‘Miracle child’ cut from womb still beating the odds 18 years after mom’s murder
Salvador Camacho Campos is a bright, gentle and charismatic young man who sports an affectionate smile and kempt white dress shirt under a pair of honor cords.
He was one of the nearly 650 Chiawana High School graduates who crossed the commencement stage June 6 in front of thousands of attendees at Edgar Brown Stadium in Pasco.
After receiving his diploma, Salvador cradled the hard-earned degree while walking off the stage. Marching across the field, he turned to the home stands and, in a brief moment of triumph and relief, he lifted his accomplishment to the sky.
Then came some tears.
That moment wasn’t just for him. It was for his father, his siblings, his mentors, friends and, perhaps most of all, for his mother, who he knew was watching over him.
“It was a very emotional event,” he said.
Salvador Camacho Campos is a blessing in every sense of the word — a miracle child, even — and proof that even a bit of good can come from unimaginable loss, suffering and tragedy.
He entered the world three weeks before his mother, Araceli Camacho Gomez, 27, was due to deliver him. A woman cut him from his mother’s womb and attempted to pass baby Salvador off as her own in a grisly crime that shook the Mid-Columbia region to its core.
His mother was targeted and murdered on June 27, 2008, drawn to her fate under the guise of receiving a donation of baby clothes.
Salvador nearly died soon after.
He was not breathing when paramedics were called to help a woman who claimed she’d given birth in her car. And in the coming days, doctors at Deaconess Medical Center in Spokane would doubt if he would meet developmental milestones and live a full life.
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Still, his father, Juan Felipe Campos Gomez, now 53, of Pasco, never lost hope — empowered by the Tri-Cities community, the single father of three found the ability to move forward and raise his children. And baby Salvador persisted and recovered.
The commencement for Chiawana’s Class of 2026 marked an important milestone for the family still struggling 18 years on with the loss of their matriarch.
After the ceremony, a proud Salvador embraced his older siblings — Juan Carlos Campos, 28, and Brenda Camacho Campos, 20, both of Kennewick — and placed his cap and gown on his dad.
A broad grin stretched across the elder Campos Gomez’s face, as his son uttered: “Because of you, I am who I am.”
‘I don’t blame myself anymore’
Salvador — whose name means as “savior” or “rescuer” — can light up a room.
He’s endlessly curious and passionate about gaming on his Xbox, TikTok, theme parks, chatting with his friends online, and has found a recent passion for mixology.
But it took a journey for him to learn who he was, to shrug off those who doubted his abilities, to get to graduation day and, ultimately, to come to peace with his mother’s absence.
The day after graduation, sitting on the backyard patio of Ana Armijo, the family’s longtime interpreter, Salvador spoke effortlessly through tears and smiles.
“When I was younger, I always felt like it was my fault,” Salvador said, wiping his eyes.
“If I wasn’t born, she would still have her mother,” he said, gesturing to his older sister. “And I never wanted to feel like that because I couldn’t do anything about what happened. I was still unborn, I didn’t know what was going on.
“For many, many years throughout my elementary and early pre-K and middle school, I silently blamed myself — not anymore — that it was my fault why she didn’t have a mother, why he didn’t have a mom, why he didn’t have his wife. But when I got older, I realized I couldn’t do anything... To this day, I don’t blame myself anymore. I’m happy for all of them,” he said.
Salvador said he was told by elementary students and some doubting teachers that he wouldn’t amount to much or that he wouldn’t graduate. He was told he “wasn’t smart enough” for the diploma — it was always a “constant letdown.”
He grew up with a learning disability and spent time in special education classes at Virgie Robinson Elementary and Ochoa Middle School.
He ultimately learned to thrive at school. During his time in high school, he worked at the student store, front office and at the library. Salvador has an entrepreneurial spirit and an attitude that brightened classmates’ days.
He knew he could do it. He knew what people were saying about him “was bull.”
“Like, If I could put my mind to it and do it, I can do it. If I set my mind to anything, I can do it,” he said. “I believed in myself. I believed in my brother, that he could graduate. I believed in my sister. I believed in my dad. I did this for everyone.”
