Posted 5:00 a.m. todayUpdated 18 minutes ago
— Opening statements are expected to begin Monday in the trial of a Texas man charged with killing a Granville County couple in 2015.
Eric Alexander Campbell, 23, of Alvin, Texas, is charged with first-degree burglary, second-degree arson, robbery with a dangerous weapon, larceny of a motor vehicle, financial card theft, identity theft and two counts of cruelty to animals in the New Year's Day 2015 deaths of Jerome Faulkner, 73, and his wife, Dora Faulkner, 62.
Authorities say Campbell and his father, Edward Watson Campbell, stormed into the Faulkners' home, robbed them, set fire to the house and killed them before fleeing in both the couple's Chevrolet Silverado and a stolen SUV.
Police in Lewisburg, W.Va., arrested the father and son later that day following a shootout, and investigators found the Faulkners' bodies under a mattress in the back of the pickup.
"There is no affirmative evidence that Eric Campbell actually committed any of the acts resulting in death or that he wanted them to occur," defense attorney Will Durham told Superior Court Judge Henry Hight during a December 2016 hearing.
If convicted, Eric Campbell could face the death penalty.