John Ray Campbell didn’t have an easy life. Born to a teenage mother, he moved around a lot as a child. Maybe in those early years the need to travel became ingrained, to never sit still. He spent his adult life on the move, usually hitchhiking across the country, picking up odd jobs along the way to support himself.

“He told me he’d never beg for anything,” said his cousin Vickie Harnden. Even when he stayed with her, he insisted on paying her for groceries. 

Campbell’s travels came to an end last month, when his body was found on Nov. 22 near Moehring Road in Good Hope. When he died, he had $1.76 in his pocket, and his backpack – which contained all his worldly possessions – was missing.

Harnden wants to know what happened to her cousin and where his backpack went.

She’s hoping someone knew him or knows what happened to his belongings. “I’m just not getting any answers and that’s what I want,” she said. “As long as his backpack is out there, there’s no closure.

Campbell and his mother would travel between Ohio and California, where Harnden lived as a child with her family. Her mother and John’s were sisters. Harnden and Campbell were close, their birthdays only 20 days apart, and he enjoyed being around her and her brothers.

“He said he always enjoyed coming to our house, and I said, ‘Why? Every time you came you got in trouble!’ He said, ‘It was worth getting my butt spanked, it was a normal family,’” said Harnden.

But, eventually, Campbell would hit the road again.

“Every time John would get comfortable, he would do something or something would happen and he would leave,” she said. “He’d rather travel.”

He made his way around the country, primarily by hitchhiking. “One time you’d talk to him he’d be in Iowa, the next time you talked to him he’d be in Washington or South Carolina or North Carolina,” said Harnden.

Most of the time his family had no way of reaching Campbell, who rarely had a phone. Harnden said he didn’t know for three years that his only sibling, a sister, had died. It was just luck that they were able to reach him when his mother died.

That was the last time Harnden saw John, about 18 months ago. He stayed at her house in Arkansas for about a month before being arrested for public intoxication. “If John wasn’t drinking, you couldn’t ask for a better guy,” she said.

In Dec. 2018, he was arrested in Cullman County for public intoxication. His cousin and aunt believe at least some of his arrests he triggered as a way to get out of the cold. Her aunt would do a search of his name on the internet about once a month to see if his name popped up. “If it was really cold, we could find him because he would be in jail,” Harnden said.

It was the monthly search that Campbell’s family learned of his death. Authorities were able to identify him by discharge papers from a hospital in Prattville, but had no way of contacting his next of kin. Herndon’s aunt saw the notice of his death and that authorities were hoping to find his family.

“I knew one day we’d find him gone. But when reality hits…” his cousin said, her voice trailing off. “He was a good, loving person. His family loved him.”

The area where his body was found is a couple miles away from Interstate 65 in a rural, residential area. The only clues Harnden has to what happened to her cousin are the hospital discharge papers and the missing backpack. The Cullman County Coroner’s Office sent his body for a full autopsy, but results could take months. In the meantime, the investigation remains open, although no foul play is suspected.

He was discharged from Prattville Baptist Hospital on Nov. 19, and had made his way back to Cullman – a two-hour drive – by Nov. 21, if not sooner. Harnden does not know why her cousin was in the hospital, and records are not available due to privacy laws. But she does know that he had his backpack with him then and refused to be parted with it.

“So where is the backpack? Somebody knows something,” she said. “As long as he was here [in Cullman], he’s worked for somebody. That’s how John was. He would go in and help people and that’s how he would make his money. So I’m sure that’s how he did it here for him to be here that long.”

She described the pack as camouflage, with six or seven carabiners and a sleeping bag attached. “I think he was with somebody and they might have put him out of the car,” said Harnden. “If they did, I guarantee their car has kick holes on it because John wouldn’t be without his backpack. That’s got his mother’s picture and his dad and his sister, and they’re all deceased.”

“They either stole it before he died, or they walked up and stole it after he died.”

For Harnden, it’s the items in the bag that matter most. “I don’t care about the backpack,” she said. “They can have the backpack. It’s his personal stuff that was inside. I don’t care if it’s a t-shirt. I could have a t-shirt of my cousin’s. I know my aunt would like to have the pictures.”

“I know he’s a homeless person in everybody else’s eyes and a ‘bum,’ or whatever they want to call him, but he’s our family. He’s my cousin, and I want answers. He deserves to rest in peace.”

If anyone has any information about Campbell, they’re asked to contact the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office at 256-734-0342. Callers can report anonymously by calling 256-734-0210 or through Nixle on the Sheriff’s Office website, cullmansheriff.org.