True Crime thread

MichaelWinicki

MichaelWinicki

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Let's talk the Sam Sheppard case...

Maybe you've heard of it, maybe you haven't.

The TV series "The Fugitive" was based on it.

Some background:

Some time after midnight on the 4th of July 1954, in a suburb of Cleveland, along Lake Erie, Marilyn Sheppard was beaten to death in her bed. Her husband Dr. Sam Sheppard called a neighbor around 6:00 to report that someone had killed his wife. The neighbor came over and the police were called (there was no "911" at this point).

Sam's story is that he was sleeping on the couch downstairs when he heard his wife scream in the middle of the night. He has no idea what the time is, doesn't turn on a light and while groggy heads up stairs (the stairway is right next to the couch he was sleeping on).

Near the top of the stairs he sees a form in Marilyn's room but then someone clubs him from behind and he is knocked unconscious.

Eventually he comes too, goes to Marilyn laying on the bed (still does not turn on a light), checks her pulse, decides she is dead and then he goes and checks on his son in another bedroom. The child was unharmed.

He then hears something or something ruffling through stuff downstairs– he heads down there,

At the bottom of the stairs, he is jumped again, rendered unconscious via a choke hold. When he comes to, he is lying at the edge of Lake Erie– not far from his home.

There is now some daylight. He returns to him home, verifies his wife is dead and calls his neighbor, who also happens to be the mayor of the community the Sheppard's are living in.
 
JohnnyTheFox

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MichaelWinicki said:
Let's talk the Sam Sheppard case...

Maybe you've heard of it, maybe you haven't.

The TV series "The Fugitive" was based on it.

Some background:

Some time after midnight on the 4th of July 1954, in a suburb of Cleveland, along Lake Erie, Marilyn Sheppard was beaten to death in her bed. Her husband Dr. Sam Sheppard called a neighbor around 6:00 to report that someone had killed his wife. The neighbor came over and the police were called (there was no "911" at this point).

Sam's story is that he was sleeping on the couch downstairs when he heard his wife scream in the middle of the night. He has no idea what the time is, doesn't turn on a light and while groggy heads up stairs (the stairway is right next to the couch he was sleeping on).

Near the top of the stairs he sees a form in Marilyn's room but then someone clubs him from behind and he is knocked unconscious.

Eventually he comes too, goes to Marilyn laying on the bed (still does not turn on a light), checks her pulse, decides she is dead and then he goes and checks on his son in another bedroom. The child was unharmed.

He then hears something or something ruffling through stuff downstairs– he heads down there,

At the bottom of the stairs, he is jumped again, rendered unconscious via a choke hold. When he comes to, he is lying at the edge of Lake Erie– not far from his home.

There is now some daylight. He returns to him home, verifies his wife is dead and calls his neighbor, who also happens to be the mayor of the community the Sheppard's are living in.
Click to expand...

Before my time but what a strange case.
If Sam didn't do it, who was responsible then?
 
NorthoftheRedRiver

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From what I've read, the Black Dahlia case just mesmerized California. It was the biggest story ever. I'm not sure how much it was followed across the nation, but the West Coast would talk about nothing else for months.
 
MichaelWinicki

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JohnnyTheFox said:
Before my time but what a strange case.
If Sam didn't do it, who was responsible then?
Click to expand...

There was little in the way of physical evidence to connect Sheppard to the death of his wife and that's what finally got him out of prison in 1966, courtesy of F. Lee Bailey.

What got him into prison was the shear outlandishness of his original story:

-He was sleeping on the couch next to the stairway and heard his wife make a noise which caused him to head up the stairs. Keep in mind the house was dark, and even though there was a light switch next to the stairs he never turned it on.
-He saw a "form" as he reached the top of the stairs (even though Sheppard supposedly came in contact with this individual twice he was never able to offer any sort of description) and this form "knocks out" Sheppard.
-Sheppard comes to, checks on his wife who believes is dead, then goes and checks on his 7-yo son in another bedroom who is still sleeping. He hears ruffling sounds downstairs and goes down the stairs (without turning any lights on) where he sees this "form" once again, and once again he is rendered unconscious by said "form".
-He wakes up outside he residence, laying next to the water. He finds that he's no longer wearing the T-shirt he went to be with.
-He then calls his neighbor, the mayor of the community he was living in, before he calls the police.

That's a heck of a story to swallow and most didn't in 1954, which caused the guilty verdict in his first trial.

Think of all the things that occurred:
-Sheppard was sleeping on the couch next the stairs– Why wasn't he killed initially? If someone was intent on murdering his wife, wouldn't you think they would kill the husband who's sleeping right next to the stairs the perp was going to have to climb in order to reach Sheppard's wife?
-Sheppard never turns on any lights even though he passed by the light switch twice. Nor did he turn on any lights in his wife's bedroom after he came to the first time.
-Their son who was sleeping upstairs never heard a thing
-Sheppard's wife was beaten with something many times– as many as 35 times. It was going to take time to kill her.
-Sheppard was a big guy– After he was released from prison in 1966, he became a professional wrestler. But somehow he was knocked out twice by someone. I personally have never heard of any murder case where a potential witness was knocked out twice by an assailant.
-How did Sheppard end up by the edge of the lake? Without his T-shirt?

Then we have these other facts that came out as part of the investigation, none of with point to Sheppard as being the killer, but...

-The Sheppard's had a house guest, who by chance was not home that evening
-The Sheppard's had a dog, who made no noise during the murder or the times Sheppard was being knocked out.
-The only things taken were a couple of not-very-exciting jewelry items and they were found in a burlap bag, in a bush next to the house
-Sheppard had been having a 3 year affair with a nurse

The "burglary" aspect was quickly looked upon as a "joke". The house wasn't broken into in order to rob the place.

Marilyn Sheppard had a couple broken teeth which it appeared that she had bit her assailant. There was no bruising about the mouth and lips so it did not seem that she was beaten about the face as a reason for the broken teeth. Sam Sheppard had no bite mark or similar "beating" marks on his body. He did go to a physician who said Sam Sheppard had a concussion but who's to say how accurate the diagnose was. Keep in mind this was 1954 and they did not have the electronic gear to judge such things.

Also relevant to the case is that a couple neighbors saw a "bushy haired man" near the Sheppard house during the time of the murder.

So while Sheppard's story was so far-fetched, there was little physical evidence to connect him to the murder.
 
MichaelWinicki

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Seven

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Twenty-five years ago, two young hikers decided to do what many people do for exercise, relaxation and sport—hike through the Shenandoah National Park; however, their journey ended when they were murdered at their backcountry campsite near Skyland Resort.

The bodies of 24-year-old, Julianne “Julie” Williams and 26-year-old, Laura “Lollie” Winans, were found by park rangers on June 1, 1996, after Lollie’s dog—Taj, was located wandering the paths and turned over to rangers.

Capital murder charges were eventually brought against a Maryland man who served time for an attempted abduction at Shenandoah National Park, but DNA cleared him in the case. Forensic evidence at the scene indicated the presence of two men, neither of which could have been the Darrell David Rice, the man arrested.

The FBI has updated the "Seeking Information" posters with additional photos of Julie and Lollie. The investigation into their murder continues to be a joint effort by the FBI Richmond Field Office, the National Park Service, and the Virginia State Police.

I wonder if the perp(s) are still among us......
 
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