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Freshman year was a struggle. He got into some fights, and thought about quitting high school. But Salvador ultimately finished all his credits to graduate in January — which left some time to have fun this spring.
Salvador says he feels proud of himself for what he did — so is his family.
“We’re super proud of him that he graduated, and on time,” said Juan Carlos Campos.
“And with better grades than both of us,” Brenda Camacho Campos interjected.
“Honestly, that surprised me,” a smiling Juan Carlos Campos added.
“I’m thankful that my children are healthy, that Salvador has grown and has healed in a very big way,” his dad said through Armijo. “That has helped me a lot, for his healing, because there is a lot he can do for himself.”
And the two remain close.
“It’s been a beautiful journey. I would never trade my father for a different one,” he said. “I will always be by my dad’s side, no matter what. Even if we argue, even if I’m mad at him — I’ll still manage to help him because he’s my dad.”
Graduation reunion
Retired Benton County Prosecutor Andy Miller secured the guilty conviction in the case against the killer, Phiengchai Sisouvanh Synhavong. She’s currently serving a life sentence without parole.
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During the trial, Miller remembers Salvador as a toddler who was “always on the run.”
“He’s an amazing young man, and I was overcome with his enthusiasm for life and positive attitude,” Miller said while visiting with the family at the post-graduation gathering. “I’m so glad that Juan asked Ana for me to come (to the post-graduation gathering), because the other thing is I just love how Salvador interacts with his dad and his brother and sister, and you can just tell how proud they are.”
Juan Campos Gomez took some time to thank Miller for his support over the years and for securing the justice that has helped their family to move on in life. Miller said most don’t like to see his face after the fact because it reminds them of a bad time in their life.
He described that the family is doing much better these days. The eldest, Juan Carlos Campos, is married and works delivering heavy machine rentals, and Brenda Camacho Campos — who has a carnation tattoo on her forearm with her mother’s name — is working as a caretaker.
But the entire family still struggles with Araceli's absence, said Juan Campos Gomez.
“Brenda, I think her mother was essential for her,” he said through Armijo. “I think she needs her like a friend, now that she’s older. But she has learned how to understand the situation, and that life gives us a way of living our lives differently than most others. But I’m very proud of all of them.”
“They understand each other because they know the loss of their mother and the relationship with their father is different from what it would be with their mother,” the father continued. “The mom has the heart to understand them.”
“OK, stop,” Miller interrupted. “I don’t want to argue with you. You’re not giving yourself near enough credit.”
But Juan Campos Gomez said he still has moments where he’s felt lost, has been unable to know what to do or questions why this all happened in the first place. He wonders if he should have protected Araceli more. Miller reassured him, saying that sometimes there’s “evil in the world that we can’t beat.”
“I always tried to have a safe place for her and to always be with her, because ever since we left Mexico I’ve never left her on her own, I never fought with her, we never had any problems, and she was a very good person,” Juan Campos Gomez said. “She was a very good person, very good to me. And that’s why I have to be thankful to her by taking care of her children.”
Body found in park
In nearly three dozen stories spanning four years, the Tri-City Herald chronicled Sisouvanh Synhavong’s arrest, trial and conviction and the family’s plight.
The Kennewick paramedics were called to help Sisouvanh Synhavong and newborn Salvador at 11 p.m. June 27 near the intersection of Kellogg Street and Metaline Avenue. They were able to revive the bleeding baby after he’d been without oxygen or a pulse for an unknown amount of time.
Sisouvanh Synhavong, then 23, told police she had just given birth in her Acura but thought the baby had died. Medical examinations later determined she had not given birth.
Araceli’s body was found around 1 a.m. the next day with several stab wounds.
She had met Sisouvanh Synhavong the day before while standing with her two children at a bus stop near their home.
Sisouvanh Synhavong is of Laotian descent and grew up in a concentration camp in Thailand where she experienced severe physical, emotional and sexual abuse. Before she killed Araceli, she had convinced her own family that she was pregnant.
The case went to trial in October 2010. After 11 days of testimony, it took the jury just six hours to find her guilty of aggravated first-degree murder.
