Krystle Campbell has been identified as the second victim killed in the Boston Marathon terror attacks on Monday.
Krystle Campbell was a 29-year-old steakhouse manager who went to the race every year.
Doctors initially told her father, William Campbell Jr., that Krystle had survived the bombing and was undergoing surgery but had mistaken her for her friend.
William Campbell spent 12 hours believing his daughter had survived and only learned the truth after going into the post-operating room and saw his daughter’s friend instead.
“We had the doctors come out and tell us everything they did [on the survivor] – and it wasn’t our daughter,” William Campbell said.
Krystle Campbell went with her pal, Karen Rand, to cheer on Karen’s boyfriend.
They were struck by the first blast as they waited near the finish line.
William Campbell rushed to the hospital and felt relieved when doctors said they were operating on their daughter’s leg at Massachusetts General Hospital.
But when nurses brought them into a post-operating room around 2 a.m. he saw Karen Rand instead.
“I said, <<That’s not my daughter, that’s Karen! Where’s my daughter?>>. The doctors were as shocked as we were,” William Campbell said.
A Boston detective later showed them a photo of Krystle Campbell, who worked as a manager at Jimmy’s Steakhouse.
“I almost passed out on the floor,” William Campbell said as he was about to view his daughter’s body.
“She was the best person you’d ever meet. She helped everybody,” he said.
“I don’t care who you were, she was always there.”
Krystle Campbell was one of the three victims killed in the two blasts that came just seconds apart. The first victim identified was 8-year-old Martin Richard.
There were 176 people injured in the attack, and 17 people remain in critical condition. As many as 10 people suffered a lost limb, including two children.
“My daughter was the most lovable girl. She helped everybody, and I’m just so shocked right now. We’re just devastated,” William Campbell said.
“She was a wonderful, wonderful girl. Always willing to lend a hand.”
Krystle Campbell went to watch the Boston Marathon every year, according to Boston.com.
She attended the University of Massachusetts-Boston and was a graduate of Medford High School.
Her grandmother, Lillian Campbell of Somerville, Massachusetts, said Krystle had just moved to the town a short time ago.
Krystle Campbell was living with her grandmother to care for her during an illness for the past couple of years.
Lillian Campbell said that her granddaughter “was just beautiful”.
“She was fun, outgoing person. She was always there to help somebody. All her friends loved her.
“The family is besides themselves now because something happened to her,” the grandmother said.
Before working at the steakhouse, Krystle Campbell was a manager at the Summer Shack.
“The Summer Shack family is devastated by the loss of our beloved Krystle Campbell. Please keep her & her family in your thoughts & prayers,” the popular restaurant tweeted this afternoon.
William Campbell had harsh words for whoever carried out the attack.
“I’m very angry. I hope they catch the bastard and fry him,” he said of whoever perpetrated the worst terror attack on U.S. soil since 9/11.
“I can’t understand it – someone doing that. People are out there enjoying a beautiful day and then to have this happen.
“And then the little boy that passed,” he told The New York Daily News, referring to 8-year-old Martin Richard.
“It’s totally tragic.”
The mayor of Medford, Massachusetts., Krystle Campbell’s hometown, said he had attempted to console William Campbell.
“Mr. Campbell said that she certainly was a dream daughter, the daughter that every father dreams to have and friends of hers said that she was eager about life,” Mayor Michael McGlynn said, according to Reuters.
“She had a great sense of humor and freckles and red hair that brought her right to her Irish roots. She was someone who worked hard at everything she did,” Michael McGlynn said.
“Another friend said she may have been a little loud at times but it was a loudness you loved.”
A former colleague of Krystle Campbell’s, Steve Sullivan of Pembroke, MA, told BuzzFeed that Krystle was “a beautiful person” and “an angel”.
“Whenever I saw her she always had a smile on her face.”
