In the early morning hours of February 13, 2021, a distressing 911 call was made by 26-year-old Shelby Nicole Campbell from her Memphis, Tennessee apartment. A mother of two young daughters, Addison Elise Miller and Oluremi Jahni Miller, Shelby was an African American woman whose life was about to be tragically cut short. The initial reason for her call was to report an act of vandalism occurring at her residence.
However, the situation rapidly and violently escalated.
The person Shelby reported as vandalizing her apartment was Pamela Castle, the estranged wife of her boyfriend, Derek Castle. An altercation ensued between the two women, culminating in Pamela Castle shooting Shelby Campbell in the upper torso. Responding officers found Shelby unresponsive at the scene. She was rushed to a nearby hospital but was pronounced dead upon arrival.
Following the fatal shooting, Pamela Castle fled the scene, driving away in a white vehicle. Her estranged husband, who was in an upstairs bedroom at the time of the incident, told investigators he heard the two women arguing, the sound of glass breaking, and then several gunshots. He looked out the window and saw a woman who appeared to be his wife driving away. Law enforcement tracked Pamela Castle to the Atlanta area, where she was arrested later that same evening.
Pamela Castle, 36 at the time, was subsequently indicted on a charge of first-degree murder by a grand jury. She has been held in custody since February 27, 2021, on a $1 million bond. The case is being handled by the Shelby County District Attorney's office. The violent death of Shelby Campbell left her family, including her parents Sherell Ray Armstrong and James Ivory Campbell, and three sisters, to mourn her loss.
