Viswa Vanapalli
In August 2009, a five-year-old kid’s sudden disappearance had the authorities looking far and wide but with little success. Hassani Campbell seemingly vanished into thin air while at a parking lot in Oakland, California, leading to many questions regarding what happened. This is one of the two cases explored on Crime Junkie podcast’s ‘WANTED: Justice for Hassani Campbell and Tianna Kirchner.’ So, let’s find out more about this story then, shall we?
What Happened to Hassani Campbell?
Hassani Campbell was born on September 24, 2003, to Shemika Campbell and Ronald Hughes. The two had received public assistance since 2003 and lived in California’s Bay area. Hassani’s mother was accused of physical abuse and had been dealing with substance abuse problems. The little boy was born with cerebral palsy and went to James Leitch Elementary School in Fremont, California.
At the time of the incident, Hassani was five and lived with his aunt, Jennifer Campbell, and her then-fiancé, Louis Ross. The couple was foster parents to Hassani and his then-one-year-old sister, Aaliyah. On August 10, 2009, Louis reported Hassani missing; he claimed to be in the parking lot of a shoe store in Oakland where Jennifer was the manager. Ross had gone inside with Aaliyah, leaving the five-year-old alone. But when he returned, he claimed Hassani was gone.
Hassani Campbell: Missing Mystique, Hope Yet to be Found
Unfortunately, Hassani has not been found yet and is still officially declared missing. The authorities initially found out that Louis and Jennifer had been taking care of all of Hassani’s needs and were in the process of adopting him. Albeit, it seemed like the foster father’s story about the kid going missing was a little far-fetched. Nobody in the busy area remembered seeing Hassani, and Louis said he had been in the store for five minutes or less. The police used sniffer dogs to try and track the child’s scent, yet the animals couldn’t find it in the parking lot.
While Hassani wore ankle braces to help him walk, Louis said the kid could walk without them but with some difficulty. Then, it was revealed that the last confirmed sighting of Hassani was on August 6, 2009, at a Walmart in Fremont, California, with his foster parents. As part of the investigation, the police also found out about an angry text Louis sent to Jennifer about ten days before the disappearance. In it, he threatened to abandon Hassani at a BART station.
In his defense, Louis divulged he sent the text after an argument between the couple, which was resolved. According to him, the text meant, “I’m going to meet you at the BART, hand off the children. I’m gone. I’m leaving the house. You can have the house. You can have the car. I don’t care. I’m gone.” Though he volunteered to take a polygraph test, he failed. As for Jennifer, she refused to take the test, saying she didn’t want it to affect her pregnancy.
Louis claimed that the test was fraudulent and said, “They gave me five questions. Three were controls. The controls were: Is my name Loius Ross? Am I 38 years old? Do I live in Fremont? Then they asked two other questions about the case. They showed me results that said I was 99% deceptive. So he told me I didn’t even get my name right.” While the search continued, there seemed no sign of the little boy.
Towards the end of August 2009, the authorities changed course in the investigation, believing that Hassani was murdered by Louis and Jennifer served as an accessory to murder. However, they were released soon after because of a lack of evidence. Jennifer said, “Anybody who knows me knows what I’m capable of.” She added that hurting Hassani was “not in my character.”
Since then, Hassani has not been found, and the police believe he was murdered. Despite stating that they felt Louis’ statements regarding how the former disappeared were false, they didn’t have any more evidence on the couple. On the other hand, Jennifer gave birth to her and Louis’ daughter in November 2009, later ending their relationship and moving out of their Fremont home.
Read More: How Did Tianna Kirchner Die?
