By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
A Lincoln County grand jury Tuesday indicted a 52-year-old Waldport man on charges stemming from three break-ins at the apartment where Crestview Golf Course owner Mark Campbell was stabbed to death Dec. 6.
Jack Sigler, who was living in a garage on Crestline Drive a few blocks north of the golf course, has denied he had anything to do with Campbell’s death.
Sigler was arrested Dec. 9 by deputies investigating Campbell’s killing. Sigler is charged with three counts of first-degree burglary and one count of first-degree theft and is the Lincoln County Jail. He is scheduled to be arraigned Monday.
The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office and district attorney’s office would not say if he is a suspect in Campbell’s death.
On Tuesday, the sheriff’s office issued its first update in the case since last week, saying that detectives and members of the county’s major crime team continue to follow up on leads, persons of interest and tips from the public.
“Detectives have executed multiple search warrants and have seized evidentiary items which have been submitted to the Oregon State Crime Lab for analysis,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement. “Results are pending at this time.”
Investigators are still asking people with possible information on the case contact sheriff’s Detective Abby Dorsey at 541-265-0683.
In court documents filed Friday to support the burglary charges, Sigler told deputies he three times burglarized the apartment of Ron Remy, who lived two doors away from Mark and Christine Campbell in their tri-plex overlooking the practice green at Crestview. The thefts included samurai swords, gold coins and coin collections, jewelry, a computer, and other items.
Campbell, 66, was stabbed to death about 3:35 a.m. Sunday when he went to investigate a break-in at Remy’s apartment. The Campbells were Remy’s landlord. Remy, a former golf teacher and avid collector, had died two weeks earlier of cancer.
Acting on a tip the day Campbell was killed, Deputy Dalynn Shinholster and Oregon State Police Trooper Scott Severson went to a house on South Crestline Drive where Sigler was living in the garage. That’s where Sigler showed them the samurai swords and admitted taking them from Remy’s apartment.
Sigler later turned over many more items he said he took from Remy’s apartment to Dorsey, the lead investigator in the case.
Dorsey said that Remy’s apartment had been burglarized sometime between Remy’s death Nov. 24 and Dec. 1, when Campbell first discovered the swords were missing.
The probable cause affidavit filed in Lincoln County Circuit Court laid out other portions of the investigation into Sigler’s arrest and Campbell’s death.
Shinholster said that Campbell’s ex-wife, Patricia Campbell, showed Dorsey a series of Facebook messages from Sigler to her late Sunday night confessing to burglarizing Remy’s apartment but denying he had anything to do with Mark Campbell’s death.
The affidavit stated: “Sorry … I messed up, but I didn’t kill marc.” “I wouldn’t ever hurt anybody. A long day though, im home”, “Im not in jail”, “I didn’t do it.”
Sigler told Patricia Campbell via message that he had burglarized the apartment a few days earlier and took the samurai swords. Sigler told Campbell that he went alone the two nights he broke into the apartment, including twice in one night.
In her affidavit, Deputy Shinholster said: “I observed Patricia ask Jack what he meant by both nights and asked if Jack was there Sunday. I observed Jack replied “Noooo … not Sunday night!! Or Saturday or Friday”, “Wed and Thursday I think …” “those nights I went” and later “I left the place neat. I didn’t want anybody to notice for a while.”
Sigler’s admission to Patricia Campbell appears to hold up with messages he sent Dec. 4, Dec. 5 and Dec. 6 to a woman he asked to go to Portland with to pawn the items from Remy’s apartment.
Two Lincoln City detectives who are part of the county’s major crimes task force, interviewed the woman and copied a series of cell phone messages Sigler sent her Dec. 4. “I have over $10,000, maybe way more than that, of stuff I need to get rid of.” “Lots of gold, diamonds and samurai swords. 15 or so of them, all hand made. A sweet intel computer, and other shit. I’ll kick you half of what we get rid of.” “Can’t be traced back either. Guy died and nobody even knew what was there. I’ll tell you more later.” At 8:33 p.m. Dec. 5 Sigler messaged the woman and asked “are we still on for Monday?”
Investigators release little information
Lincoln County authorities have released little information about their investigation, other than ask for residents near the golf course to let them know if they had surveillance cameras on their property. State police crime scene investigators have also sent material and evidence from Campbell and Remy’s apartment to the state crime lab in Clackamas, where — among other things — it would be processed for DNA evidence.
Campbell’s family said he died of stab wounds early Sunday as he fought with an intruder in Remy’s apartment as his wife called police.
Campbell, who co-owned the golf course with his former wife and two investors, was also a longtime member of the Waldport City Council and known as an organizer of and generous contributor to many causes in the community.
From court records, Sigler appears to be a low-level criminal with citations, arrests and convictions in Lincoln, Multnomah and Columbia counties on everything from drugs, to burglary and theft, to traffic and wildlife violations dating back to 1988.
To read previous stories on Mark Campbell’s death and reaction to it, go here.
Well written story. Much better than anything the Snooze Times can put out.