The Dr. Sam Sheppard Story 

By Emily Eade

At 5:40 am on the night of July 4th, 1954 the telephone rang at the Bay Village police department the desk sergeant answered the phone, it was Dr. Sam Sheppard. Something terrible had happened. Send help immediately! 

The Bay Village police arrived and they found Dr. Sheppard disoriented and half-naked. Dr. Sheppard clothed only in pants, had a bloodstain to one of his knees, and blood splattered across much of his body. Upstairs Marilyn Sheppard lay motionless in her bed, bludgeoned to death with a blunt instrument. 

Then came the story that would fill the story that would fill the newspapers for months… even years to come. A story that was both bizarre and captivating as told. A story that ignited the imaginations of the people of northeast Ohio and gave birth to a television series ‘The Fugitive’. 

Dr. Sheppard told of how he was sleeping on the day bed in a downstairs room of his house when he was awoken by the cries of his wife. Running upstairs Dr. Sheppard was confronted by a hairy individual that he described as a white biped. A struggle ensued and Dr. Sheppard was knocked unconscious. Upon awakening, Dr. Sheppard saw the intruder making his way across the backyard and down to the beach. Dr. Sheppard pursued the intruder and the struggle continued on the beach where he was again knocked unconscious. 

Mourning the loss of his young wife, Marilyn Sheppard was only 31 years old when she died, the good doctor soon found himself under suspicion by the authorities. The Cleveland Press, a now-defunct daily paper, and its editor Lewis Seltzer crusaded to bring Dr. Sheppard to justice because of the tireless efforts of Mr. Seltzer, the authorities were pressured into arresting Dr. Sheppard and charging him with murder. After a nine-week trial, Dr. Sheppard was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. 

Ten years later, F. Lee Bailey came to represent Dr. Sheppard and caused his conviction to be overturned. No longer possessing a valid medical license, Dr. Sheppard resorted to such things as professional wrestling to survive. 

On April 6, 1970, Dr. Sheppard died of liver failure. The house that the murder took place in was torn down in 1993. Some former neighbors claim that even now close to 70 years later the cries of Marilyn Sheppard can be heard on the beach close to where she drew her last breath. Two other interesting side notes to the Sam Sheppard story is that his mother fatally shot herself with a gun in 1955. In addition, F. Lee Bailey, Dr. Sheppard’s attorney, found even greater notoriety as being part of the O.J. Simpson defense team. The Sam Sheppard story, filled with murder, death hairy unidentified intruder, professional wrestling, television series, one-armed men, midgets, and a life shortened by alcohol is the legacy that was left behind.