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By Cheryl Johns
Review Staff Writer
CLEVELAND--The city of Cleveland is divided into two prominate areas,
the east side and the west side. Meeting another Clevelander anywhere else
in the world will result in one question-- "Where do you live, the east
side or the west side?" Although today the division isn't as jarring as it
once was, there remains an intense competition between residents on both
sides of the city as to the benefits and rewards on living on one or the
other side of town.
One other matter separates Clevelanders, and it has nothing to do with
the location of your home; rather, it concerns the guilt or innocence of
Dr. Sam Sheppard.
45 years after the sensational murder, the matter of Sheppard's guilt
or innocence still causes frequent debates and arguments among Cuyahoga
County residents, and, in truth, among a large part of the citizenry of
the entire country.
Dr. Sam Sheppard and his wife, Marilyn Reese Sheppard, resided in the
tiny affluent suburb of Bay Village, 16 miles west of Cleveland and
located directly on the shores of Lake Erie. Dr. Sam, his two brothers,
Dr. Richard and Dr. Steve, were all conncected with Bay View Hospital,
founded and still directed by Dr. Sam's father, Dr. R.A. Sheppard.
In July of 1954, Dr. Sam and Marilyn were the parents of one son, seven
year old Sam Reese Sheppard (at that time called Chip). Marilyn was four
months pregnant with a second child
Neither Dr. Sam nor Marilyn lived on the west side originally. Their
roots were in Cleveland Heights where the popular couple had graduated
from Cleveland Heights High School in the 1940's. Dr. R.A. Sheppard had
founded his original clinic in the inner city on the east side.
A year ahead of Dr. Sam in school, Marilyn was a student at Skidmore
College in New York. Sam finished his senior year, busy with athletics,
organizations, and social events. He was an amazingly popular student,
always elected president of his class, a gracious successful athlete, no
question the darling of the Sheppard family.
Marilyn did not lag behind in the popularity contest. She was a
beautiful brunette, smart, sassy, and schooled in social graces. In 1945,
Sam entered the Los Angeles College of Osteopathic Physicians and
Surgeons. He asked Marilyn to marry him and they spent the next few years
in California while Dr. Sam finished school. In due time their son was
born, and the family enjoyed the beaches and ocean life available in
California.
Inevitably, Dr. Sam's father lured his son back from the sunny shores
in Los Angeles to the colder, but no less beautiful shores of Lake Erie.
The couple found a pleasant if not ostentatious house where they quickly
settled in among the residents, enjoying boating and swimming in the lake
and joining their friends and neighbors for out-door barbecues.
Dr. Sam was busy at the clinic, but always found time to join his
neighbors for relaxing parties or casual hot-dog roasts on the cliffs
above the lake. Dr. Sam was occasionally called away from these events
because of an emergency at the clinic, and he would return exhausted,
often falling asleep before the evening ended. It was well known among his
friends and associates that he was a deep sleeper. Marilyn often found it
impossible to wake her husband for whatever reason.
The marriage was considered fairly solid, although there was talk that
Dr. Sam had a "wandering eye", and that Marilyn "dressed and acted
provocatively" when men were around. Nonetheless, the couple was excited
when Marilyn became pregnant and looked ahead to having a second child.
On July 3, 1954, the Sheppards were spending the evening with Don and
Nancy Ahern and their two children. Marilyn was preparing dinner for the
two families, so the Aherns, who lived five lots away, hosted pre-dinner
cocktails. Dr. Sam had had a busy and unpleasant day at the clinic.
Despite heroic efforts to save his life, a young boy who was hit by a
truck died. Several boating accidents kept Dr. Sam at the clinic, and he
was called away from the cocktail party to attend to another injury.
After the dinner, Dr. Sam and Don Ahern spent time with their children.
Ahern took his two children home to bed and returned to the Sheppards. The
two couples settled down to watch a movie on T.V., but Dr. Sam soon moved
to a day bed where he promptly fell asleep. The Aherns went home soon
after midnight. Marilyn went upstairs to bed.
This is the end of any normalcy in the lives of the Sheppard family,
their friends and acquaintances. One single act of horrific proportions
was to change the trial system and newspaper reporting forever, and
reaching eventually to the United States Supreme Court.
The story takes on a life of its own; one that most Americans over 55
know in some capacity. The Sam Sheppard murder case conjures memories of
"a bushy-haired assailant", calls for the arrest of the "wife murderer",
coverage of a trial by nationally recognized newspersons, and a perception
that despite his high-profile life, Dr. Sam Sheppard will be found guilty
for the murder of his wife.
Dr. Sam's story is vaguely familiar to most; he was awakened by an
intruder, a struggle ensued which wound its way down the cliff to the
lake, an injury causing unconsciousness, and the discovery of his wife's
bloody and battered body in her bed.
Dr. Sam phoned his neighbors, Bay Village's Mayor Spencer Houk and his
wife, Esther. The Houks and their teen-aged children were good friends,
but it had been whispered that Spen Houk spent an inordinate amount of
time at the Sheppards, much of it alone with Marilyn. Esther went
upstairs, viewed the body, and returned downstairs to verify what Dr. Sam
had seen.
The authorities were called and Dr. Sam's brothers came, hustling young
Sam Reese Sheppard out of the house, murmuring to him that "his mother was
with the angels." Authorities all agreed that Dr. Sam was injured. He
complained of neck pain, and bruises and swelling were noticeable. Dr. Sam
was whisked off to the clinic where his injuries were examined. He was
fitted with an orthopedic collar.
Marilyn's body was removed to the morgue where it was autopsied by Dr.
