| Chronology |
| |
1945
|
|
Sam and Marilyn Sheppard marry.
|
|
|
| |
July
4, 1954 |
|
Early
morning: Marilyn Reese Sheppard, 31 and four months pregnant,
is found murdered on a twin bed in the bedroom of her Dutch
Colonial home in Bay Village, a suburb of Cleveland.
At 5:50 a.m., Bay Village Mayor Spencer Houk and his wife, Esther,
arrive at the Sheppard home after getting a call from Dr. Sheppard.
At 6:02 a.m., the first officer on scene, Fred Drenkhan, arrives.
Between 6 and 7:30 a.m., police officers, relatives, press, and neighbors
troop through the house. Samuel Reese Sheppard, 7, then called
Chip, is carried away from the house by his uncle Richard. Dr.
Sam Sheppard,, who was allegedly injured during the attack,
is taken to Bay View Hospital.
At 8 a.m., the coroner, Dr. Sam Gerber, arrives.
Between 9:30 a.m. and 3 p.m., Dr. Sheppard is sedated and is
treated for shock and neck injuries, which he said resulted
from his struggle with an intruder. He is visited several times
and questioned by the coroner, corner's investigator, local
police chief, two Cleveland police officers and Bay Village
police. By mid-afternoon, Cleveland officer Robert Schottke tells
Sheppard, "I think you killed your wife."
|
|
|
| |
July
7, 1954 |
|
Funeral
of Marilyn Sheppard. Her son, Sam Reese, does not attend because
of extensive press coverage. Dr. Sam Sheppard attends, sitting
in a wheelchair and wearing an orthopedic collar for neck injuries
he said he received in a fight with the killer.
|
|
|
| |
July
9, 1954 |
|
A front-page
story in the local paper is headlined, "Doctor Balks at Lie Test." Also, Sheppard leads a contingent of officers through the house, showing them what he says occurred.
Window washing company employee Vern Lund leaves town.
|
|
|
| |
July
10, 1954 |
|
Sheppard
gives a formal statement, taken at the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's
Office, with several officers in attendance.
|
|
|
| |
July
20, 1954 |
|
A
front-page editorial entitled, "Someone is Getting Away with
Murder" appears.
|
|
|
| |
July
21,1954 |
|
A
front-page editorial entitled,"Why No Inquest? Do It Now, Dr.
Gerber." Hours later, coroner Gerber calls an inquest.
|
|
|
| |
July
22, 1954 |
|
Beginning
of three-day inquest staged in local school gymnasium to accommodate
large crowds, reporters, live television and radio crews. Sheppard
searched in full view of crowd. His lawyer is not permitted
to participate and is ejected when he tries to introduce evidence.
|
|
|
| |
July
23, 1954 |
|
Cleveland
police formally take over the investigation of the murder from
Bay Village police.
|
|
|
| |
July
29, 1954 |
|
Vern
Lund joins the service, reports to basic training in Florida.
|
|
|
| |
July
30, 1954 |
|
Sheppard
is arrested for murder at 10 p.m., the same day an editorial headlined,
"Why Isn't Sam Sheppard in Jail? Quit Stalling - Bring Him In"
appears on the front page of the now-defunct Cleveland Press.
Sheppard is taken to Bay Village City Hall, where hundreds of
people were awaiting his arrival.
The editorial in question says: "This is no murder. This is
no parlor game. This is no time to permit anybody - no matter
who he is - to outwit, stall, fake or improvise devices to keep
away from the police or from the questioning anybody in his
right mind knows a good murder suspect should be subjected to
- at a police station."
|
|
|
| |
Aug.
16, 1954 |
|
Judge
releases Sheppard on bail.
|
|
|
| |
Aug.
17, 1954 |
|
Jury selection begins. Courtroom is outfitted with a long table in front of the bar, three feet from jurors, for seating of 20
press representatives. Three of four rows of benches are assigned
to press.
Coincidentally, the trial began two weeks before the November
general election, at which time the trial judge was up for election
and the chief prosecutor was a candidate for common pleas judge.
|
|
|
| |
Oct.
28, 1954 |
|
"Trial
of the Century" begins in Cleveland after 10 days of jury selection.
The names, addresses and photos of jurors are printed in local
papers several times, and their families are interviewed. Jurors
are not sequestered, despite saturation media coverage. The
judge asks them not to pay attention to news coverage, but never
orders them to avoid stories about the trial.
|
|
|
| |
Nov.
21, 1954 |
|
A
local radio broadcast calls Dr. Sheppard a perjurer and compares
him to Alger Hiss. The defense wants jurors questioned about
whether they heard the report, but the judge refuses.
|
|
|
| |
Nov.
