Colorado Man Texted His Wife He Was Being Held Hostage — She Then Found Him And His Alleged Captor Dead

A family in Colorado is searching for answers after a man was found dead in his vehicle about a mile from a police department, and they’re claiming officers never responded to their original call for help.

According to family lawyer Harry Daniels, on June 2, Tali’Ja Campbell received a desperate text from her husband, Qualin Campbell. The message read: “911. Send Please!” and included a photo of the man who had allegedly taken him hostage, the attorney said, NBC News reported.

Texts show Tali’Ja, 34, asked Qualin to send her his location. Tali’Ja phoned police in Colorado Springs but she said, according to People, there was no “sense of urgency” in the person who responded to her call. “That didn’t sit right with me. So, I decided to drive to the location that he shared.”

Tali’Ja, who lives in Peyton, said she and her husband’s uncle made the 45-minute trip to where her 31-year-old technician husband’s company car was located in a parking lot in Colorado Springs, and they found him and another man she didn’t know both fatally shot inside.

“I shouldn’t have been the one there, the first person to respond,” Tali’Ja said. She added that she was the one who “had to try to perform CPR on my husband in a pool of blood” and “shouldn’t have been the one to have to do that.”

The Colorado Springs Police Department said officers were dispatched to the scene shortly after 2 p.m. to investigate the shootings. According to Tali’Ja, officers were responding to a second call placed concerning Qualin’s ordeal.

Qualin was in the driver’s seat of the vehicle, and the second man, who police identified as 44-year-old David Karels, reportedly was seated in the passenger-side seat with a gun on his lap.

Police said an autopsy determined Qualin’s death was a homicide, while Karel’s death was being investigated as a suicide.

“I’m hurt and disappointed,” Tali’Ja said about the circumstances surrounding her husband’s death. “You can never get him back. This wasn’t just some random person. This man had a family. It doesn’t feel safe to live here anymore.”

The Colorado Springs Police Department said the incident is under investigation.

Daniels, the attorney for the Campbell family, said his clients believe Karel was a homeless hitchhiker who Qualin may have stopped to pick up to give a ride, NBC News reported.

Talija has started a GoFundMe to help her pay for her and her two children with Qualin to relocate.