Riley W. Campbell, a 43-year-old Black/African American man, was working as a taxicab driver in Milwaukee when an ordinary fare turned into a deadly robbery in May 1971. On May 4, Campbell picked up a passenger near North 11th Street and West Atkinson Avenue. Sometime after the passenger entered the cab, Campbell was shot during what investigators determined was a robbery.
Despite being wounded, Campbell’s taxicab continued moving until it crashed into a residence at 3306 North Palmer Street. The collision did not end the danger. Police determined that the suspect was also injured in the crash, but the individual was still able to escape from the scene before officers could take him into custody. The unusual circumstance meant investigators knew the person they were seeking may have been carrying injuries sustained in the collision, but the publicly available cold-case information does not identify him by name or provide a detailed physical description.
Campbell survived the immediate shooting and crash but never recovered from his injuries. He died on May 18, 1971, approximately two weeks after he was attacked. What had begun as an armed robbery of a cab driver became a homicide investigation, with the unidentified passenger who escaped after the crash becoming the central suspect.
No publicly available record indicates that the fleeing suspect was ever arrested or formally identified in connection with Campbell’s killing. There are likewise no reported charges, prosecution, trial, or conviction stemming from the homicide. Decades later, Milwaukee police continued to classify Campbell’s death as an unsolved homicide. Reporting on Milwaukee-area cold cases has described his May 1971 killing as one of the oldest unresolved murder cases remaining with the Milwaukee Police Department.
More than half a century after the shooting, the essential facts remain stark: Campbell picked up a fare, was shot during a robbery, and his wounded cab crashed into a Milwaukee home while the injured suspect escaped. Campbell later died from the attack, and the person responsible was never publicly brought to justice. The case remains an enduring Milwaukee cold case, with no publicly documented arrest, named suspect, criminal charge, trial, or conviction resolving his murder.
