What Happened to 'Jerry Springer' Murder Victim Nancy Campbell-Panitz?

The Jerry Springer Show, known for its knockout fights, always seemed like a breeding ground for potential real-life confrontations. Where did the guests’ rage go when the cameras stopped rolling, after all? That was never more apparent than after the 2000 murder of Nancy Campbell-Panitz, who was killed by ex-husband Ralf Panitz two months after they filmed an episode about love triangles. 

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The new Netflix docuseries Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action shines a spotlight on her violent death and features an interview with her son Jeffrey Campbell, who calls out producers for allegedly manipulating his mom.

“As far as my mother going on the show, it was shocking to say the least,” he says in the doc. “I was pretty surprised when she told me about going on the show … She didn’t like having her pictures taken much. She always had to hide her face or hide behind something, so to see her up there on the stage, just looking like a deer caught in the headlights, like, ‘What is going on here?'”

Unlike many guests on the show, Campbell-Panitz didn’t engage in any yelling nor physical attacks on air; on the contrary, she walked offstage when she realized she was being ambushed. 

“I just wish I could go back and say, ‘Don’t do it,'” Campbell says.

Keep reading for more about the tragic story. 

What happened to Jerry Springer murder victim Nancy Campbell-Panitz?

Nancy Campbell-Panitz was beaten and choked by ex-husband Ralf Panitz in July 2000, shortly after her episode of The Jerry Springer Show, in which she was confronted by her ex and his new wife, Eleanor, aired.

According to her son, who was interviewed for Netflix’s Fights, Camera, Action, Campbell-Panitz thought she was being brought onto the show to reunite with her ex, who was from Germany. 

“My mother believed that Ralf had been deported to Germany and that the show was going to pay for his travel back to America, and that they would reconcile, and that he would tell his new girlfriend that he wanted to be with my mother,” Campbell says in the doc. (The couple divorced in 1999 but continued to live together in some capacity after the fact, despite Panitz marrying Eleanor in March 2000.)

Prosecutors said they believe Panitz, who reportedly watched the episode in a bar, flew into a rage because a judge had just barred him from living in his ex-wife’s house. 

Related: Jerry Springer’s Big Apology

Where is Ralf Panitz now?

Panitz was found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole. He’s currently in jail. 

Circuit Judge Nancy Donnellan passed down the sentencing in May 2002.

“Ralf Panitz, Eleanor Panitz and Nancy Campbell were brought to Chicago by the Jerry Springer Show, then manipulated by producers of that show,” Donnellan said at the sentencing. “Are ratings more important than the dignity of human life? Shame on you. Shame on you.”

Panitz did not enter the courtroom, choosing instead to hear his fate from another room at the Sarasota County Judicial Center.

“Ralf Panitz, this is how she died,” Donnellan said, holding up a photo of Campbell-Panitz’s brutalized face so he could see it through a camera. “I sentence you to the only just sentence in this case, life in prison without the possibility of parole.” She had the option to sentence him to as little as 20 years.

The Jerry Springer Show aired for another 16 years. 

Related: Jerry Springer Laid to Rest in Intimate Ceremony