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‘She Never Left the House Without Giving Me a Hug. I Miss the Hug.’

Childhood photos of Krystle Campbell were submitted into evidence Tuesday. U.S. District Attorney’s Office

By John Waller @jd_waller and Hilary Sargent @lilsarg

April 21, 2015

2 minutes to read

Krystle Campbell paid for her own college education and was working her way up through the restaurant industry. She was “every father’s dream’’ and her mother’s best friend.

This according to testimony from her brother and father on the first day of the penalty phase in the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Jurors have already convicted Tsarnaev of carrying out the bombing at the 2013 Boston Marathon, which killed Campbell, a 29-year-old Medford native, and two others, and injured more than 260. Now they’re deciding whether he spends the rest of his life in prison or gets sentenced to death.

“Krystle was the light of my life,’’ her father, William Campbell Jr., told the jury during the prosecution’s questioning. “I always called her princess.’’

In addition to describing Campbell as a sister and daughter, her brother and father recalled the day of her death. The family was told in error that Campbell was in surgery, but doctors were actually working on Karen Rand, her best friend. The two had been at the marathon together. Campbell had died hours earlier at the scene. Rand held her hand as she died.

“I miss hugging her,’’ her father said. “She never left the house without giving me a hug. I miss the hug.’’

Her brother, William Campbell III, said, “You just always expect them to be there. Then they’re not.’’

The jury was shown photos of Campbell on her first birthday, at first communion, and at prom, as well as her in footie pajamas and in a leotard.

Tsarnaev’s defense team did not cross-examine Campbell’s relatives. The first day of the trial’s sentencing phase featured graphic testimony from survivors, including videos and photos from immediately after the bombing.