A Richland psychologist, Philip Barnard, who spent extensive time evaluating her in the months leading up to trial, testified that she was suffered from pseudologia fantastica and disassociative disorder and “couldn’t tell right from wrong.”
But the jury rejected claims that she didn’t know what she was doing.
Benton County Judge Robert Swisher sentenced her to life, saying it was “in effect a death sentence. You will die in prison.”
The death penalty was still legal in Washington state then, but Miller told the Herald at the time they did not pursue capital punishment because there was “virtually no chance” it would be upheld by a state Supreme Court because of Sisouvanh Synhavong’s clean record.
Regardless, Araceli’s family said then that they supported Miller to “do the right thing.”
Juan Carlos Campos, then 13, testified at the trial about their bus stop encounter with Sisouvanh Synhavong, who told them she would stop by that afternoon to drop some clothes off.
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That evening, after Juan Campos Gomez returned from working in a cherry orchard, he took their two kids to the grocery store, but returned to find the door to their home open and the TV and lights on.
Another pregnant witness also would testify that Sisouvanh Synhavong had approached her with an offer of baby clothes.
‘A good future ahead of them’
Just days after the 2010 verdict, the family met at Columbia Park at a bench and plaque erected near the site where Araceli was killed.
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As 2-year-old Salvador sprinted along the path, Juan Campos Gomez told the Herald, “I’m glad it’s over because we’ve been waiting for it. But it really didn’t change my life for the better. My wife is gone. The mother of my children is gone.”
The family still regularly visits that spot to reflect and chat.
“We have felt a lot of her absence, her love and care that we probably still need,” Juan Campos Gomez said Spanish through his son.
A large part of why the family chose to stay in the Tri-Cities was because of the support they received from the community immediately after Araceli’s murder.
Judge Norma Rodriguez, a longtime Tri-Cities defense attorney who now serves on the Benton-Franklin Superior Court bench, helped with community fundraising efforts for the family and was a key connector for resources.
Orchardists, agriculture workers, businesses, and others around the Tri-Cities raised tens of thousands of dollars and gave notes of sympathy to the grief-stricken family. They piled on resources and donated their expertise to help raise Salvador and get Juan Campos Gomez back on his feet.
“The community really poured out back then, and there was a lot of donations that came in for them,” Rodriguez recounted.
That money was first used to return Araceli’s body to Zapapon, Mexico, where she now rests in a basilica. Then, Juan Campos Gomez bought a disheveled home to fix up, where he could raise his kids.
He and Salvador still live there.
Rodriguez said she is “beyond proud” to see Salvador come this far from tragedy.
“They have a good future ahead of them, and you can’t ask for anything more,” she said. “I’m also proud of Juan for raising the kids on his own with very little means, and being there for them whenever they needed it.”
Daydreaming and Disney trips
Salvador admits he’s an adventurer, but these days he’s taking things slower and contemplating. He’s daydreaming about what his next steps will be.
He’s done with school for a bit, and says college isn’t in the picture. Instead, he’s thinking about getting a job this fall with hopes to be a bartender some day. His father isn’t sure about that.
Miller is collecting funds to send Salvador and the family to Disneyland. He has opened a new account at HAPO credit union under "Andy Miller,” and anyone can go to a branch to donate to account 639-8360.
Salvador has never been.
The family also thanked Tom Roach and Roach & Bishop for their immigration work over the years, as well as the local Head Start program and anyone else who has helped over the years.
Salvador thanked his teachers, including Audeena Smith, Nicole Soto, Meaghan Callahan, Chad Murphy, Zulema Abastillas, front office staff Jessica Farias and Becky Rivera, as well as “all of CHS.”
And he looks forward to celebrating his 18th birthday on June 27.
“Never a boring moment. I always keep it fresh, I keep it energized,” he said. “I always manage to have fun. No matter the smallest things that I do, no matter what, I always manage to make a blast out of it.”
BEHIND THE STORY
MOREHow you can help
To donate to Salvador Camacho Campos’ Disneyland trip, contributors can go to any HAPO credit union branch and ask to deposit in account No. 639-8360, under “Andy Miller.”
