Even His Own Mother Was Afraid Of Him | Derek Campos Lietz | True Crime Documentary

Even His Own Mother Was Afraid Of Him | Derek Campos Lietz | True Crime Documentary

This unusual boy’s name was Derek, and the strange thing is even his own mother had started to fear him. At one point, things got so bad that Shelly felt trapped inside her own home. And I kept wondering, how could a young boy scare his own mother that much? What made Derek act this way? And who was responsible for him growing into someone completely out of control? Today, I want to tell you about a deeply disturbing case.

What makes it even more unsettling is that something like this could happen in almost any family where serious warning signs are ignored and a child is never taught proper boundaries. So, if you are a parent or plan to become one someday, pay attention to the mistakes in this story. Before I begin, please support my channel. Subscribe, leave a like, and stay active in the comments. It really helps and I would truly appreciate it. So, let’s get into it.

Derek Campus was born on November 13, 1991, in Marshfield, Wisconsin, the same city where the rest of this case would later unfold. His mother, Shelly, became pregnant when she was only 19. She was in her first year of college studying to become a nurse, and honestly, she did not feel ready to raise a child. To Shelly, life had suddenly moved too fast. She had barely started adulthood, had not finished school, and had not built a future for herself. Yet, before she could figure out her own path, she was already preparing to become a mother.

Still, Shelly decided to keep the baby and change her life completely. She also knew she would be doing it alone because Derek’s father disappeared as soon as he heard about the pregnancy. When Derek was born, Shelly’s whole world changed. She loved that little boy with all her heart. He was an adorable baby with chubby cheeks that could melt almost anyone. Every time Shelly looked at him, she felt thankful she had chosen to have him. In her mind, she had made the right decision and had not let fear stop her.

But when Derek was only 7 weeks old, something terrible happened. He became dangerously sick with a serious respiratory virus and pneumonia. His condition was so severe that doctors were not sure if he would survive. Because every minute mattered, Derek was flown to a hospital in Minnesota. Shelly was terrified. The thought of losing her baby almost broke her. And during the whole trip, she prayed he would keep fighting. Thankfully, Derek survived. Shelly was overwhelmed with relief. She could hardly believe her little boy would recover, come home, and keep filling her life with his smile.

But that illness changed everything. Because Derek had come so close to losing his life, Shelly made a decision that would shape his future. From then on, her son would get whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted it. The fear of losing him never really left her. It stayed with Shelly for life. And because of that, she wanted to give Derek everything she possibly could. At first, that may sound like love. Any parent wants to make their child happy and give them a good life. But in Shelly’s case, that love slowly turned into something unhealthy.

In the beginning, everything seemed normal. Derek recovered and grew into an ordinary little boy. He played ball, learned to ride a bike, and loved walking with his mother in the park. But as the years passed, Shelley spoiled him more and more. And once Derek realized his mother’s world revolved around him, he started using it to his advantage. That was when the real trouble began.

Even as a small child, Derek showed difficult behavior. By the time he was 7, he had a serious temper. He challenged Shelly constantly and almost never did what she asked. He argued with her all the time, pushed back against rules, and always tried to get his way. This was not just normal childish stubbornness. Derek often went much further.

One day, Shelly took Derek to the mall to buy groceries. As they passed the toy section, Derek noticed a display of bright toy trucks. Of course, he immediately wanted one. He ran to the shelf, grabbed a truck, and brought it to his mother, expecting her to buy it. Shelly calmly put the truck back and told him he already had plenty of toy trucks at home. They had come for groceries, not toys, and she was not buying it. But Derek did not accept her answer. He exploded into one of the worst tantrums Shelly had ever seen. He grabbed the toy truck and slammed it against the floor until it broke. Even as plastic shattered, Derek still refused to calm down. Then he told his mother that if she did not buy him another truck, he would break another toy in the store.

Shelly was stunned. Her son had caused a huge public scene. He screamed so loudly that other shoppers stopped to stare, some looking shocked, while others shook their heads in judgment. In that moment, Shelly probably should have stopped everything and made it clear to Derek that there were rules and that acting that way was not acceptable. But she did not do that. When Derek was only 7 weeks old and had come so close to losing his life, Shelly had made a promise to herself. She told herself that her son would always have whatever he wanted. So instead of punishing him, she bought him the toy truck and also paid for the one he had destroyed.

After that scene in the store, Derek learned a dangerous lesson. He realized that if he pushed hard enough, screamed loud enough, or caused enough trouble, his mother would eventually give him whatever he wanted. Over time, this kind of behavior happened again and again. Derek did not simply throw childish tantrums anymore. He became more hostile. Whenever Shelly tried to correct him or explain something, he would lose control, yell at her, and even swing his fists. In the end, Derek usually got exactly what he wanted. And because Shelly kept giving in, she unknowingly taught him that his behavior worked. Discipline was basically missing from Derek’s life. In many ways, he became the perfect example of a child who had been spoiled far beyond what was healthy.

As the years passed, Shelly also started noticing unusual habits in her son. One day, she realized Derek did not play with toys the way most children did. Instead of building stories or moving them around, he would take them out of the box, place them in a neat line, and then just sit there staring at them. When he got bored, he calmly put every toy back into the box.

Derek also had a strange relationship with food. He refused to eat anything with his hands. Burgers, chips, donuts, sandwiches, no matter what it was, he used a fork. Maybe he hated the feeling of food on his fingers. Maybe something deeper was going on. Shelly later described it as odd, but she never really considered that Derek might have special needs or require an evaluation from someone who understood child development. Instead, she simply saw him as quirky. All of these little signs may have looked harmless on the surface, but maybe they were clues that needed attention. Unfortunately, they were brushed aside.

Derek also had a hard time in school. He struggled to connect with other children and make friends. Because of that, he grew up lonely and cut off from kids his own age. At times, he also showed aggression toward others. Whether it was a child or an adult, if someone did something he disliked, Derek would clench his fists and start shaking with anger in a way that did not look normal.

One time, a classmate came over to his house. Derek took out all his toys, lined them up the way he always did, and began staring at them. The other boy innocently reached for a toy car, but Derek did not like that at all. He could not stand anyone touching his things because he had never really learned how to share. That simple gesture set Derek off. He rushed at the boy, knocked him down, and began hitting him while repeating that the toys belonged to him and nobody had permission to touch them.

Eventually, Shelly heard the noise from the children’s room. She ran in, pulled Derek away, and brought the other child into the living room, leaving Derek behind with his toys. When the classmate’s mother came to pick him up, Shelly more or less covered for her son. She only said there had been a small problem between the boys, so once again, Derek faced no real consequences for what he had done.

When Derek was nine, Shelly started dating a man named Robert. They had been seeing each other for several months, but Robert still had not met Derek, even though Shelly had already told him about some of her son’s difficult habits. The truth was, Shelly was afraid of how Derek would react to a new man in the house. When Robert finally met him, his behavior was strange from the start. He walked up to Derek, parted the boy’s hair, and looked at his scalp. Shelly asked what he was doing. Robert smirked and said he was checking Derek’s head for the mark of 666. It was a strange way for a grown man to introduce himself to a spoiled and troubled child, but Shelly’s reaction made it worse. She already knew Derek had behavioral problems, but instead of shutting the joke down, she played along and said there definitely was a little devil inside her son.

It is clear that Robert chose the wrong tone for his first meeting with the child of the woman he loved. From that point on, his relationship with Derek only went downhill. Eventually, Robert and Shelly got married. Robert moved into Shelly’s home and decided it was now his responsibility to bring order into the house. To be fair, he was not completely wrong about one thing. A child does need structure, every household needs rules, and children need to understand what is acceptable and what is not.

But Robert went about it the wrong way. From the beginning, he treated Derek with extreme strictness. He told the boy what to do, expected immediate obedience, and tried to enforce rules with an iron fist. At that time, Derek was around 10 years old, and for his entire life he had never lived with real discipline. Honestly, he barely even knew what discipline was. His mother had never really punished him. She had always given him whatever he wanted. So, in Derek’s mind, it made no sense. Who was this man and why had he suddenly moved into their house acting like he had the right to set rules?

So, it is not hard to understand why Derek started pushing back even harder. He rebelled more openly and began taking all of his anger and frustration out on his mother. But, instead of sitting Derek down and explaining basic things to him, Shelly kept trying to make him happy. Whenever Robert was not around with his rules and demands, she did everything she could to please her son. She gave him praise, attention, gifts, and anything else he wanted. She apologized for Robert’s behavior and tried to make up for the sudden discipline that had entered Derek’s life. But, Shelly’s behavior sent Derek completely mixed messages.

Robert was too harsh and Shelly was too soft. So, Derek simply learned to wait until Robert left for work and then he would start manipulating his mother again. Then Christmas came and Shelly bought Derek a brand new PlayStation. He had been asking for that console for a long time. So, he was counting the days until Christmas morning. As soon as Derek woke up, he rushed downstairs and went straight to the Christmas tree. He wanted to tear into his presents right away, but Robert stopped him. Robert announced that first they were all going to sit down and eat breakfast together the way a normal family should. Only after that would Derek be allowed to open his gifts. He made Derek sit at the table and put a plate of scrambled eggs in front of him.

The problem was Derek hated eggs. Robert told him that he was not leaving the table until the plate was empty. Of course, Derek had no intention of eating something he hated. He just sat there silently staring at the food refusing to touch it. And Derek stayed at that table all day. He did not take one bite of the eggs and he did not say a word. It became a cold silent battle between him and Robert. For most children, Christmas is supposed to feel special and magical. But, Derek’s Christmas was completely ruined. That night, he went to bed with no presents, no celebration, and no food. He had not eaten a single bite all day.

The next day, Robert went to work, and only Derek and Shelly were left in the house. Shelly did what she always did. She apologized for Robert, tried to hug Derek, tried to comfort him, and told him he could finally open his presents. Derek slowly walked over to the Christmas tree. He opened the box with the new PlayStation inside, and then he started destroying it. He broke everything he could. He was furious, and in his mind, he wanted to punish his mother for what her husband had done. And what did Shelly do? Exactly what she always did. She went back to the store and bought Derek another gaming console.

Now, in that Christmas situation, I honestly think it is hard not to feel some sympathy for the boy. He had been denied the holiday he had waited for, and punished in a way that made no real sense. The adults were not acting normally, either, because Robert’s treatment of Derek came very close to emotional cruelty. And Shelly, instead of stepping in and protecting her child, just stood by and allowed it to happen. She should never have let Robert treat Derek that way, especially on Christmas. The adults were pulling him in two completely different directions, and with that kind of confusion, it is no wonder Derek’s fragile mind started to crack under the pressure.

What Shelly really needed to do was set clear boundaries and bring healthy discipline into her son’s life. Had she done that earlier, Robert may have had fewer reasons to constantly come down on Derek. But, Christmas passed, and things inside the family only became worse. Derek got older and became a teenager. Before, he would mostly put up with Robert, and then take out his anger on Shelly later. But now, he started confronting Robert directly, even physically. Shelly was always stuck between her son and her husband. She was too afraid to take a firm position with Derek because she knew that once Robert left for work, she would be alone in the house with an angry teenager.

Shelly began to feel like a prisoner in her own home. She walked on eggshells every day trying not to set Derek off or become the target of his anger. In reality, Derek had become the one controlling the house. At the same time, Shelly kept ignoring what was happening. She buried her head in the sand and seemed to hope that the problem would somehow fix itself, but it did not. Derek continued to grow and his conflicts with Robert became more serious. After every argument, Shelly would secretly praise Derek and apologize for whatever Robert had said or done. She still tried to cover the pain caused by her husband with love, attention, and comfort no matter how Derek behaved.

But eventually, Shelly decided she could not keep living like this. She understood that she had to do something, so she took Derek to see a psychotherapist. Unfortunately, even there, Shelly did not get lucky. The therapist she found turned out to be unprofessional. Without properly evaluating Derek’s behavior, the doctor quickly decided he was dealing with depression and that was basically where the appointment ended. Maybe Derek really was depressed, but it did not seem like the main issue. Still, the doctor prescribed antidepressants to the teenager and ended the session.

Naturally, things did not improve. Instead of showing positive changes, Derek pulled even further into himself and almost stopped talking. It was like he disconnected from the world around him and became even more isolated from people his own age, but his anger did not disappear. His hostility did not fade either. If anything, it only became stronger. So, it looked like the medication was not the right fit for him.

A few more years went by. Eventually, the long conflict between Robert and Derek ended in Derek’s favor. Shelly’s husband could not take it anymore and they separated. There may have been other problems in their marriage, too, but the fact remained Derek had just turned 18. He was in his last year of high school. Around that time, something very important happened in his life. He got a girlfriend. Derek had no real romantic experience. He usually kept people at a distance and did not let anyone get close, not even enough to form real friendships. But this girl was different from most of Derek’s classmates.

Her name was Macy McCulla. She went to the same school as Derek, but she was 2 years younger. Macy was only 16, and in many ways, she was the complete opposite of him. People described her as kind, warm, and easy to talk to. Macy planned to finish high school and later build a career in the medical field. They say opposites attract, and here that seemed true. Derek and Macy quickly found a connection. For Derek, it was almost unbelievable because he had finally met someone who made him feel comfortable enough to open up. Shelly had never seen her son that happy. He became caring, attentive, and almost gentle. He smiled constantly, and for a while his anger seemed to fade into the background. Shelly was thrilled because deep down, she had feared Derek might never truly love someone or build a happy life with another person.

At first, everything between Derek and Macy seemed wonderful. But not long after their relationship began, 16-year-old Macy told Derek she was pregnant. Derek was stunned. He could hardly believe it. But in reality, the news made him happy. He told Macy he was ready to become a father and would do everything he could to make sure their child grew up healthy. For the first time, it seemed like Derek had found someone he could truly be himself with.

When Shelly found out she was going to become a grandmother, she invited Macy to move into their home. Macy had lost her mother when she was young. She was raised by her father, but he worked a lot and was often away from home. Since Macy knew she would soon need help with the baby, she accepted Shelly’s offer and moved in with Derek. Around that same time, she and Derek became engaged.

Nine months later, Macy gave birth to a little boy named Gabriel. Derek and Shelly were overwhelmed with happiness. From the beginning, Derek seemed genuinely devoted to his son. He wanted to be a good father and he absolutely adored Gabriel. After finishing high school, Derek became a stay-at-home dad and spent nearly all of his time taking care of the baby. He changed diapers, helped feed him with Macy, bathed him, played with him, and put him to sleep. After Gabriel was born, Macy went back to school. She spent a lot of time in class, but Derek actually seemed happy that most of the daily care for their son fell on him.

For a while, everything seemed to work. Everyone was happy and the family appeared to be getting along. But then Derek’s unusual behavior began to return. Now, just like Robert had once tried to do, Derek decided he was going to create strict order inside the house. As Gabriel got older and started following a daily schedule, Derek began forcing everyone in the home to live by specific rules. Everything had to happen at the right time and in the same order. Soon, everyone in the house had the same morning, the same afternoon, and the same evening.

One strange argument involved the curtains. For some reason, Derek did not want natural light coming into the house. So, he insisted the curtains stay closed all day in every room. But Shelly was not used to living in darkness. Sometimes, she would go downstairs and open them. Then Derek would rush into the living room, pull them shut again, and start an argument. And in the end, Shelly did what she had done her entire life. She gave in to her son.

Derek demanded that his routine be followed exactly. And the person he pushed these rules on the most was Macy. He constantly criticized her, raised his voice at her, and scolded her whenever he believed she had done something wrong. After their son was born, Derek became extremely controlling. He began treating Macy like she was beneath him and started deciding who she could spend time with and where she was allowed to go. At that point, Macy could not take a single step without Derek’s permission. The only places he allowed her to go were school and her part-time job. After that, she had to come straight home.

Any reasonable person could see that Derek’s need for control had gone too far, but Shelley only watched from the side and never interfered in her son’s relationship with his fiancee. She did not protect Macy. She did not tell Derek that what he was doing was wrong, humiliating, and unacceptable. The truth was simple. Shelley was scared of her own son, but her silence did not protect her from Derek’s anger. He started turning on her, too, calling her a pathetic failure and mocking her drinking problem.

After splitting from Robert and feeling like her life had fallen apart, Shelley began drinking little by little. Before long, she could barely get through a day without alcohol. Shelley had never imagined that the son she loved so much would one day turn against her. His cruel words hurt her deeply, but she had no strength left to stand up to him. She no longer even seemed to have the will to fight back. So, once again, she let Derek treat both her and Macy however he wanted.

One day, Shelley came home and walked into the kitchen. There, she found Derek sitting at the table with a firearm in his hands. He had bought an AK-47, even though he had never shown much interest in weapons before. Shelley was stunned. She asked him what was going on, but Derek’s answer made her feel cold inside. He pointed the weapon at his mother and told her she had better sleep with one eye open because one night he might shoot her or cut her throat.

In that moment, Shelley understood something terrifying. The son she had loved, protected, and spoiled all his life might actually be capable of ending hers. Shelley was horrified. Whenever Derek was not home, she tried to protect herself in the only way she could. She had a deadbolt installed on her bedroom door so he could not get in at night. Most of the time, she stayed locked inside unless she had to come out. Her fear grew even worse when Derek started asking about her life insurance policy. He seemed worried about being left without money if something happened to her. So now Shelly Truhillet felt like a prisoner in her own home, and that fear only made her drinking problem worse. She locked herself in her bedroom and drank, trying to numb the emotional pain anyway she could.

But Shelly was not the only one living there. Macy and little Gabriel were in the house too. And out of everyone, Macy carried the heaviest burden. Derek had turned into a domestic tyrant. One day, while Derek was not home, Shelly and Macy had a private conversation. They both complained about his behavior and admitted what they had been thinking for a long time. They needed to get him out of the house. They believed they could take care of Gabriel without Derek, and the child would probably be safer if his father was far away because Derek’s behavior was getting worse every day. Shelly and Macy decided they would make Derek leave, but soon they abandoned the plan because they were simply too afraid of him.

Shelly had a Labrador named Lucy. Derek never really cared for the dog. Her fur annoyed him and he hated the mess she made around the house. One day, Shelly went to the hospital for scheduled gallbladder surgery. After a short stay, she returned home and immediately realized Lucy was gone. When Shelly asked where her dog was, Derek looked at her coldly. Then he casually said Lucy had run out onto the road and been hit by a car. According to him, he took her to the vet but she did not make it. He claimed the vet had cremated Lucy and then he got rid of the ashes himself. To him, there was nothing more to discuss. He acted like he did not understand why his mother was upset, but deep down, Shelly knew Derek was lying.

Lucy was a grown, well-trained dog. She would not have randomly run into the road for no reason. Shelly believed Derek had gotten rid of the dog because he wanted to hurt her. Maybe he had taken Lucy far from home and abandoned her. Or maybe he had taken her into the woods and harmed her there. But Shelly did not confront him. Once again, she stayed quiet.

This went on for 2 years. Derek controlled everything around him, made his own rules, and frightened the people living under the same roof. Macy and Shelly were trapped in that house with him, living through the same nightmare day after day. By then, Macy had turned 18 and graduated from high school. Finally, she decided she had reached her limit. No matter what it took, she needed to get out. Little Gabriel was already 2 years old. Macy kept telling Shelly that she wanted to leave Derek. She could no longer handle the humiliation and emotional abuse, but she did not know how to escape safely. She was afraid Derek might hurt her. She also knew that if she took Gabriel with her, Derek would lose control and everything could become even more dangerous. But at the same time, Macy could not leave her little boy behind with him either.

After a lot of thinking and planning, Macy finally did the only thing she felt she could do. She walked out of that house and never came back. She left Gabriel with Shelly, and deep down, she truly believed her little boy would be safer that way. Once Macy was away from the house, she probably felt like she could finally breathe again. For the first time in a long time, she may have believed she was free. But sadly, that freedom did not last long because the story was about to take a much darker turn.

When Derek came home and realized Macy was gone, his reaction was strange. The first thing he did was open every curtain in the house and let the sunlight in, even though he had always hated natural light coming inside. Then he began walking back and forth through the living room, repeating the same sentence again and again: “I won’t let another man be the father of my son.” Derek kept saying he would not give up Gabriel. The strange part was that Gabriel was right there at home, but Derek became obsessed with the idea that Macy had another man in her life and that this man would somehow end up raising his son.

As usual, Shelley watched from the side and did not step in. She was worried and afraid Derek might do something reckless. She even called her ex-husband Robert and asked what she should do. But Robert, apparently not wanting to get involved, told her Derek was probably depressed again and that it might be best to leave him alone for a while.

On September 7, 2012, Shelley was out for most of the day. She had gone to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. When she came back home, she noticed Macy’s car parked in the driveway. Right away, something felt wrong. Shelley doubted Macy had come back willingly. Then she saw that the front door was open and panic started rising inside her. When Shelley stepped into the house and saw a trail of blood going through the hallway, she briefly tried to calm herself down. She thought maybe Derek had lost control again, broken something, and hurt himself. She followed the trail down the hallway and it led straight to the bathroom. The door was closed, but underneath it, a large pool of blood had already spread across the floor.

Shelley opened the door and froze. Inside the bathtub, covered in blood, was Macy. Her neck had been badly injured. There was nothing Shelley could do. It was already too late. 18-year-old Macy McCulla was gone. Shelley’s whole body locked up with fear. She wanted to run, but her legs would not move. It felt like she had walked into a nightmare. The scene in that bathroom did not feel real, but it was real. Macy was dead and Shelley had no doubt in her mind that her son had done it.

