Two Bodies Found Near Campus

Ventura County authorities were investigating the fatal shooting of a man and woman whose bodies were found off a private roadway Saturday afternoon just west of the Cal State Channel Islands campus, hours after the body of another homicide victim was discovered several miles away.

Sheriff’s deputies discovered the two bodies after responding to a call about suspicious activity near the campus, located south of Camarillo, about 3:30 p.m., said Senior Deputy Eric Buschow. The victims, whose identities were not immediately known, were found in a wooded area tucked into a cactus-studded canyon off Potrero Road.

It was not known whether they were students, Buschow said. It was also unclear whether they had been shot at the site where they were found, or killed elsewhere and then dumped off the roadside. Deputies were searching late Saturday for two men traveling in a white, two-door compact, possibly a Nissan or Toyota, who may have been at the scene.

An arrest was made nearby, but it was unrelated to the double homicide, according to Buschow. A motorist in a white car was stopped and taken into custody on a probation violation, he said.

Authorities believed that the slayings were likely unrelated to the fatal shooting of a man whose body was found early Saturday on a roadside south of Camarillo, several miles west of where the other two bodies were found.

“It doesn’t appear to be [related] on its face, but it’s too early to say,” Buschow said.

Daniel Campos, 21, of Oxnard, was discovered about 1 a.m. in the 3400 block of Hailes Road, according to sheriff’s officials. A passing motorist alerted police.

Campos, who was shot in the head, was not breathing when deputies arrived less than five minutes later, authorities said. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.

In the double homicide, university police received a report of suspicious activity in a clearing located on state property but about a quarter of a mile west of the campus. Sheriff’s deputies were immediately contacted and found the two bodies a short time later.

No other details were available about the initial report to campus police or the source of that information.

Meanwhile, in a separate incident, sheriff’s detectives were investigating the fatal shooting of a 71-year-old Moorpark man whose body was found Friday night inside a residence on Mountain Trail Street. Dennis Wood had died about two weeks earlier of gunshot wounds to the head and chest, said James Baroni, a senior deputy coroner’s investigator.