Fugitive used dead classmate’s name to evade capture for four decades, feds in NM say
A man accused of using a dead college classmate’s identity to evade an attempted murder charge and steal government benefits was arrested in New Mexico after more than 40 years on the run, federal prosecutors said.
Stephen Craig Campbell’s decades as a fugitive ended in a dramatic arrest in which he “allegedly greeted law enforcement armed with a scoped rifle, positioning himself in an elevated, partially concealed spot,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico said in a Feb. 26 news release.
Campbell, now 76, originally from California, was accused of placing a bomb outside the home of his estranged wife’s boyfriend in Wyoming in the early 1980s.
He’s been charged with misuse of a passport, according to prosecutors, though investigators are reviewing evidence and “evaluating the possibility of additional charges,” prosecutors said.
A sheriff’s office in Wyoming said it’s “placed a detainer (on Campbell) to ensure he is returned to Wyoming once federal proceedings conclude.”
In a Feb. 27 email to McClatchy News, Campbell’s attorney, David Benatar, said Campbell “is presumed innocent, and we should let the court process reach its end before jumping to any conclusions in his case.”
Injuries from explosion
The explosion in Wyoming caused Campbell’s wife “to lose a finger and suffer other injuries,” prosecutors said, and it set the home and a neighboring unit ablaze. The bomb was in a toolbox, and it went off when she opened the box, prosecutors said.
Campbell was arrested in 1982 and later released on bond, according to prosecutors. But he skipped court and a warrant was issued, prosecutors said.
A wanted poster from the U.S. Marshals Service warned that Campbell had “explosive expertise.” He “has an electrical engineering degree and has had specialized training in small electrical engine repair,” the poster said.
It called him “a very capable outdoorsman” and said that he “is assumed to have changed his name and appearance.”
College classmate’s identity
In fact, prosecutors said Campbell applied for a passport in the name of Walter Lee Coffman in 1984.
The actual Coffman died in 1975, not long after he graduated from college, according to prosecutors. Coffman studied engineering, like Campbell, and both men attended the same university in Arkansas, prosecutors said.
Campbell renewed his passport under the name of his dead classmate “multiple times, always providing a photograph of himself and his current address,” prosecutors said.
In 1995, he used an Oklahoma driver’s license in his dead classmate’s name to get a replacement Social Security card in the man’s name, prosecutors said.
“In approximately 2003, Campbell relocated to Weed, New Mexico where he allegedly purchased property in Coffman’s name. Campbell continued renewing the fraudulent passport under Coffman’s name in 2005 and 2015. Each time, he submitted an updated photograph and listed his current address in Weed, New Mexico,” prosecutors said.
‘Scheme began to unravel’
But, prosecutors said, “the scheme began to unravel when, in September 2019, Campbell visited the New Mexico Motor Vehicle Department in Cloudcroft, presenting fraudulent documents to renew his driver’s license.”
He submitted a New Mexico driver’s license, Social Security card and passport, all in the name of his former classmate, according to prosecutors. But, “after a renewed New Mexico license was issued to Campbell under Coffman’s name, agents from the National Passport Center’s Fraud Prevention Unit discovered Coffman’s death and the suspected decades-long fraudulent use of his identity,” prosecutors said.
Officials suspect Campbell received about $140,000 in Social Security benefits under Coffman’s name, according to prosecutors.
Search warrant and arrest
Law enforcement got a search warrant and went to Campbell’s home in Weed on Feb. 19, prosecutors said.
Campbell “emerged from the wood line and was detained” after law enforcement made repeated orders and used flashbang devices, prosecutors said.
His rifle “was loaded with high-powered ammunition capable of piercing standard body armor and ready to fire, with the scope caps flipped open, the selector lever set to fire, and a round chambered,” prosecutors said. Law enforcement also found “57 firearms and large quantities of ammunition” on the property, according to prosecutors.
Reaction in Wyoming
In Sweetwater County, Wyoming, where the bombing happened, officials said the arrest was a long time coming.
“We’ve all taken our turns trying to catch Campbell. I have a case file on him the size of a novel, filled with leads that went nowhere. But we never gave up, and now we finally know why he was always one step ahead,” Undersheriff Joe Tomich said in a Feb. 26 post on Facebook.
Sheriff John Grossnickle called the case “one of the most significant and dramatic fugitive cases in Wyoming law enforcement history.”
The sheriff’s office is “grateful to have played a role in a massive team effort, and I want to thank our federal partners for their persistence and collaboration over the years,” he said in the post, adding that “I also want to thank the local community for its support and trust as we work to bring Campbell back to Wyoming to face justice.”
This story was originally published February 26, 2025 at 6:28 PM with the headline "Fugitive used dead classmate’s name to evade capture for four decades, feds in NM say."
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