, but her children and her were a close family unit, according to Sabrina In the nineteen seventies. Naline was really into the hippie movement, which was the exact opposite of how she grew up in the early eighties. Narlene moved to the small town of North Port Washington, which provided the type of life that she was looking for safe, comfortable and quiet. By moving to North Port, she would be able to have a garden, host parties in her home, and cook in the kitchen. Eventually, everyone in the small town began to call Narlene mom because she was someone who would do whatever she could to help others. Authorities sent Naline. S body for an autopsy. And when the report came back, the cause of death was blunt force trauma, which was caused by her head being smashed into her bathtub over and over again. She also had cuts all over her body, including on her face and breasts. Finally, they found burn marks also all over her body, which the coroner believed to be caused by a taser or stun gun. This led the coroner to also believe that Narlene had been tortured while she was still alive, which is when she would have sustained the cuts and the burn marks. To begin the investigation. Authorities decided that they needed to create a timeline of Narlene life leading up to her murder. They found out that she was last seen three days before she was found dead in her home On the twenty third, Narlene had gone shopping with her friend Beau Wylie. Beau drove Narlene to Walmart in Colville, Washington, where she was able to get groceries as well as stop at the pharmacy for her monthly prescription of three hundred pain pills. Beau and Narlene then drove back to Northport, where Beau helped Narlene carry her groceries in, put them on her kitchen counter, and then left. Over the next three days, three of Narlene kids attempted to call her to wish her a Happy Thanksgiving. When she didn't answer any of their calls and didn't call them back, they knew that something was wrong. This is when Nathan finally called his mom's neighbor, Diane, to go over and check on his mom, which is when Diane discovered Marlene's body. When authorities searched Marlene's home, they discovered that the groceries that Marlene and Beau had bought on November twenty third, three days prior, were still sitting on the counter and half of Marlene's new hydrocodone prescription was missing. They also found that her safe was missing from the home as well. The blood transfer that was observed in the home indicated that Narlene had been dragged around her house after her death. There were a bunch of drawers that had been pulled out around the house, and authorities found a cell phone underneath a cushion of Narlene's couch and a receipt that had a bloody fingerprint on it in Narlene's purse. There was also trace evidence of two different individuals that were also found in Darlene's purse, separate from the bloody fingerprint. As they continue to search the house, the investigators were confused as to why whoever murdered Narlene and stole some of her medication didn't just take all of the pain pills, and why they didn't bother to take any of her jewelry, any of her electronics, or anything else valuable aside from the safe from her home. Initially, the investigation focused on Darlene's youngest child, Azaria, who was living with his mother at the time and was a known meth addict. Sabrina told investigators that Azaria had emptied their mom's bank account more than once, and had also stolen her identity and credit cards in the past. Because Narlene did not want her son to get in trouble, she never reported these crimes to the police. It is reported that Narlene had began to sleep with her purse under her pillow each night to attempt to avoid her son taking her hydrocodone or other prescription medications and money while she was asleep. Now, Arlene and Azaria did have a falling out on November twenty first, two days before she was murdered. When Azaria had stolen Narlene's car and this was the last straw, she told him that he had to leave her home. But it didn't take long for authorities to determine that Azaria did not commit the murder because he had been in jail at that time, so they pivoted and decided to look into Azaria's wife, Heather. Heather had also lived in Narlene's home previously, and she was known to have a history of dealings with drug dealers in the area. Authorities found that Heather had a boyfriend aside from Azaria, her husband, who lived in Spokane named Cody Wirtz. To top the cake, the phone that was found under the couch cushion in Narlene's home belonged to him. He was brought in for questioning, and when he was asked about the phone, Wirtz claimed that he had accidentally left the phone in the house when he and his son stayed the night around Halloween, which was a month earlier. But on Thanksgiving Day twenty eleven, the mother of Wirtz's son called Child Protective Services on him because her four year old was returned to her from Wirtz with bruises all over his body. He was very dirty and he seemed malnourished. When he got home. He had told his mom that he hadn't eaten in three days before he was dropped off, and he also started to have frequent nightmares about a dead lady. After learning about the CPS report, detectives decided to sit down with the little boy to talk to him about his nightmares. On December seventh, detectives sat down with the four year old and the boy immediately asked them if they knew what his dad had done. He went on to tell them that his dad had, and I quote, killed a lady. And he went to tell the police details of the murder that had not yet been released to the public. Such is the fact that Narlene had been stabbed in the throat. The little boy told the police that the woman's name was Lisa, and he then described what she looked like, which did fit the description of Narlene. When they asked if the boy knew if his dad had killed the lady alone, the boy was able to name two other people who police thought could be accomplices in the murder. With the statements from the boy as well as the recorded CPS report, investigators felt that they had enough to arrest the boy's father, Cody Wirtz. The boy was brought into protective custody at this time, where he continued to have nightmares, began to sleepwalk, and would often cry because of the bad things that he had seen. Even after speaking with the boy, investigators were really unsure if