Carina Lujambio would have been celebrating her eldest child’s 24th birthday on Thanksgiving Day. Instead, she will be planning a memorial service for two of her sons and their father.

All three were fatally shot on Nov. 15 in what authorities in Anderson County, Texas, said was a massacre of members of two families who had gathered to camp on private land in a rural area about 100 miles southeast of Dallas.

Six people were killed in what District Attorney Allyson Mitchell called “the single most horrific crime” in the county’s modern history.

The land had recently been purchased by Lujambio’s ex-husband, Thomas Kamp, 46, of Midlothian, Texas.


Two of their four sons, Nathan Kamp, 23, and Austin Kamp, 21, who lived in Oceanside, had gone to visit their father and planned to celebrate Nathan’s birthday. They had been joined by Thomas Kamp’s girlfriend, who also was slain, as was her 6-year-old son and her father.

William Hudson, 33, who owned property adjacent to the campsite, is charged with six counts of capital murder. Few details have been released, and a motive for the slayings has not been disclosed. Lujambio declined to discuss details of the case, saying she did not want to jeopardize the investigation.

She described Nathan and Austin as best friends who were “inseparable” throughout their lives. Lujambio said her ex-husband was an incredible father, and that he had remained her best friend despite their divorce.

She said the young men were devoted to their younger brothers, Roland, 13, and Quinton, 15, who live with their mother, two Alaskan malamutes and a cat in Carlsbad, where Lujambio is a Realtor.


Their mother said Nathan and Austin loved to surf, snow ski and river raft. They loved roller coasters. They shared the same friends growing up. Their personalities were exuberant, she said.

“They would walk in a room and everyone would look at them and smile,” she said.

Austin and Nathan Kamp, pictured in 2007. / Courtesy Kamp family

They attended Carlsbad High School in 2007 and 2008 before moving to Texas. Missing California, they moved back in 2012 and lived together in Oceanside.


At Carlsbad High, Austin played bassoon in the band.

“He had a huge musical gift,” his mother said, adding that he excelled in everything.

“He never really had to try, everything came so easily to him,” she said. “People just clung to him and followed him.”

She said Nathan was “everybody’s angel.” As the first child, she said nearly “every moment of his first six months” are documented in family photograph albums. Lujambio was 20 years old when he was born.


The siblings had planned to join their mother and form a family real-estate brokerage. Austin was studying for a real-estate license. Nathan worked in sales and customer service for GreatCall in Carlsbad, which provides health and safety services for seniors. He was the company’s No. 1 salesman the last several years, and also provided elderly customers with technical support for their cell phones, his mother said.

Austin’s girlfriend, Samantha Brown, was an extended member of the close-knit family. They were together since age 14, Lujambio said.

Austin and Nathan Kamp. (Courtesy Kamp family)

A memorial was held in Texas last weekend for the Kamps and for Hannah Johnson, 40, her son, Kade, and her father, Karl Johnson, 76. Authorities said Hannah died of blunt-force trauma. Her father and son were shot. Johnson’s wife, Cynthia, was the lone survivor. She told authorities she hid after hearing gunshots.


Lujambio is planning a memorial for her sons and their father on Dec. 5. It will be held at 10 a.m. at North Coast Church in Vista. Her 85-year-old father, who has lived in South America for 15 years, has come to join the family. She said she is getting strength from relatives, friends and faith.

She wants the memorial to celebrate lives that, while cut short, had been full of love and laughter.

“I am going to celebrate the 21 and 24 years I had with them,” she said.

A fund-raising site has been set up on GoFundMe to help pay for funeral expenses and to support the two younger Kamp children. To donate, go to the Kamp/Lujambio Memorial Fund at gofundme.com/tdbd2edg.