The Case of Dr. Samuel Sheppard

Patrolman Fred Drenkhan arrived at 6:02 a.m. Like the other four Bay Village policemen, he knew Dr. Sam well; Sheppard was police surgeon and often rode with officers on patrol.

The bed where Marilyn Sheppard was
murdered (police photo)

Drenkhan ran upstairs to the bedroom and saw immediately that Mrs. Sheppard was dead. Her face was almost unrecognizable. Blood drenched the bed and was spattered on the walls.

He questioned Dr. Sheppard briefly and suggested to Mayor Houk that this was beyond the capacity of the Bay Police Department. Houk quickly agreed and called Cleveland police, who dispatched an expert from the Scientific Investigation Unit along with a crack team of homicide detectives, Robert Schottke and Patrick Gareau.

A Cuyahoga County sheriff's detective also appeared, although the sheriff ordinarily investigated crimes only in the county's rural townships.

Dr. Sam, meanwhile, disappeared; his brother, Dr. Steve, had driven him three miles to Bay View Hospital and put him in a bed for treatment of his injuries. The mayor disappeared too, but returned 15 minutes later saying he had gone back to lock his house. Young Sam was awakened and hustled out in his pajamas to Dr. Richard's house.

Soon the house was crowded with reporters. Neighbors attracted by the police cars gathered in the yard, and some entered the house. Neighborhood boys were recruited to search the yard and, amid the weeds on the hillside leading down to the beach, the mayor's 16-year-old son Larry found Dr. Sam's medical bag.

In it were his wristwatch, fraternity ring from Hanover College and keys. Like a number of objects in the house, they were to be handled by several people before police could check for fingerprints.

It was never clear who was in charge of the investigation, but from the moment he appeared at 8 a.m. Coroner Samuel R. Gerber was the man around whom the reporters gathered.

Coroner Samuel R. Gerber
(CORBIS)

Dr. Gerber had been elected county coroner in 1936 and was to be coroner until he retired in 1986, having won 13 straight four-year terms. The diminutive 54 year-old had a national reputation as a forensic expert, having earned a law degree to go with his M.D. He was co-author of the book The Physician in Court and lectured at Case Western Reserve University and in other cities around the country.

He was also a favorite with reporters because of his willingness to give them the kind of quotes they needed. He estimated the victim had been killed between 3 and 4 a.m.; her watch was stopped at 3:15. He described 35 wounds to Mrs. Sheppard's head and said of the killer: "He rained blow after blow on her with savage fury." He also said there appeared to be no evidence of a break-in.

Gerber and Bay Village Police Chief John Eaton drove to the hospital, where Sheppard was being treated for bruises, chipped teeth, and what was reported as a fractured vertebra in his neck. Gerber got Sheppard's story in more detail while Eaton waited in the car. Gerber asked to be given the clothes Sheppard had been wearing, then returned to the scene to relate the interview to reporters.

Schottke and Gareau, the Cleveland detectives, examined the scene, then came to the hospital with Chief Eaton to question Sheppard, who had been given sedatives by Dr. Steve. They returned to the scene and questioned neighbors.

Later they returned to question Dr. Sam again — a more accurate description, Sheppard said later, was to grill him. Among other subjects, they asked how he got along with his wife and about his relationship with a former Bay View nurse named Susan Hayes.

That police would be suspicious was hardly surprising. At least 30 percent of women who are murdered are killed by people they know, most often a husband or boyfriend. Crime was almost unknown in Bay Village, which then as now boasted of its safety.

In fact, there had been only six unsolved murders in Cleveland suburbs in the past 10 years, and five of those were in east suburbs on the other side of the county. Sheppard's story of being knocked out, not once but twice, by a mysterious form was hard to believe.

What had happened in the two to three hours between Marilyn's death and the call to Mayor Houk? Why was there no evidence of a break-in? Why were police unable to find fingerprints in the house?

How had Chip managed to sleep through his mother's murder and his father's struggle with the "bushy-haired intruder"? Why had the Sheppards' dog not barked? Where was the T-shirt Dr. Sam was wearing when the Aherns left?

He could only say, "I don't know."

That evening William Corrigan, a noted Cleveland criminal attorney, visited Sheppard in the hospital. The news of that visit startled newspaper readers the next day. What they didn't know was that at the end of the questioning, Schottke had told Sheppard: "I think you killed your wife."

They also didn't know, though they were to find out over the next few weeks, that Cleveland police had recommended to Bay Village police that they arrest Sheppard, but the mayor and police chief hesitated. Their hesitation was to last another 25 days — 25 days of headlines.