he was present at the time of the murders with his father, or whether his father had just been telling him about the crimes that he had committed. Wirtz was charged with aggravated first degree murder as well as first degree robbery, and his bail was set to seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. But unfortunately, there was not enough physical evidence to connect Wirtz to the crime scene, and the charges against him were dropped in March of twenty twelve, not long after the charges were dropped against Wirtz. Authorities began to look at another suspect named Jeremy Bryant. Bryant was actually questioned in the murder less than a week into the investigation, because he had texted and had sent messages on Facebook to Heather Dolce, Azaria's wife. He was adamant that he was not involved in the murder of Narlene and that he was in Coleville on the day of the murder. Unfortunately for him, his phone records proved that he was lying about his whereabouts and placed him in Northport on November twenty third, the day of the murder. Investigators began to interview people who knew Bryant, and they found that he had actually admitted to killing Narlene on more than one occasion. Finally, in June of twenty twelve, Bryant's DNA was officially matched to the blood on the receipt that the authorities had found in Narlene's purse. He was arrested three months later on. He was arrested three months later on Friday, September seventh, twenty twelve, in connection to the death of Narlene. Based on the evidence that had been gathered against him, He was arrested at his home in Kettle Falls. He was booked for first degree murder, and his bail was set for five hundred thousand dollars. After he had his preliminary hearing and his trial was set for December of twenty thirteen. Investigators gave Bryant multiple chances to name accomplices in the murder, to which he said, and I quote, I'm not giving up. Fucking nobody, man. End quote. While he was in jail awaiting trial, those that were also in jail with him reported hearing Bryant confessing to the murder by whispering through holes that were in the cell walls. Authorities knew that these confessions would not be able to be heard by a jury, because they would have been easily challenged in court by Bryant's attorney. At the time of his sentencing, Bryant recalled what happened the night of November twenty three, twenty eleven, in the small home of North Port Washington. He claimed that he showed up to Darlene's house To grab his cell phone, which he believed was stolen by Azaria. Marlene's son at that time, he didn't know that Azaria was in jail, so when he heard a noise in the house coming from the bathroom, he took out the knife that he had armed himself with, and when Marlene exited the bathroom, Bryant stabbed her once in the neck and then ran out of the house when he was asked about the burn marks. The blunt force trauma and the other cuts that were found on Narlene's body. And the other cuts that were found on Narlene's body. Bryant claimed that he did not know where they had come from, and that they must have happened to her after he left the home that night. He also didn't have an answer for the second pair of bloody footprints that were found at the scene, or the blood tracking found throughout the house, indicating that Narlene was dragged around after her death. Bryant even had the audacity to tell authorities that he hopes that they find whoever did this. Now, Bryant never made it to trial because he eventually took a plea deal with the prosecution, which allowed him to plead guilty to second degree murder, leaving him with a sentence of two hundred and thirty four months in prison, which is just under twenty years. He took this plea deal just hours before his trial was set to begin. It was so close to the trial that the potential jurors arrived at the courtroom, which is where they were told that their services were no longer going to be needed. Narlene children were also made aware of the plea just before the jurors were, and they had been anticipating Ticipating testifying later in the week, and were really not happy with the plea deal that Bryant was offered because they were desperate for answers in their mother's murder, and the plea bargain made it so Bryant was never able to be cross-examined in court. Nathan told the media that he was not sad that Bryant had taken the plea deal, but rather he was angry. He wanted Bryant to have to face the death penalty for the murder of his mother. Today, Bryant is serving his sentence at the Stafford Creek Corrections Center in Aberdeen, Washington. No one else has been charged in relation to Narlene's murder, but her case does remain open as authorities know that there was more than one perpetrator in this case. Based on the evidence that they have collected, it's very unlikely that Bryant will provide any more information on accomplices or what truly happened the night of Narlene's death. And again, unfortunately, there are so many unknowns and unanswered questions in this case. Was this a burglary gone wrong? And if it was, why was Narlene tortured prior to being murdered? Why were only half of Narlene's hydrocodone missing? And why was nothing else stolen from her house? Who do the two trace pieces of evidence from Narlene's purse belong to? And is there even enough evidence to implicate another perpetrator in the future? To me, it seems that there are more questions than answers in this case. And unfortunately, that's the end of it for now. As always, please give me five stars on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, as well as a review on Apple Podcasts. If you have a case suggestion, visit the link in the show's Instagram page, which is at crime on the Clark Fork, which is also where I post pictures from the cases that I cover here on this podcast and in the comments on those pictures. Tell me what you think happened to Narlene that night. What questions do you have about the case that are unanswered? Because I have so many. No new evidence has come out around this case in quite a few years, so it'll be interesting to see, as technology furthers, if they will be able to utilize those two pieces of trace evidence to implicate somebody else in Narlene's murder and bring at least some information to her children. Now, I hope you enjoyed this episode, and I will catch you next time with more big crime in small places.