DC#   282008
DOB:   06/29/60

First Judicial Circuit, Santa Rosa County Case # 98-510
Sentencing Judge: The Honorable Kenneth Bell
Attorney, Trial:  B.B. Boles & Spiro Kypreos – Private
Attorney, Direct Appeal: David Davis – Assistant Public Defender
Attorney, Collateral Appeals: Jeff Hazen – Registry

Date of Offense: 07/27/98

Date of Sentence: 12/21/00

Circumstances of Offense:

On 07/27/98, at approximately 5:00 a.m., a Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Deputy responded to a disturbance call at the house of Cynthia Campbell. 

Campbell reported a disturbance behind her home, and when the deputy investigated, he found a broken window and a chrome lug nut in the bushes below the window.  Campbell’s neighbor, Norman Grim, Jr., invited her over for coffee before Deputy Lynch left. 

Two workers from Campbell’s law office went to her house later that morning and found Campbell’s car in the driveway, but no sign of Campbell in the house.  The Sheriff’s Office was called and deputies responded to the scene. 

When deputies questioned Grim about Campbell’s disappearance, they noticed that Grim’s shoulder and cut-off blue jean shorts had reddish-brown stains on them.  Grim explained that the stains were primer paint from his car.

In the afternoon of 07/27/98, two fishermen hooked a human body, later determined to be Campbell, wrapped in a sheet, shower curtain, and masking tape.

Campbell’s body had deep abrasions and contusions around her shoulders, eyes, forehead, chin, and lips, which were consistent with the blunt force trauma of a hammer.  Campbell’s body also had eleven stab wounds to the chest, which, in conjunction with the blunt force trauma, caused her death.

Earlier that afternoon, a former coworker of Grim’s spotted him in his parked car on the Pensacola Bay Bridge, with the car doors and trunk open.  Surveillance camera videotape showed Grim entering a convenience store at the foot of the bridge shortly after he was seen parked on the bridge.

Additional forensic evidence was found in Grim’s house: two damp, bloody mops in the kitchen; small areas of blood on the kitchen floor and cabinets; two bloody fingerprints on a box of trash bags; a striped pillow case with blood on it in the kitchen trash; blood spots in the dining room; a pair of blue-jean shorts with blood stains in the living room; bloody athletic shoes; and rope consistent with the rope used on Campbell’s body. 

On Grim’s back porch, further forensic evidence was found: a green carpet, which matched the carpet used to wrap Campbell’s body; a pair of prescription glasses (with Campbell’s prescription); and a cooler that contained more forensic evidence. 

In the cooler a steak knife, a piece of cloth with blood stains, a pair of men’s underwear, a tampon with blood stains, masking tape, and a blood-stained hammer were recovered.  All forensic evidence contained Campbell’s unique genetic markers.

Trial Summary: