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‘RIP my darling’: Parents confirm daughter’s death in Manchester attack

Posted at 11:10 PM, May 23, 2017
and last updated 2017-05-23 23:10:10-04

The mother of 15-year-old Olivia Campbell — who attended the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester England, with a friend — confirmed her daughter’s death in a Facebook post.

“RIP my darling precious gorgeous girl Olivia Campbell taken far far too soon go sing with the angels and keep smiling mummy loves you so much,” Charlotte Campbell said the post on her Facebook page early Wednesday local time.

Charlotte Campbell told CNN that she has not heard from her daughter, Olivia Campbell, since the night of the Manchester Arena bombing on May 22, 2017. Olivia, 15, had gone to the Ariana Grande concert at the arena to celebrate a friend’s birthday. (CNN)

Olivia was registered as missing person No. 13 hours after the Manchester Arena bombing that killed 22 people.

“We thought she would have just walked home by that point,” Charlotte told CNN earlier on Tuesday.

Campbell had not heard from Olivia since Monday night. Her daughter had called her earlier in the evening, before a suspected suicide attacker detonated a bomb outside the arena as throngs of teenagers were leaving the show.

The suspected bomber died in the blast Monday night, which left the wounded and the dead scattered across the arena’s bloodied entrance and sent screaming girls running for cover, according to police.

“We’re going to (search) … and we’ll do it every single day until we find that little girl,” Olivia’s stepfather Paul Hodgson said in an earlier interview, his voice breaking. “Whatever it takes.”

Olivia had gone to the concert with her friend Adam to celebrate his birthday. Her stepfather said Olivia liked to sing herself. She loved music.

“It was like a dream come true to her,” Hodgson said of the concert.

Olivia had called her mother to say how happy she was to be at the arena. She was waiting for Ariana Grande to come on.

“She thanked me and said she loved me and that was the last I heard from her,” Campbell said earlier, close to tears.

When she learned about the attack, Campbell said, she notified the police, called local hospitals and, with the help of a friend, sent out descriptions of Olivia on Facebook and Twitter.

“I’m going to find her,” Hodgson said earlier. “I’m going to bring her home.”

Campbell and Hodgson had said they would continue sharing Olivia’s photos in hopes that someone has seen her.

“If one person sees it and that one person sees her, we can get her back,” he said. “That’s all we ask. We don’t want much …. At this present moment, we need our Oli back.”

“I love her so much,” Campbell said, in tears. “I want her home. I need her home. She is my baby. I miss her so much. If she is out there, just phone, just phone. I’ll be there. I don’t care where she is. I’ll be there.”