Samuel Gerber, Cuyahoga County coroner. Gerber soon heard innuendoes and
accusations that his office was dragging its feet in the investigation.
The residents were riled, determined that despite his upscale lifestyle,
Dr. Sam would pay the same price as any citizen who had committed
murder.
The city took on a mob mentality, fueled in great part by Louis
Seltzer, editor of the Cleveland Press. The paper screamed headlines every
day: "Why Isn't Sam Sheppard in Jail?", "Quit Stalling, Bring Him In",
"Gerber Tells of Surgery Tool Imprint on Marilyn's Pillow", "Why No
Inquest? Do It Now, Dr. Gerber."
Giving into public pressure, Dr. Gerber called an inquest on July 22
staged in a grade school gymnasium to accommodate large crowds. When Dr.
Sam's attorney tried to present evidence, he was shouted down and escorted
out of the gymnasium.
On July 30, Dr. Sam was arrested and jailed where he was detained until
August 16 when he was released on bail. On August 17 he was indicted by a
grand jury and rearrested. He would not be free for over ten years.
There is no question that the evidence that hurt Dr. Sam the most was
the testimony of Susan Hayes, a young lab technician in Los Angeles, with
whom Dr. Sam had had an affair. Hayes acknowledged that she and Dr. Sam
had sexual relations when she worked at Bay View, and that he had called
her after she moved to Los Angeles. He was in Los Angeles for an
osteopathic convention and took her to a party at the home of a doctor
where he was staying. Hayes admitted they stayed the night.
Hayes's revelations made an enormous impact on the public, but the
prosecutors were disappointed when she revealed Dr. Sam never talked about
divorce, nor did he promise her a future together.
On December 21, the jury returned with a guilty verdict. Dr. Sam was
sentenced to life imprisonment.
Sam Reese Sheppard was raised by his Uncle Stephen and Aunt Betty and
his two cousins. He was sent to Culver Military Academy when he was in the
eighth grade, but he never lost contact with his father. Dr. Sam never
stopped sending poignant letters to his son, and Sam Reese visited his
father in the penitentiary as often as he could.
The reverberations of the tragedy were endless. Two weeks after Dr. Sam
was found guilty, his mother, Ethel Niles Sheppard, Dr. Sam's mother,
committed suicide by shooting herself. Ten days later, Dr. Richard Allen
Sheppard, Dr. Sam's father, died of a hemorrhaging gastric ulcer and
suddenly worsened stomach cancer. Eight years later in 1963, Thomas Reese,
father of Marilyn, committed suicide with a shotgun.
Dr. Paul Leland Kirk, a renowned criminologist, became involved in the
Sheppard case in 1955. Kirk had a doctorate in biochemistry and was asked
to enter the case by Sheppard's attorney, Bill Corrigan.
Kirk came to Cleveland and applied his theory and science of
investigation to the crime scene. His findings could not be ignored, but
after publishing a 27 page affidavit and presenting it to the courts, the
presiding judge determined that nothing new of note was contained in
Kirk's investigation. Outrageous as this was, there had begun a noticeable
shift in public opinion about Dr. Sam.
In 1961, Paul Holmes, a writer from Chicago, published a book that said
the trial "rubbed luster from American jurisprudence." When Corrigan died
in 1961, the Sheppard family turned to Holmes for help in finding someone
to represent Dr. Sam. Holmes told the family about a young Boston
attorney, F. Lee Bailey, who upon reading Holmes' book about the trial,
was furious at what he perceived to be a gross "miscarriage of
justice."
In 1963, Bailey filed a habeas corpus motion in federal court. In July,
1994, ten years and twelve days after the murder, Judge Carl Weinman of
Dayton issued a blockbuster ruling. He ordered Dr. Sam released
immediately.
At the second trial in October and November of 1966, the jury found Dr.
Sam not guilty. Waiting for him were members of the Sheppard family,
including his son, Sam Reese Sheppard, now 19 years old. Also waiting was
the woman who would soon be Dr. Sam's second wife, a blond, glamorous
German divorcee. Her name was Ariane Tebbenjohanns and she had read about
Dr. Sam in a magazine, and after her divorce from a steel industry heir in
1957, she sent a contribution to F. Lee Bailey toward the defense. She
write to Dr. Sam and in 1963 she received permission to visit him at the
Ohio Penitentiary. Ariane moved to Columbus permanently.
After Dr. Sam's release, they were married in Chicago. Sam Reese was at
Culver when his father was released and went to live with him for awhile.
He entered Boston University and spent a great amount of time with Bailey
and his family. He recognized that his father was deteriorating mentally
and physically.
Sheppard's life went quickly downhill. He was readmitted to the
practice of medicine but lost his license after several malpractice suits.
In 1968 Ariane filed for divorce citing several instances of physical
abuse, and while under the influence of drugs and alcohol, he had stolen
her money.
Dr. Sam surfaced again in 1969 where he appeared as a pro wrestler. In
1969 he and Colleen Strickland, the 20 year-old daughter of his wrestling
manager, announced that they had been married in Mexico.
Dr. Sam Sheppard died on April 6, 1970, of liver failure. After Dr.
Sam's death, his son slipped from the public eye. After college he worked
as a dental technician in Boston and refused to talk about the bad
memories.
Moved by Norman Mailer's book, "Executioner's Song" in 1979, he was
further influenced when he saw a picture of the young children of a
convicted murderer standing outside the fence of a Texas prison. Sam Reese
became active in a group of families of murder victims who oppose the
death penalty. This cause would become his life's work.
Dr. Steve Sheppard and his wife Betty now live in Oregon. His Uncle
Richard's widow lives in Florida. |