What happened in the next few hours is a murder mystery still alive in the courts and the public mind more than four decades later. For now, though, on this soft summer night in 1954, Bay Village slept.
The following morning the news that Sam Sheppard’s wife was dead has dominated the three main newspapers. The three titles were:
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"BAY DOCTOR'S WIFE IS MURDERED; Beaten, He Tells of Fight With Intruder," said the double banner in the Plain Dealer.
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"DOCTOR'S WIFE MURDERED IN BAY; Drug Thieves Suspected in Bludgeoning," said the Press.
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"FIND TOOTH CHIPS UNDER BODY OF BAY DOCTOR'S SLAIN WIFE; Grappled With Brutal Slayer, Physician Says," said the News.
This story was in each of these papers for the next month. Gradually, however, the stories changed.
Sam Sheppard story of what happened that night was always the same. He never once changed what he said and six days after the police asked him what happened on that night he said sometime after he fell asleep he awoke, believing he heard his wife calling his name.
He ran upstairs and saw "a form with a light garment, I believe, at the same time grappling with something or someone." He heard moans or groans. Suddenly he was struck from behind.
When he came to, he was lying on the floor. His wife was covered with blood. He checked her pulse and felt none. He ran to the next room and saw that Chip, their son was still sleeping soundly.
Hearing a noise below, he ran down the stairs. The back door was open and he saw "a form progressing rapidly toward the lake." It was somebody, as well as he could tell, about 6 foot 3, middle-aged, with dark bushy hair and a white shirt.
He chased the form across the lawn and down the wooden steps to the beach 50 feet below. Then, he said, "I lunged or jumped and grasped him in some manner from the back, either body or leg. It was something solid." He struggled with the form, then felt himself "twisting or choking, and this terminated my consciousness."
He could not say how long he was unconscious, but when he came to again he staggered up the stairs to the house and the bedroom in which his wife lay dead. "I believed or thought I was disoriented and the victim of a bizarre dream and I believe I paced in and out of the room and possibly into one of the other rooms. I may have re-examined her, finally believing that this was true."
Sam then recalls that he called the first number that came to mind, who was Mayor Spencer Houk. He can’t remember in detail what he said to him but his neighbour could. He said, “For God's sake, Spen, get over here! I think they've killed Marilyn."
Houk and his wife got changed as quickly as they could and drove straight to Sam Sheppard’s house. Mrs. Houk ran upstairs to Marilyn’s body covered with blood. Houk called Village police. They received this call at 5.57am on the 4th July 1954.
The newspapers reported his tale of terror, the brutal tragedy that shattered this ideal family and the combined sympathy and horror it stirred in the quiet community. "They Shared Duties, Pleasures of Life," said a headline about the couple. "Sheppards Face Tragedy Bravely," said one about the family.
Gradually, though, the headlines were to change.
