Manila, Philippines – Philippine authorities on Wednesday found the body of a missing American Peace Corps volunteer in a northern mountain town where she disappeared during a hike more than a week ago, an army general said.
Maj. Gen. Rodrigo Maclang told The Associated Press the body of Julia Campbell, 40, from Fairfax, Va., was found buried with one foot protruding from the ground near the village of Batad.
Campbell went missing April 8 in the area about 160 miles north of Manila. Police have said earlier she may have fallen off a cliff.
Provincial police chief Senior Superintendent Pedro Ganir said by telephone that Campbell, wearing blue denim jeans, black shirt and a shawl, was last seen buying soda from a local store.
She was only wearing sandals and had bought a bus ticket to return to Manila by April 9, indicating she did not plan to extend her stay or make a long hike to a spot to view the Banaue’s famed mountainside rice terraces, he said.
Campbell is one of 137 Peace Corps volunteers currently in the Philippines. She has been teaching English at the Divine Word College in Albay province’s Legazpi city, southeast of Manila, since October 2006. She previously taught at a public school in Donsol in nearby Sorsogon province, said Nora Gallano, assistant dean of Divine Word’s College of Liberal Arts.
