The mother of Craig Chamberlain, the 23-year-old soldier who vanished from his off-base home in Texas last week, told The Daily Beast on Friday he’s been found alive—just after his wife, Cameron, mysteriously died this week.
“We have found my son alive!!” Virginia Chamberlain wrote in a text at 5 p.m. local time Friday.
Virginia didn’t immediately share details about where Craig was found or why he disappeared, but his finding comes after a massive search party was launched by family, authorities and concerned citizens on Friday.
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Even with Craig found alive, many questions remain unanswered.
Earlier Friday, Virginia told The Daily Beast that her son had a “rocky” marriage with Cameron, whom he met and married in 2020.
Base authorities said last week that Cameron reported her husband missing on May 15. Prior to being found Friday, he was last seen by her at his home in Killeen, Texas.
Virginia said she didn’t think her son ran away, though she described his marriage with Cameron as being a “not very kind” one—shedding insight for the first time into the personal lives of the embattled couple.
“They absolutely rushed into marriage without thinking about it,” she said.
Virginia declined to specify more about the couple’s struggles, saying Cameron’s death came as a shock and that “her heart breaks for her family.”
It’s unclear if the supposedly estranged relationship had an impact on Craig’s disappearance or Cameron’s subsequent death.
Fort Cavazos, the central-Texas Army base formerly known as Fort Hood, did not respond to questions about how Cameron died. It’s unclear where she died and if an autopsy has been completed, as Bell County—where the couple lived off-base—does not have its own medical examiner.
After reporting her husband missing, Cameron appeared on local news channels appealing for information and disclosing that Craig disappeared after they got in an argument. She suggested he was in “grave danger if he’s still alive.”
Cameron said her husband struggled with depression and wasn’t the same man she married in 2020—suggesting his struggles with mental health, and his disdain for the leadership at Fort Cavazos, were likely why he disappeared.
“When I met him, he was a carefree, loving, laid-back person. He didn’t have a mean bone in his body,” Cameron told KWTX. “He had no hate in his heart. He was a happy man. And [Fort Cavazos] and his leadership completely destroyed him.”
Virginia said Cameron’s comments were inconsistent with his family and the media, which initially complicated the search for her son. Along with volunteers, she said her family has been searching in and around Killeen for any clues.
Virginia said her last text from Craig was him saying he loved her on May 8. That show of affection wasn’t out of the ordinary—she said Craig was a “mama’s boy” who spoke with her by text nearly every day.
Craig’s family said authorities had reported “sightings” of him this week. Virginia said he’s the youngest of his siblings and isn’t the type to run away, so she and his dad, Gorden, were texting him every day, praying the messages will again show as “delivered” and that he’d reply.
