New DNA evidence taken from the exhumed body of Dr Sam Sheppard provides the most compelling piece of evidence that he was wrongfully convicted of murdering his wife in a trial that transfixed America more than four decades ago, and suggests strongly that the killer really was a ‘bushy-haired’ intruder, as Dr Sheppard claimed, a lawyer for the Sheppard family said today.
The murder, the O J Simpson trial of the 1950’s, entered popular culture by forming the basis for the television program The Fugitive and the movie of the same name.
Tissue samples taken from Dr Sheppard’s body, which was exhumed under a court order last fall, show ‘he is excluded as a donor’ of the blood found at the murder scene, Terry Gilbert, the lawyer, who represents Dr Sheppard’s son, Sam Reese Sheppard, said today. The New York Times online article 5th March 1998
January 22nd 1955: Paul Kirk arrived in the small town of Bay village near Cleveland Ohio … He was America’s most revered forensic scientist … The crime had taken place on July 4th the previous year … The convicted killer was her husband Sam [Sheppard]. She’d been beaten to death in her bedroom … The prosecution had revealed that Sam Sheppard had had an affair two years before … This was the story the jury chose to believe … He said he’d been woken from his deep sleep on the daybed by strange loud noises … The jury weren’t convinced … The crime scene was not properly secured … He [Kirk] was more and more certain that Marilyn had been struck by a man standing on her right holding the weapon in his left hand: Sam Sheppard was a right-handed man. Gabriel Weston: Catching History’s Criminals II: Traces of Guilt, BBC 2015
SHERMAN, BOBBY & HONEY murders: The Fifth Estate: The Mystery of the Sherman Murders TV -
He was the fifteenth richest person in Canada. She was a top philanthropist. Barry and Honey Sherman lauded as pillars of the community. Now murdered in their home, found side by side, strangled, bound to a railing next to their indoor pool. But targeted by whom? He had a long list of business enemies. Or could it be murder most personal? And was it a hatred that simmered for years? The Fifth Estate: The Mystery of the Sherman Murders, CBC 2018
‘He was hated by Big Pharma. He was as big as it gets in Canada. And he was a major player in North America.’ ibid. investigator
Big Pharma kept coming after him. ibid.
SHERMAN, EDWARD: True Crime With Aphrodite Jones TV -
1985: In a charming coastal village the hot summer days are chilled by a brutal homicide [Ellen Sherman]. And a forensic enigma that leads police down a path of double lives, dangerous liaisons and a voyage of discovery. True Crime with Aphrodite Jones s6e1: A Murder and an Open Marriage, ID 2016
Ellen and her husband had an unconventional marriage. ibid.
After six months as a widower Ed inherits nearly a quarter million dollars from Ellen’s assets and life insurance policy. ibid.
Guilty of murdering his wife. He is sentenced to 50 years in prison. 2 years later he dies of a heart attack. ibid.
SHERMAN, BARRY & HONEY murders: True Crime Recaps 2023 -
When a Canadian billionaire couple is found hanging next to their indoor pool police are baffled. Only one clue was left behind in the case of Barry and Honey Sherman. Security cameras caught something strange on the night they died: a stranger walking up to the house. A person who has never been identified but is suspect number one to this day. True Crime Recaps: The Mysterious Murder of Barry & Honey Sherman, Youtube 8.40, 2023
Each had a man’s leather belt tied tightly round the neck. ibid.
He made his money in pharmaceuticals. ibid.
In 2001 he said, The branded drug companies hate us; why don’t they just hire someone to knock me off. ibid.
SHERMANTINE, WESLEY & LOREN HERZOG: Born to Kill? The Thriller Killers TV - Mail online -
Linden, California: They are searching for victims of the so-called Speed Freaks, a serial killer case with a body-count primed to break the most notorious of records. Born to Kill? The Thriller Killers, Channel 5 2013
Domestic violence was commonplace, with the children often on the receiving end of their mother’s violence. ibid.
Once again authorities would take a hard look at Shermantine, the only viable link between the two missing women. ibid.
Herzog identified his friend as a cold-blooded serial killer with multiple victims to his name. ibid.
Herzog committed suicide. ibid.
So what motivated this ruthless duo? ibid.
At least twenty victims – while Shermantine himself has claimed the true number could be significantly higher. ibid.
Convicted ‘speed freak killer’ Wesley Shermantine was briefly released from his cell on death row this week to lead police to the remains of numerous victims he murdered decades ago.
Escorted out of California’s San Quentin State Prison, Shermantine led investigators to four wells in the town of Linden where they recovered numerous bones and other items.
At his return last Sunday he typed up a letter, addressed to Bounty Hunter Leonard Padilla, sharing where they had gone. Mail online article 3rd September 2012, ‘Speed Freak Killer leaves death row cell to lead police to remains of victims he murdered decades ago’
SHIN, ED: People Magazine Investigates TV -
An enterprising young man named Chris Smith … In early June of 2010 Chris makes arrangements to sell his share of the business to his partner Ed and to use this new windfall to travel round the world. People Magazine Investigates s4e7: Vanished, ID 2019
The investigators discover blood splatter in multiple locations throughout the office. ibid.
On December 3th of 2018 it takes the jury less than an hour to convict Ed Shin of first-degree murder. ibid.
SHIN, JONG OK murder: viz Miscarriages of Justice: Benguit, Omar
SHIPMAN, HAROLD: Inside Strangeways TV - Mikaela Sitford - David Stone - Sue Booth - Crimes that Shook Britain TV - Murders that Shocked Britain TV - Colin Baker TV - Richard Badcock TV - Harold Shipman: Doctor Death TV - Harold Shipman: Born to Kill? TV - Killer Trials TV - Harold Shipman: Driven to Kill TV - Shipman: 5 Mistakes that Caught a Killer TV - The Shipman Files: A Very British Crime Story TV - Faking It: Tears of a Crime TV -
Making Harold Shipman Britain’s most prolific serial killer … Four years later he committed suicide in his cell. Inside Strangeways Prison s1e4, Channel 5 2017
I found out that the police had actually investigated Shipman before in March 1998 quite soon after breaking the story ... Shipman went on to kill three more women after that. Mikaela Sitford, author Addicted to Murder
He’d groomed that community so that they truly believed in him and thought that he was looking after them, when in fact he was killing them by the hundred. Mikaela Sitford
He was allowed to build up fantasies ... Fred was not really allowed to develop socially and sexually. Dr David Stone, forensic criminologist
Harold Shipman never admitted his crimes. Dr David Stone
He was so well respected in the town [Hyde], well liked, and his patients loved him. You know, they all wanted to be on his list. He was a very popular doctor. Dr Sue Booth, general practitioner
A man who exercised the ultimate power of controlling life and death. The prosecution alleged that the Hyde GP enjoyed killing his patients. Crimes that Shook Britain s1e1: Harold Shipman, CI 2008
Dr Shipman is now the biggest single mass-murderer the world has ever seen. After he was finally accused of 215 killings. ibid.
In the following months the Funeral Directors grow increasingly concerned. More of Shipman’s patients are found in unusual circumstances. ibid.
He has callously murdered Kathleen [Grundy] and tried to forge her will to inherit nearly £400,000. ibid.
Shipman reveals nothing. ibid.
Shipman’s killing spree spanned more than twenty years. ibid.
The Shipman Inquiry made some major recommendations to the Health Authority in monitoring practitioners. ibid.