24, 1954 |
|
A
local paper prints a huge story headlined, "Sam Called a 'Jekyll-Hyde'
by Marilyn, Cousin to Testify." No such testimony is presented.
|
|
|
| |
November
1954 |
|
Walter
Winchell broadcasts a report that Sam Sheppard fathered an illegitimate
child. Two jurors admit they heard the report, which turns out
to be false.
|
|
|
| |
Dec.
8, 1954 |
|
Police
issue a press release calling Sheppard "a bare-faced liar."
|
|
|
| |
Dec.
16, 1954 |
|
Testimony
ends. Prosecution seeks a guilty verdict for first-degree murder
with the penalty of death in the electric chair.
|
|
|
| |
Dec.
17-21, 1954 |
|
Jury
deliberates. Jury is sequestered for the first time, but there
are no female bailiffs to tend to the five women. Jurors are
permitted to make unmonitored telephone calls home at night.
|
|
|
| |
Dec.
21, 1954 |
|
Jury
convicts Sheppard of second-degree murder (intentional but without
premeditation.)
|
|
|
| |
Jan.
3, 1955 |
|
Sheppard
is sentenced to life in prison.
|
|
|
| |
Jan.
7, 1955 |
|
Ethel
Niles Sheppard, Sam Sheppard's mother, commits suicide by shooting
herself.
|
|
|
| |
Jan.
18, 1955 |
|
Dr.
Richard Allen Sheppard, Sam Sheppard's father, dies of a hemorrhaging
gastric ulcer and suddenly worsened stomach cancer.
|
|
|
| |
Jan.
22, 1955 |
|
Dr.
Paul Leland Kirk, a California criminalist, visits Cleveland
and the Sheppard home to collect evidence.
|
|
|
| |
March
1955 |
|
Dr.
Kirk returns a report that discusses evidence of a third person,
blood spatter, and other items.
|
|
|
| |
April
1955 |
|
Dr.
Kirk's affidavit is presented at a hearing on a motion for a
new trial. The motion is denied.
|
|
|
| |
July
13, 1955 |
|
Sheppard's
appeal to the state court of appeals is denied.
|
|
|
| |
July
5, 1956 |
|
Richard
Eberling, owner of Dick's Cleaning Service, takes 23-year-old
Barbara Ann Kinzel to Michigan for the weekend She is found
dead following an auto crash. Eberling escapes with minor injuries.
|
|
|
| |
Nov.
8, 1959 |
|
Eberling
is arrested for larceny, including theft of Marilyn Sheppard's
ring from the home of her brother-in-law. Volunteers to police
he cut his hand in Sheppard home days before the murder.
|
|
|
| |
Nov.
8, 1959 |
|
Eberling
is "cleared" in the murder of Marilyn Sheppard after an investigation
and a polygraph, according to police.
|
|
|
| |
July
1961 |
|
William
Corrigan, Sheppard's original defense attorney, dies; F. Lee
Bailey of Boston takes over defense within the next year.
|
|
|
| |
May
20, 1962 |
|
Myrtle
Irene Fray, 63, the sister of a wealthy widow Eberling is later convicted
of murdering, is found beaten to death. The murder is never
solved.
|
|
|
| |
Feb.
13, 1963 |
|
Thomas
Reese, father of Marilyn Reese Sheppard, commits suicide with
a shotgun.
|
|
|
| |
September
1963 |
|
"The
Fugitive," a popular television series inspired by the Sheppard
case, begins on ABC. On the show, David Janssen was searching for "a
one-armed man." In reality, Sheppard called the killer "a bushy-haired
man." And unlike Janssen, Sheppard was never on the run.
|
|
|
| |
July
16, 1964 |
|
Sheppard
released from prison following ruling by U.S. District Judge
Carl A. Weinman that Sheppard was denied a fair trial. He was
behind bars for 3,575 days.
|
|
|
| |
July
18, 1964 |
|
Sheppard
marries a West German-born prison pen pal, Ariane Tebbenjohanns.
|
|
|
| |
June
6, 1966 |
|
U.S.
Supreme Court agrees with Weinman ruling in Sheppard vs. Maxwell
that excessive press coverage and the judge's failure to control
his courtroom denied Sheppard a fair trial. The court likens
the trial to "a Roman holiday."
|
|
|
| |
Oct.
24, 1966 |
|
Sheppard's
second trial begins. Among other things, defense attorney F.
Lee Bailey argues that evidence at the scene suggests the killer
was a woman or a small boy. He goes so far as to suggest that
Mayor Houk might have been having an affair with Marilyn Sheppard,
and that Mrs. Houk might have interrupted them and become violent
at the sight of her husband having sex with another woman. There
was no proof of this, but that didn't stop Bailey from arguing
that the real killer was the mayor's wife.
Later, Bailey told the Akron Beacon-Journal that he doesn't
really know who killed Marilyn Sheppard. "The long and short
of it is, who knows?" he said. "It could have been a completely
different person for a completely different reason."
|
|
|
| |
Nov.
