Cold Case Murder

Last seen alive

February 27, 1978 approximately 12:45am near Plough & Stars, 912 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, Massachusetts

Victim of a Homicide

Near 25 Ellery Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Victim of multiple stab wounds and left bleeding in a snowbank – died shortly after in the emergency room at Cambridge Hospital

We need your help!

There is a killer walking among us, confident that he or she has gotten away with murder. If you are a former classmate of Julie’s, a former co-worker, a friend or acquaintance, or anyone with information or thoughts about Julie’s murder – no matter how insignificant you think it may be please contact Tom Shamshak, 800-422-0944 or TShamshak@aol.com

Early in the morning of February 26, 1978, “Julie Campbell said goodnight to two friends outside a Cambridge bar … and minutes later, for reasons baffling the police, was brutally stabbed and left bleeding to death on the nearby street where she lived.

“State Police Detective Lt. Thomas Spartichino said the murder of Miss Campbell, a 23-year-old medical records file clerk at Boston’s Lahey Clinic, was an ‘apparently motiveless crime.’

“About 1 a.m., he said, she left the Plough and Stars bar at 912 Massachusetts Ave. with two friends, a man and a woman, and started walking alone to her home at 57 Ellery Street. Twelve minutes later, Cambridge Police received a call about a woman screaming outside at 25 Ellery Street, three-quarters of a mile from the Plough and Stars.

“When Officers Thomas Casey and Scotti Stowers arrived at the scene, Julie Campbell, a striking blonde clad in dungarees, multicolored shirt and leather jacket, was lying between two snow banks, bleeding profusely from the neck.

“Despite efforts to save the young woman, she died at 1:45 a.m. in the emergency room of Cambridge Hospital.

“An autopsy showed the cause of death was ‘a massive hemorrhage’ resulting from several stab wounds, including one in the heart area….

“Spartichino, an investigator in the office of Middlesex County District Attorney John J. Droney, said she appeared to have been stabbed four times in the neck, back and chest, probably with a large hunting knife.

—The Boston Herald American, February 28, 1978 Night out ends in Murder by Paul L. Corsetti and Dan McLaughlin, Staff Writers