Then another thought hit her: Gabriel. Where was her grandson? Had Derek hurt his own child, too? Gabriel was nowhere in the house and Derek was gone, as well. Shelly immediately called emergency services and reported what had happened. When police arrived, they searched the house again, and then took Shelly to the station so she could give a statement. As officers asked her the usual questions, Shelly seemed almost frantic. She kept repeating that Derek had taken Gabriel, and then a terrifying image came into her mind. She suddenly pictured Derek completely enraged, ending his own life after harming his little boy. The thought felt so vivid that Shelly began shaking with fear. She immediately told detectives what she was afraid of.

The truth was, police had no idea where Derek had gone or what he might be capable of. All they knew was that he had likely left with Gabriel. A large search began right away. Officers were trying to find Derek and the child before the situation turned into another tragedy. Derek’s face was soon all over the news. The search continued through the night and into the early hours of the next morning. At around 5:00 in the morning, a motel employee called police and said the man they were looking for had checked into a room with a small child.

Officers rushed to the motel immediately. They arrived armed and ready because Derek was suspected of taking Macy’s life and leaving with the child. Police also knew he had access to weapons. What they did not know was whether Gabriel was still safe. But in the end, the situation at the motel unfolded more simply than anyone expected. As officers prepared to enter the room, Derek came out with his hands raised. He had heard movement in the hallway, realized there was no way out, and surrendered without saying a word. After officers placed him in handcuffs, they entered the room and found 2-year-old Gabriel alive and unharmed. Thankfully, nothing had happened to the little boy.

Derek was taken in for questioning right away. But before the interview began, he was allowed to make a phone call. The young man called his mother, Shelly, and told her he was sorry that everything had ended this way. He said he had never meant for things to go that far, but now there was nothing he could do to change it. And near the end of that call, Derek did something he had never done before in his life. He told his mother that he loved her. Then he asked her to take care of Gabriel.

Police began investigating the case, and almost right away, they found Macy’s blood on Derek’s clothing and inside his car. Derek had not even tried very hard to hide the weapon. The knife was still there, almost as if he already knew the police would find him sooner or later. The medical examination later showed just how violent the attack had been. Macy had suffered severe injuries to major blood vessels in her neck, and she had also been wounded in the back. Investigators also found many defensive injuries on her hands, which showed that Macy had tried to fight back. At that point, the case was basically clear. All the evidence led directly to Derek, and he was charged with intentional homicide. While Derek sat in jail waiting for trial, Shelly did what she had always done. She tried to save him. She did everything she could to get her son out, and she even planned to testify in his defense.

People often say, “A mother’s love has no limits.” Derek had just taken the life of an 18-year-old girl, the mother of his child, and still, Shelly was desperate to help him get out of jail. She did not seem to think that one day, she could have been the one in Macy’s place. But no matter how hard Shelly tried, there was nothing she could do.

The evidence against Derek was too strong. She even met with his public defender, trying to help come up with some kind of plan. At first, Derek pleaded not guilty, but eventually, he accepted a plea deal and received a life sentence with the possibility of parole after 40 years. But even then, this story was not over.

After the guilty verdict, when Derek realized he would spend most of his life behind bars, he paid another inmate more than $4,000 to act as a hitman. Derek wanted that man to go after the person he believed Macy had been seeing. Thankfully, that plan failed, but Derek was still charged for trying to arrange it.

After the trial was over, Shelly received full custody of her grandson, Gabriel. And now, the most important thing is that she does not repeat the same parenting mistakes she made in the past. Still haunted by everything that had happened, Shelly could not bring herself to return to the house. She stayed with a friend for a few days and then moved away from town, avoiding the media and staying off the internet.

Since then, she has lived a very private life and has only given one interview. Shelly also admitted that she has never found the strength to visit Macy’s grave. A documentary episode about this case was later released under the title Evil Lives Here: In the Grip of My Son. In it, Shelly spoke about Derek’s childhood, his behavior, and the terrible act he committed.

Shelly herself believes her son never planned to take Macy’s life. In her view, he simply lost control in that moment and grabbed the knife. Today, Derek Campus has changed his name to Gabriel. He is still serving a life sentence in a Wisconsin correctional facility. Online, people still argue about who is really to blame for Derek becoming the person he became.

Some people blame Shelly. They say she gave in to every demand, ignored the warning signs, and never taught her son real consequences. Others defend her and point out that many parents make serious mistakes while raising their children, but their kids do not grow up to commit crimes.

So, what was the deciding factor in this case? Was it the way Derek was raised? Or was there something inside him from the beginning that made him aggressive, unstable, and unable to control his emotions?