Hello and welcome to Just Melissa.

On this episode, I'm going to be telling you about the campground conspiracy, the murder of Travis Columpet.

A meeting at a quiet Idaho campground, a husband hoping for reconciliation,

and a wife who showed up with a plan.

Before the night was over, a 37-year-old father would be dead,

and investigators would unravel a plot stretching across state lines,

involving not just a wife, but a mother-in-law who helped plan and execute the killing.

A story of betrayal, deception, and a dash cam recording that told the truth when no one else would.

This is the murder of Travis Haywood Columpet.

It was July 12, 2004 at Martin Landing Campground, a quiet, rustic stretch of land at the confluence of the snake and Boise rivers.

Families fished, couples camped, and somewhere in Area A-13, a meeting was about to begin.

Travis Columpet had driven out that evening believing he and his estranged wife,

Melissa Faye Columpet, were going to talk about getting back together. After years of a

turbulent, on-again, off-again relationship, which ended in divorce in 2018, and then they remarried in 2020 and then separated again in

2004. But Travis thought there still might be a chance. A friend told investigators that Travis

told us he really hoped this was the start of things getting better, that he wanted peace.

But what Travis didn't know was that Melissa wasn't coming alone.

She was driving in from Battle Mountain Nevada with her mother, Rosalie Morris.

And according to court documents, they weren't coming to talk. They were coming to

kill him. Prosecutors would later reveal a chilling detail. The night before the murder on July 11th,

Melissa, Rosalie, and another relative allegedly held what Rosalie later called a quote-unquote family meeting,

and Rosalie stated that they discussed how to get rid of Travis for good.

...