Baby Survives Sinking Car, Mom Drowns And Dad Found Shot In Burned Down Home

For years, Justin and Christy Campbell had a troubled relationship. Together they had seven children, but 50 calls to police for reasons including dog barking and domestic violence more than suggest that fact. In a bizarre series of events, it all seemed to come to a head as a baby survived a sinking car, the mother drowned and the was father found shot in a burning house.

At 5:15 am on March 16, a fire was reported at the Campbell residence in Glen Carbon, Illinois. While six of the couple's children escaped the house without injury, 37-year old Justin was found badly burned with a fatal gunshot wound to his head. Christy and their 3-month old baby were nowhere to be found.

But 15 minutes later, Christy's SUV was seen rolling down a hill into Silver Lake. Fortunately for the baby who was floating in the submerged vehicle, EMS worker Todd Zobrist was able to swim out in 46 degree waters, perform CPR, and save the infant's life.

Christy, 32, wasn't so lucky. Her body was recovered 400 feet away from where her truck entered the lake. The gun found inside provided clues to what happened before her accident--assuming that it was indeed an accident.

Police are trying to figure out what set this horrific incident in motion. The couple's volatile relationship is quite telling. The year before Justin and Christy wed in 2006, he was sentenced to probation and fined $500 for striking her in the head. She was pregnant at the time. By September 2010, Christy had filed for legal separation.

Things went from bad to worse when Christy filed for divorce and was granted an emergency order of protection alleging domestic abuse which included punching and choking her. Though their divorce was granted in February 2013, that wasn't the end of their relationship. Justin moved back into the house in 2014 even after Christy had complained to the courts about Justin abusing their two oldest sons.

It is still unclear at this point if Christy shot her ex-husband, set the house afire, and deliberately drove her SUV into that lake with little Justin inside. By all accounts, she was a doting mother who loved all of her children and just wanted to keep her family together. They are now wards of the Illinois Department of Family Services and are being placed with family. 

The saddest part of this story is that these children lost their both of their parents at the same time. No explanation of what happened here will ever fill that void.