16, 1966 |
|
A
jury finds Sheppard not guilty of murdering his wife.
|
|
|
| |
Aug.
27, 1967 |
|
"The
Fugitive" runs its final episode. Ratings have declined since
Dr.Sheppard was found not guilty. Daily reruns of the 120 episodes
begin shortly after.
|
|
|
| |
Summer
1969 |
|
Dr.
Sam Sheppard, now a free man but not able to make a living as
a doctor, tries a stint as a team wrestler, going by the name of "Killer Sheppard."
|
|
|
| |
Oct.
7, 1969 |
|
Sheppard
and Ariane divorce.
|
|
|
| |
Oct.
21, 1969 |
|
Sheppard
apparently marries for the third time. His new wife, 20-year-old
Colleen Strickland, is the daughter of his wrestling partner.
They claim to have married on a motorcycle trip to Mexico.
Sam Reese Sheppard said this "marriage" was a publicity stunt,
and he doubts it really took place.
|
|
|
| |
March
10, 1970 |
|
Sarah
Belle Farrow, another sister of wealthy widow Eberling is later convicted
of killing, dies in nursing home after stairway fall in her sister's
home.
|
|
|
| |
April
6, 1970 |
|
Sheppard
dies at age 46 after years of heavy drinking. The death certificate
lists his cause of death as acute hemorrhagic encephalopathy.
|
|
|
| |
1981
- 1982 |
|
Spen
and Esther Houk, divorced in 1962, die.
|
|
|
| |
Jan.
3, 1984 |
|
Wealthy
Lakewood widow, Ethel May Durkin, 90, dies in a hospital six
weeks after Eberling calls paramedics to say she fell in her
home. The death initially is ruled an accident, but that ruling
later is changed to homicide.
|
|
|
| |
July
7, 1989 |
|
Richard
Eberling, 59, is convicted of murder in the death of Durkin
and sentenced to life in prison. Eberling at one time washed
windows in the Sheppard home.
|
|
|
| |
October
1989 |
|
Sam
Reese Sheppard speaks out publicly on the murder for the first
time.
|
|
|
| |
November
1993 |
|
AMSEC
joins Sam Reese Sheppard's investigation of the murder of his
mother.
|
|
|
| |
September
1995 |
|
Mockery
of Justice by Sam Reese Sheppard and lawyer-journalist Cynthia
Cooper is released.
|
|
|
| |
Oct.
13, 1995 |
|
Cuyahoga
County Prosecutor Stephanie Tubbs Jones announces an investigation
into the murder of Marilyn Sheppard.
|
|
|
| |
Oct.
19, 1995 |
|
The
estate of Dr. Samuel H. Sheppard files papers in the Sheppard
criminal case seeking a court order declaring him innocent.
The case was refiled as a civil action on July 24, 1996.
|
|
|
| |
Feb.
22, 1996 |
|
The
first court hearing in over 30 years on the Sheppard case takes
place before Judge Ronald Suster in Ohio.
|
|
|
| |
April
29, 1996 |
|
Durkin's
former nurse, Kathie Collins, says Eberling told her he killed
Mrs. Sheppard. Eberling later denies making such a statement.
|
|
|
| |
Sept.
17, 1997 |
|
Dr.
Sam Sheppard's body exhumed for DNA testing. His body was later cremated.
|
|
|
| |
March
4, 1998 |
|
Terry
Gilbert, lawyer for the Sheppard family, contends that results
of DNA tests conducted by Dr. Mohammed Tahir of the Indianapolis-Marion
County Forensic Services Agency exclude Dr. Sam Sheppard as
a donor of the blood found at the murder scene and point to
Richard Eberling.
|
|
|
| |
July
25, 1998 |
|
Richard
Eberling dies in the Orient Correctional Institution while serving
a life sentence for murder.
|
|
|
| |
Aug.
19, 1998 |
|
Eberling's
fellow inmate, Robert Lee Parks, says that shortly before his
death, Eberling confessed to Marilyn Sheppard's murder.
|
|
|
| |
Dec.
2, 1998 |
|
Ohio
Supreme Court denies a request by the Cuyahoga County prosecutor
to dismiss the case.
|
|
|
| |
Oct.
5, 1999 |
|
The
body of Marilyn Sheppard, including the fetus she was carrying
when she died, is exhumed from a suburban Cleveland cemetery.
|
|
|
| |
February
2000 |
|
The
civil trial begins.
|
|
|
| |
|
|
**This
chronology is a compilation of information from court papers,
interviews, newspaper stories, NOVA, and Mockery of Justice:
The True Story of the Sheppard Murder Case, by Cynthia L. Cooper
and Sam Reese Sheppard.
|
|
|
