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Ex-Times reporter dies in Philippines

By DEMORRIS A. LEE
Published April 19, 2007

As a recent typhoon flooded her apartment waist-deep, Julia Campbell pondered dying alone in the Philippines, where, as a Peace Corps volunteer, she had done so much good.

"For a few minutes there, as the flood waters rushed inside my little apartment on Marquez Street, I wondered, 'Is this the way it's going to be?' " Campbell, a former St. Petersburg Times reporter, wrote in an online blog Jan. 13.

"I'll drown right here inside my tiny apartment far away from my family and friends."

Campbell, 40, escaped the flood, but her fear of dying in a remote and lonely place became a tragic reality this month.

More than a week after she disappeared while on a walk, authorities Wednesday found Campbell's body buried in a dried creek bed, one foot protruding from the earth, near the village of Batad north of Manila.

"It's very sad that someone with so much ability and zest for life died so young," said Diane Steinle, a member of the Times' editorial board who supervised Campbell a decade ago.

Campbell worked as a reporter in the Palm Harbor bureau of the St. Petersburg Times for a little less than a year in 1996 and 1997. She covered the city of Oldsmar.

Filipino authorities initially thought Campbell had fallen from a cliff, but after a stray dog found her buried in the blue jeans, black shirt and a shawl she was last seen wearing, the search turned into a homicide investigation.

"This is no longer an accident," Senior Superintendent Pedro Ganir, the police chief for the Philippines' Ifuga province, told the Associated Press.

Authorities found a pair of reading glasses about 160 feet from Campbell's body, as well as a missing lens and one of her sandals.

Campbell's body is expected to be sent to Manila for an autopsy, and her family expects her remains to arrive in the United States by early next week.

Campbell had been missing since April 8, last seen in a village outside Banaue town in Ifugao province north of Manila, where she had planned to view famed mountainside rice terraces.

"While we are in grief over the news, it's a relief to know she is found and that we don't have to worry after her whereabouts anymore," said Geary Campbell Morris, Campbell's oldest sister.

Morris said her family gathered at her parents' home in Fairfax, Va., nearly 10 days ago when the Peace Corps notified them that Campbell had been "termed overdue" because she had not showed for several meetings in Manila. Morris said they checked Campbell's bank account.

"I text-messaged her saying 'Phone home 911' but didn't get a return message," Morris said Wednesday during a telephone interview. "The wait began."

Tuesday night, Peace Corps director Ron Tschetter called the family, alerting them that Campbell's body had been found in the Philippines, where it was already Wednesday. He offered few details, Morris said.

Tschetter, who flew to the Philippines to assist in the search, said the corps is "saddened by the loss of such a dedicated and vibrant volunteer, who so loved this country."

"Our hearts go out to her family and friends in the United States," he said.

Founded in 1961, the Peace Corps has had 187,000 volunteers to serve in 139 different countries. Since 1961, there have been 20 homicides involving volunteers, said Amanda Host, press director with the Peace Corps. Campbell was one of 137 corps volunteers working in the Philippines.

Along with working at the St. Petersburg Times, Campbell also reported for the New York Times and People magazine. In 1997, she was arrested after the funeral procession of rapper the Notorious B.I.G., where she was covering the event as a stringer for the New York Times. At the time, Campbell said she asked a police officer why he used pepper spray against her while trying to calm the crowd.

In March 2005, Campbell joined the U.S. Peace Corps, where she most recently taught English. She was due to complete her required service in June, planned to travel with friends in July and was slated to start graduate school at New York University in August.

"We were planning a homecoming party for her in July," Morris said. "Now we will have to move that up. Only now, it will be in her honor."

News researcher Cathy Wos and the Associated Press contributed to this report. Demorris A. Lee can be reached at 445-4174 or dalee@sptimes.com.

[Last modified April 18, 2007, 21:58:52]