WEED, N.M. — A man on the run for more than four decades is behind bars after federal and county law enforcement agencies arrested him in Weed, New Mexico last week.

Stephen Campbell was wanted by U.S. Marshals for attempted murder after allegedly making a bomb and planting it at his estranged wife’s boyfriend’s house in Wyoming in 1982. She was severely injured in the explosion.

He was released on bond and disappeared. Court documents show he was living a double life for more than 40 years, assuming the identity of Walter Coffman — a former engineering classmate.

“We knew they went to school together, but they might have been even closer than that,” Special Agent in Charge of FBI Albuquerque Office Raul Bujanda said. “They might have been friends.”

Bujanda said a red flag went up for social security agents in 2019 when Campbell visited an MVD in Cloudcroft to renew his license under Coffman’s name.

Court records show he submitted his New Mexico driver’s license with his photo, but the name and birthdate of Coffman. He also provided a social security card with Coffman’s name and social security number, and a passport with his photo identifying him as Coffman.

But agents knew Coffman died in a motorcycle accident in 1975 and suspected someone was fraudulently using his identity. His obituary includes his photo.

After living as Coffman for decades, Campbell’s web of lies began to untangle. Agent Bujanda said Campbell had even received around $170,000 in social security benefits.

“The one thing we had since he was constantly renewing his passport and providing his new photo of what he looked like today, but always providing his current address made it easy for us to locate him through facial recognition and that photograph was able to tell us who he really was,” Bujanda said.

Last week an FBI SWAT team, social security agents, and Otero County deputies executed a search warrant on Campbell’s rural 44-acre property. Bujanda said Campbell was outside when they arrived.

“He saw them coming from what they believe he was getting a tactical advantage over the team that were coming in,” Bujanda said. “We learned that he was probably in for a fight but didn’t expect that he was getting a huge presence from law enforcement.”

After his arrest, Campbell’s fingerprints confirmed his true identity. Campbell is facing a charge of passport fraud in New Mexico, but will be extradited to Wyoming where he’s facing an attempted murder charge.

Bujanda said the FBI plans to file more charges.

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San Diego State bounced back from Saturday’s loss with a 73-65 victory over New Mexico on Tuesday night at Viejas Arena.

The Aztecs (19-7, 12-5) outscored the Lobos by four points in each half and finished the night with four players in double figures as they continue to try and improve their positioning for the upcoming Mountain West Conference Tournament in Las Vegas.

New Mexico (22-6, 14-3) got 26 points from star guard Donovan Dent and 16 points from Jovan Milicevic but struggled otherwise. The other seven Lobos who played combined to shoot 7-45 against San Diego State’s top-ranked defense.

San Diego State will head on the road for games against Wyoming and UNLV before returning home for the regular season finale against Nevada on March 8.

Here’s everything San Diego State head coach Brian Dutcher said after the victory.

Opening Statement:

“This is a tough, gutsy win tonight. We are playing our first full game without Magoon [Gwath]. [Miles] Heide stepped up and played great. Jared [Coleman-Jones] played great, and Pharoah [Compton] played great. Off the bench, our bigs were really valuable tonight, and I’m proud of all of them. They all contributed at a high level, and we beat a very good New Mexico team. The last time we played them I think they got 18 offensive rebounds, and they had 19 more shots than we had. It wasn’t quite as bad. They had 12 more shots than we did tonight, and they had 17 offensive rebounds. This is a good team. Nelly Joseph had 16 offensive rebounds, but I thought we did a good job on him for the most part. We fronted him and we didn’t give him any easy catches because he’s a dynamic player. I thought we had a good game plan. I thought we played good defense again. We shot 54% in the second half for the second game in a row. We had 16 assists tonight, so we’re playing the right way offensively. Our offense is catching up to a very good defense, and hopefully that will continue as we play our final three games of the season.”

On defending New Mexico’s physicality:

“New Mexico is one of the most physical defensive teams you’re going to play, and they do it the right way. I mean, they’re out there, they’re into the ball, they’re pressuring the ball, they’re physical in the post. I just told the guys, ‘We got big brother-ed in Albuquerque. We’re not going to get big brother-ed at home. We’re going to come out here and meet some force with force.’ I thought we did a good job of it, and that didn’t mean New Mexico backed down at all. It just means we did a better job of responding to their physicality tonight.”

On Nick Boyd’s leadership:

“Nick’s a veteran. He played in the Final Four against us, so he’s played deep into March. He knows what this time of year means–how much more invested you have to be in late February basketball to set yourself up for a March run. He’s been a great leader. He brings great energy. He tells the team what needs to be done and how it needs to be done, and I’m grateful to have a leader like that on the team, echoing what the coaches are saying.”

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