Family Of Four Found Dead In Home Belonging To Tennis Pro James Blake

A family of four was found killed in a burning Florida home owned by tennis star James Blake.

Neighbors were woken up early Wednesday morning by explosions at the Tampa, Fla., 5-bedroom home, and called firefighters who arrived at the scene when the house was already completely engulfed in flames. According to Hillsborough County Sherriff Col. Donna Lusczynski, the fire appears to have been set intentionally and was aided by fireworks scattered throughout the house. Though two of the four victims were reportedly found with upper-body trauma, the nature of their injuries has been kept out of the media and the authorities have not yet ruled the case a murder.

However, a different report claimed that firefighters found the family of four shot and dead in their bedrooms, and that someone had doused the home, and the bodies, in fire accelerant. Journalist Meredyth Censullo reported that a source saw the victims had fireworks “wrapped” around them.

The victims were Darrin Campbell, a businessman and COO of Vastec, Inc., his wife Kimberly Campbell and their two children Colin Campbell, 19, and Megan Campbell, 15. Authorities have not ruled out the possibility of a murder-suicide.

Campbell reportedly bought the fireworks found in the home on Sunday, though William Weimer, the vice president of Phantom fireworks who sold Campbell half a dozen small packages of firecrakers and fireworks, said that they could not have been solely responsible for the house fire. According to Weimer, the aerial fireworks could have started the fire, but due to the small amount of powder inside each one, the fire would have spread much more slowly.

FOX 13 News

The Campbells had been living in the home for about two years, renting it from Blake, who bought the home in the exclusive Avila community for $1.5 million in 2005. Blake was not living there at the time of the fire, and has not yet released a comment on the tragedy.

Article by Olivia Truffaut-Wong

Olivia Truffaut-Wong was born and raised in Berkeley, California, where she developed her love of all things entertainment. After moving to New York City to earn her degree in Film Studies, she stayed on the East Coast to follow her passion and become an entertainment writer. She lives on a diet of television, movies and food.