Arrest Made in Salem County Deaths

OLDMANS TWP., NJ: A stepson was charged Friday in the shotgun slayings of a prominent thoroughbred horse racing trainer and his wife, authorities said. Wade M. Russell, 36, of Carneys Point, was being held on $1.8 million bail, Salem County Prosecutor John Bergh said.

Robert W. Camac, 60, and his wife, Maryann V. Camac, 55, were shot to death Thursday. Their bodies were found on the back porch of the house on their horse farm about 8:30 a.m. after a neighbor called 911 to report hearing shots.

Russell, Mrs. Camac's son, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder. He also was charged with forgery, theft by deception and uttering a forged instrument in the theft of $13,000 from Camac, Bergh said.

Bergh declined further comment on the forgeries. He wouldn't give a motive for the slayings. Camac was shot once in the chest with a shotgun. Mrs. Camac was shot several times in the chest and abdomen _ Bergh wouldn't say how many.

The shotgun was recovered, but not at the scene, he said. He wouldn't say where it was found.

Russell was questioned and charged with the forgery Thursday and initially cooperated, Bergh said. He was held overnight and then charged Friday with the killings.

The farm is located on Pedricktown-Woodstown Road in this tiny Salem County hamlet, home to less than 1,800 people. Students at Oldmans Township School, which is located nearby, were kept inside Thursday for fear that the killer may be at large.

"The residents of Salem County and in particular, Oldhams Township, can sleep well because we have made an arrest," Bergh said Friday. "We got him."

Camac trained thoroughbred Jolie's Halo, which won the 1992 Iselin Handicap at Monmouth Park. His horses have won at least one stakes race at Delaware Park for each of the last five years.

He was also active at Philadelphia Park, where he was the winningest trainer in the 1988 fall-winter meet.

The killings were the first double homicide in Salem County since 1988, when the bodies of a man and woman were found in a grave outside their trailer home in Quinton Township.

(Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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Author: 6 - ABC, Action News