Man wanted for bombing ex-wife’s boyfriend’s house captured after 42 years on the run

SWEETWATER COUNTY, Wyo. (TCN) -- A 76-year-old man who eluded capture for over 40 years after he was arrested for attempted murder was apprehended at a mountain compound in New Mexico living under a new identity.

According to the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office, in 1982, Stephen Campbell allegedly booby-trapped a toolbox with explosives and left it outside his ex-wife’s boyfriend’s house. The ex-wife reportedly opened the toolbox, which caused a "powerful explosion" and flying shrapnel. The blast led to the boyfriend’s house and a neighboring residence catching on fire. The wife also reportedly lost a finger because of the blast.

Deputies arrested Campbell for attempted first-degree murder, but he posted bail. Then, he "immediately" vanished. The sheriff’s office issued a new warrant for his arrest, but Campbell "disappeared without a trace, slipping into a new identity and avoiding capture for decades."

While on the run, Campbell allegedly assumed the name Walter Lee Coffman, a college classmate who died in 1975. The sheriff’s office said Campbell "built an entirely new life under that stolen identity."

Campbell allegedly carried a U.S. passport and Social Security card under Coffman’s name. He reportedly obtained about $140,000 in Social Security benefits.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico, Coffman and Campbell attended the University of Arkansas and studied engineering. Campbell reportedly renewed the passport multiple times using Coffman's name but photos of himself and his home address.

Campbell’s scheme began to "unravel" in 2019 when he reportedly used fraudulent documents to renew a driver’s license. After it was issued, the National Passport Center’s Fraud Prevention Unit found out Coffman had been dead for decades.

The sheriff’s office said Campbell remained on the U.S. Marshals Most Wanted list for "nearly half a century."

Local and federal law enforcement renewed their investigation into Campbell once they found out he had been using an alias. On Feb. 19, the FBI, U.S. Marshals, and other agencies went to Campbell’s large compound in the New Mexico mountains, but he "met them armed with a high-powered rifle, taking up a concealed, elevated position."

Campbell reportedly would not surrender, so agents used flash-bang stun devices. He later "emerged from the wooded hideout" and was taken into custody. Neither Campbell nor law enforcement fired any shots.

Law enforcement reportedly seized Campbell’s rifle, which had been loaded with ammunition that could pierce body armor. A subsequent search of his home revealed 57 firearms and lots of ammunition, "underscoring the danger officers faced during the arrest," according to the sheriff’s office.

Campbell is facing a federal charge in New Mexico of misuse of a passport. After those court proceedings, he will be extradited to Wyoming to stand trial for the 1982 bombing.

Sweetwater County Undersheriff Joe Tomich said, "It’s almost hard to wrap your head around this case — the cold and calculated nature of the original crime, the decades of searching, and then, after all this time, a tense standoff in the mountains of New Mexico. 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."

Sheriff John Grossnickle called it "one of the most significant and dramatic fugitive cases in Wyoming law enforcement history."

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