TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Detectives were not looking for any suspects in the deaths of a family found inside a burning Tampa home, but authorities stopped short of calling the case a murder-suicide, police said Thursday.
Authorities have said they think the fire at the five-bedroom home was intentionally set. They have not said how it started.
The home, which is owned by former tennis star James Blake, was engulfed in flames when firefighters responded Wednesday morning. Blake was renting the house to the Campbell family and was not there at the time.
Kimberly Campbell’s father, Gordon Lambie, described the family as close-knit and successful. Darrin Campbell had moved to Tampa more than 10 years ago to take a job with a glass container manufacturer, and held a couple of other jobs before his father-in-law said he had taken the past year off work. Lambie didn’t say why he wasn’t working.
Darrin Campbell was volunteering at his children’s private school, Carrollwood Day School, as the treasurer, an unpaid position. Kimberly Campbell was a stay-at-home mother, Lambie said from his home in Michigan.
Nineteen-year-old Colin Campbell was a talented baseball player who planned on graduating high school next month, and his sister, 15-year-old Megan, took dance lessons.
“I’ve lost my entire family,” Lambie said. “It’s very tough right now because I’m 1,500 miles away.”
Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Col. Donna Lusczynski described the fire as unusual and said there were “various fireworks” throughout the home. Two victims suffered from upper-body trauma, but Lusczynski didn’t indicate which ones or provide other details. She also said no weapons had been found.
Sheriff’s office spokeswoman Debbie Carter said autopsies were being performed Thursday.
“We are not looking for any suspects, not at this point in the investigation,” she said.
Darrin and Kimberly met in Lansing, Michigan, when they both worked as legislative aides in the state legislature. Kimberly Campbell had graduated from Central Michigan University and Darrin Campbell had an MBA from the University of Michigan, Lambie said.
They had lived in San Antonio, Texas, where Darrin Campbell was an executive with Pearl Brewing Company before they moved to the Tampa area around 2001 so he could take a job with Anchor Glass Container Corp.
They sold their previous home but wanted to live in a place close to their children’s school, so they signed a two-year lease for Blake’s home, which was close enough for the teens to walk to school, Lambie said.
Police said the family had been living there for about two years. Neither deputies nor the Department of Children and Families had been called to the home, officials said.
A former neighbor, George Connley, said they were a nice family. He said that Kimberly Campbell was “sophisticated and classy.”
“We know nothing of any problems,” Connley said. “The kids were outstanding children. This is very difficult to put our arms around.”
Online, friends of the two teens expressed their grief in photos and tweets. Some students gathered Wednesday evening and released balloons with messages on them as a remembrance.
“Our hearts go out to the family in connection with this tragedy. We have grief counselors on site and we are rallying around our students, faculty, and families,” the school said in a statement.
At one time, Darrin Campbell was the senior vice president at PODS, a company that provides mobile, temporary shipping and storage containers. According to his LinkedIn profile, he left PODS in 2007 and was a vice president at IVANS, an insurance company.
IVANS was purchased by another company and Campbell no longer worked there, said Matt Fogt, a spokesman for the new company, Applied Systems.
The fire at the more-than-6,000-square-foot home north of downtown Tampa was reported about 6 a.m. Wednesday.
Blake bought the home in the Avila subdivision in 2005 for $1.5 million, according to Hillsborough County property records.
Avila is an exclusive enclave known for its mansions and heavy security. Many well-known athletes call the community home and over the years, various football, baseball and tennis players have bought homes in the subdivision, which has a country club and golf course.
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