July 4th, 1954, Bay Village Ohio. In the early morning hours, in a nice house on the shore of Lake Erie, Marilyn Sheppard was murdered in the most horrible way. What unfolded destroyed several families, hurt careers, helped careers, was followed by suicide and more death.

This case haunts me. I doubt it will ever be solved.

I guess coming up on the 4th makes me think on it some. Did Sam get justice of a sort, or did he scam us all?

Where are those smart attorney guys...

Jim

The bushy haired guy did it. I was 16 at the time but I remember it. Know Sam got out of jail after awhile. Everyone involved would be pretty old by now, probably dead.
I would like to know who the Zodiac killer was. I was living in the Bay area when that was going on.

The one-armed man.

The case that made F. Lee Bailey famous. Eberling was a plausible suspect. Dr. Sheppard became a professional wrestler.

Actually, it has been claimed that the Sheppard case inspired "The Fugitive," although the creators always denied it. Seems likely that they had heard of the case, though, and I can't imagine how it couldn't have influenced them.

Personally, I've read quite a bit about the case and believe that his ultimate acquittal was a just verdict. Although I doubt there will ever be a definitive answer as to who killed Marilyn Sheppard.

From an investigative standpoint, it would be hard to prove anything at this point in time. The crime scene no longer exist, one would have to rely on photographs. Cases this old are notorious for having information and evidence missing as people want souvenirs. Cold cases have to rely heavily on witness testimony and statements. And witness testimony is, at times, disjointed. When adding not just years, but decades, either the witnesses are dead or don't remember $**T. Any DNA evidence, unless properly handled is no good as it is a sure bet that it is contaminated, even blood samples probably no longer exist. I am sure once the acquittal was given, everything went in the garbage dumpster or someone's private collection.

Peace and Godspeed.

Yes, that was definitely the rumor when the tv show first came on. I always thought that David Janssen's portrayal of Richard Kimble was an underappreciated masterpiece of minimalist acting. He'd be working on some farm, and then somebody would walk in with a wanted poster with Janssen's picture on it, and all you'd see would be a little twitch of the mouth from Janssen in response. Genius.

And Bob, do you remember the last show of the series? That must have been one of the first TV events where everyone had to tune in to find out what happened.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqbvD-g5qN4

And I believe Bailey was convinced it was the Houk's, Sheppard's neighbors. He theorized the "bushy haired man" was actually the wife, who found out about the affair and killed Marilyn and that the hubby was there and was who hit Sam from behind...

Landmark-

I absolutely remember watching the last episode of "The Fugitive" when it originally aired. It was a major event. I think everyone I knew watched it.

And, yes, Janssen's portrayal was brilliant. I found it much more convincing than Harrison Ford's. Ford gave a great performance, but Janssen did a much better job of conveying the desperation and fear of a man on the run. He was a master of understated acting.

Tommy Lee Jones was quite good in the movie version. One of the many movies, by the way, which feature the protagonist jumping over a waterfall . . . .