Man Charged with Killing Father, Grandmother in 2024 Found Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity, Committed to State Hospital for Treatment

NORFOLK, Va. — A judge has ordered Ronnie Nyamekye Campbell, 22, into inpatient state hospital treatment after finding him not guilty by reason of insanity in the second-degree murders of his father and grandmother in 2024. Mr. Campbell will remain in custody for the next year pending the court’s review of his mental health progress.

Just before 5 p.m. on Feb. 8, 2024, Mr. Campbell stabbed to death his 46-year-old father, Ronnie Credle Campbell, and his 64-year-old grandmother, Arneta Marie Thagard, at the residence he shared with Ms. Thagard on Dunkirk Avenue. Moments after the elder Mr. Campbell — who did not also live with Ms. Thagard — had arrived outside the residence, Mr. Campbell noticed his father outside on the sidewalk, went outside, and stabbed his father numerous times. The elder Mr. Campbell was wheelchair-bound due to having an amputated leg and was defenseless during the attack. After stabbing his father, the younger Mr. Campbell went back inside the residence and stabbed Ms. Thagard numerous times as well.

Medics transported Ms. Thagard and the elder Mr. Campbell to a hospital, where Ms. Thagard was pronounced dead shortly following her arrival and Mr. Campbell suffered for eight hours before succumbing to his wounds. The younger Mr. Campbell was arrested in the immediate aftermath of the attacks, he made a full confession to police, he was charged with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of stabbing in the commission of murder, and he has been held in custody since his arrest.

While Mr. Campbell’s case was pending trial, his defense counsel requested pursuant to Virginia law that a mental health doctor evaluate Mr. Campbell to determine whether he was legally insane at the time he killed his father and grandmother. The court ordered that evaluation, and the doctor determined that Mr. Campbell was in fact legally insane at the time of his offense.

In Virginia, a defendant can be considered legally insane if — at time of their crime and because of “mental disease or defect” — they could not understand the nature or consequences of their actions, they were unable to distinguish right from wrong, or they were unable to resist an impulse to commit the actions. Both psychotic disorders and intellectual disabilities qualify as a mental disease or defect.

After receiving notice from the defense of the results of Mr. Campbell’s first evaluation, the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office requested pursuant to Virginia law that the court appoint a second doctor to perform a new evaluation. That doctor also determined that Mr. Campbell was legally insane when he killed his father and grandmother.

On March 27, 2025, Mr. Campbell entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity to his four charges. Judge David W. Lannetti accepted Mr. Campbell’s pleas, found him not guilty by reason of insanity, and ordered Mr. Campbell to the custody of the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services for further mental health evaluations. Such evaluations determined the extent to which Mr. Campbell is mentally ill, the likelihood of him presenting a risk of harm to himself or others in the foreseeable future, and whether he requires in- or out-patient treatment at a state mental health hospital.

On Aug. 15, after reviewing Mr. Campbell’s progress and the recommendations from the mental health providers treating Mr. Campbell, Judge Lannetti ordered Mr. Campbell into inpatient treatment for the next year. Mr. Campbell’s next review hearing is set for Aug. 28, 2026.

“It is tragic that Mr. Campbell’s father and grandmother are dead as a result of Mr. Campbell’s mental illness,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi. “Had Mr. Campbell been sane, he would be in prison. Since he was legally insane, he is where he belongs: in a locked treatment facility where he will remain, likely for years, until mental-health professionals and a judge recommend otherwise. We need the federal government to increase, not decrease, its financial support for mental health, or else we will continue to see tragedies like these play out in our country.” 

Senior Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Andrew Kolp and Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Alexander Rosenberg prosecuted Mr. Campbell’s case, and Norfolk Police Detective Kavoris J. Fruster led the investigation.

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