ANDERSON COUNTY, Texas, Nov. 19 (UPI) — A Texas man was charged Thursday with the murders of six people, including a young boy, who were found shot to death at a campsite about 100 miles southeast of Dallas last weekend.
Authorities arrived at the campsite Sunday morning after receiving a report of a shooting there. After a brief investigation, they found six bodies that belonged to a family group.
William Mitchell Hudson, who owns property near where the victims were found, was arrested. Thursday, he was formally charged in the six deaths. Officials said Kamp owned property next to Hudson’s.
Authorities also identified the victims Thursday, who were part of a blended family. They include Thomas Kamp, 46, and his girlfriend Hannah Johnson, 40. The couple’s children — Nathan and Austin Kamp, 23 and 21, and 6-year-old Kade Johnson — were among the dead. The woman’s father, Carl Johnson, 76, was also killed.
Investigators said the woman’s mother, Cynthia Johnson, survived the attack and has aided authorities in reconstructing the crime — which officials say is the deadliest in Anderson County’s history.
According to an affidavit, Hudson helped the family when their pickup truck became stuck in the mud and even had a few drinks with them Saturday, WFAA-TV reported.
An arrest warrant cites Cynthia Johnson as saying Hudson took Kamp, his two adult sons and the boy into the woods and shot them. When he returned, she said he chased her husband and daughter into their trailer and shot them.
Cynthia Johnson, who was hiding during the shootings, ultimately escaped unharmed and contacted police.
