Mom of slain Citadel cadet says son was 'such a light' as expert flags cellphones as potential motive break
The mother of a Citadel cadet killed alongside his best friend remembered her son as "such a light," while a former detective said the two victims' cellphones may hold the answer to why they were slain.
The DeLand Police Department in Florida said Dustin Rose, 19, and Samson Campbell, 18, were found dead at around 10:40 p.m. on July 29.
Officials announced on Tuesday that an arrest warrant was obtained for a 17-year-old male, who was arrested on Wednesday by the U.S. Marshals Service.
During a Wednesday news conference, authorities said the three people "knew each other in some capacity," and said the teenager who was arrested has a "pretty good criminal history."
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Rose attended The Citadel Military College of South Carolina and was home on break at the time. In a message to the campus community shared with Fox News Digital, The Citadel President Gen. Frank McKenzie described Rose as a "team leader and was a valued friend and classmate."
In addition, Rose was also a member of the South Carolina National Guard, a spokeswoman confirmed with Fox News Digital.
Rachel Rose, Dustin's mother, said he was "such a light in our family."
"When they took him they took the very best part of me. We are devastated," she told Fox News Digital.
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Patrick McGeehan, a criminal defense attorney and former homicide detective, told Fox News Digital since their phones weren't stolen, investigators could use them as they try to piece together a potential motive.
"And they still have the phone, the one kid still had the phone, which leads me to believe that's not a robbery. It may be something else, because who's going to leave a thousand dollar smart phone if they're doing robbery? That's something else that jumped out at me," McGeehan said. "They will go through their phones. They will do a forensic audit of their phones, that is something that agencies in the area are capable of doing."
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"The information they can gather from the phone is fairly extensive," he added.
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Police released a screenshot of surveillance video showing the two walking together on Tuesday evening. It's not yet known if the two were targeted.
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One of the victims' mothers may have been among the family members who found the two dead after they went unreachable by phone, police previously said.
Campbell, a DeLand native, had been staying with his aunt, Karen Chobin, in the Chicago area. Chobin said he was in town to grieve the recent death of the family's 8-year-old dog and was staying with Rose's grandparents.
Rose was in DeLand to help Campbell spread his dog's ashes, Chobin said.
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"It was a traumatic loss. It wasn't a passing of old age. It was awful. And then for this to be what he's welcomed with when he goes down there to mourn his loss is devastating," Chobin said.
Rose's aunt, Jaimie Scarola, told FOX 35 his life was taken too soon.
"He was willing to go to the front line and fight for our freedom, including the freedom of the one who took him from us," Scarola said. "You took him away from not only his family, but you robbed an entire country of a future soldier who didn't get to answer that call."