Thomas Kamp and Hannah Johnson

Life was good for Thomas Kamp.

He was general sales and finance manager for Graff Chevrolet in the Dallas suburb of Midlothian, his home for nearly a decade. He’d connected with the woman of his dreams, someone who enjoyed the great outdoors as much as he did.

“He had a signature smile that was always on his face,” said Robert Rippy, Graff general manager. “Tom was absolutely loved by everybody who worked with him.”

Kamp’s murder on Nov. 14 at the campsite he’d purchased three months earlier shocked his co-workers and others who knew him.  A weekend birthday celebration in the woods of East Texas for his oldest, adult son who was visiting from California turned into a horrible nightmare.

Relatives said apart from work and staying fit — he was so conscientious about his diet that he would count out exactly 10 almonds if he wanted a snack — Kamp built his world around his family and his fiancé, Hannah Johnson, and her son Kade, 6, who lived with Kamp and who were both also murdered.

“We were very close,” said Beverly Woodruff, Kamp’s aunt.  “We got together all of the time — all of us.”

Todd Kamp described his older brother as a smart, level-headed guy who started his working life early to become self-sufficient. He was the youngest of three sons who grew up in Illinois.

“He was the only guy I knew in high school who had his own apartment,” Todd Kamp said. “He never asked anybody for nothing.”

Kamp married young.  His wife, Carina, and their four sons lived in several states before settling in Texas to be near relatives and friends. But the marriage didn’t work out.

Woodruff said living in Midlothian on a 1 ½-acre tract, then making the recent East Texas campsite purchase, gave Kamp the space he needed to gather his family and friends and rebuild his life.

Rippy said Kamp worked until about 5 p.m. on the Friday before leaving with two adult sons from his previous marriage, his future wife, her son and her parents for the birthday party and the joy of a weekend camping trip in the piney woods of Tennessee Colony, Texas, 90 miles away.

“He was really looking forward to that,” Rippy said. “He was really excited about that piece of property.”