New England’s Unsolved: 45 years later, the search for Julie Campbell’s killer continues

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — It has been 45 years after Julie Campbell’s vicious murder in Cambridge, and her family is refusing to give up their search for justice.

“We still cling to the hope that something can bring about a resolution to the case,” Julie’s brother, Clay Campbell told me.

“The healing has been done, as far as the emotional side of it. But now the thing that’s remaining is: are we ever going to get an answer to this?” he asked.

On Feb. 27, 1978, just weeks after the Blizzard of ‘78 swept across New England, 23-year-old Julie Campbell was found fatally stabbed on Ellery Street, close to her apartment building.

She was found between two snowbanks at 25 Ellery St.

According to a 1978 news article, the attack on Julie Campbell was savage. She was stabbed in the neck, back and chest with a hunting knife.

There has never been an arrest.

Julie Campbell was last seen alive at the Plough and Stars on Mass Ave in Cambridge at about 1 o’clock in the morning.

According to a news article at the time, Cambridge Police were called when people heard a woman screaming, up on Ellery Street, about 12 minutes later.

Julie was at the Plough and Stars, for only an hour,

She was here, passing time, waiting for a nearby 24-hour print shop to create menus for a friend’s coffee shop.

Julie left the Plough and Stars with two other people, and they all went their separate ways.

Clay Campbell and his younger sister, Lori, are frustrated with the lack of progress in the case.

They are hoping that modern forensic science might help solve their sister’s murder.

“It’s not just Lori and myself who are deserving of some justice here. I think it’s my sister, Julie, the victim. I think she is the one that needs to be answered to, somebody held accountable for what was taken there because that was a great loss, not just to this family, but to the community,” Clay Campbell said.

The Middlesex County DA’s office released this statement: “If members of the public believe that they have information they are encouraged to contact the Massachusetts State Police assigned to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office at 781-897-6600.”

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