33 Facts About Sam Sheppard

Samuel Holmes Sheppard was an American osteopath.

Sam Sheppard was convicted of the 1954 murder of his pregnant wife, Marilyn Reese Sheppard, but the conviction was eventually overturned by the US Supreme Court, which cited a "carnival atmosphere" at the trial.

Sam Sheppard attended Cleveland Heights High School where he was an excellent student and was active in American football, basketball, and track; he was class president for three years.

Sam Sheppard met his future wife, Marilyn Reese, while in high school.

Sam Sheppard enrolled at Hanover College in Indiana to study pre-osteopathic medical courses, then took supplementary courses at the Case Institute of Technology in Cleveland during the Summer of 1943.

Sam Sheppard completed his internship and a residency in neurosurgery at Los Angeles County General Hospital.

Sam Sheppard married Marilyn Reese on February 21,1945, in Hollywood, California.

Sam Sheppard ran upstairs where he saw a "white biped form" in the bedroom and then he was knocked unconscious.

When he awoke, he saw the person downstairs, chased the intruder out of the house down to the beach where they tussled and Sam Sheppard was knocked unconscious again.

At 5:40 am, a neighbor received an urgent phone call from Sam Sheppard who pleaded for him to come to his home.

Sam Sheppard's trial began October 18,1954, and lasted nine weeks.

The local media ran salacious front-page stories inflammatory to Sam Sheppard that contained no supporting facts or were later disproved.

Corrigan based his argument on the report made by neurosurgeon Charles Elkins who examined Sam Sheppard and found he had suffered a cervical concussion, nerve injury, many absent or weak reflexes, and injury in the region of the second cervical vertebra in the back of the neck.

The defense further argued the crime scene was extremely bloody, yet the only blood evidence appearing on Sam Sheppard was a bloodstain on his trousers.

Sam Sheppard told the jury that Sheppard had no open wounds.

Some observers have questioned the accuracy of claims that Marilyn Sam Sheppard lost her teeth while biting her attacker, arguing that her missing teeth are more consistent with the severe beating she received to her face and skull.

Sam Sheppard took the stand in his own defense, testifying that he had been sleeping downstairs on a daybed when he awoke to his wife's screams.

Sam Sheppard ran back downstairs and chased what he described as a "bushy-haired intruder" or "form" down to the Lake Erie beach below his home, before being knocked out again.

On January 7,1955, shortly after his conviction, the incarcerated Sam Sheppard was told that his mother, Ethel Sam Sheppard, had died from a self-inflicted gunshot.

Sam Sheppard was permitted to attend both funerals but was required to wear handcuffs.

In 1959, Sam Sheppard voluntarily took part in cancer studies by the Sloan Kettering Institute for Cancer Research, allowing live cancer cells to be injected into his body.

Kirk used the blood evidence to suggest that the murderer was left-handed, unlike Sam Sheppard, which proved crucial to his acquittal.

Sam Sheppard debuted in August 1969 at the age of 45 as "Killer" Sam Sheppard, wrestling Wild Bill Scholl.

Sam Sheppard wrestled over 40 matches before his death in April 1970, including a number of tag team bouts with Strickland as his partner.

On May 10,1968, Sam Sheppard was granted surgical privileges at the Youngstown Osteopathic Hospital, but "[his] skills as a surgeon had deteriorated, and much of the time he was impaired by alcohol".

Sam Sheppard resigned from the hospital staff a few months later after wrongful death suits had been filed by the patients' families.

Toward the end of his life, Sam Sheppard was reportedly drinking "as much as two fifths of liquor a day".

Sam Sheppard was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens in Columbus.

Sam Sheppard's body remained buried until September 1997 when he was exhumed for DNA testing as part of the lawsuit brought by his son to clear his father's name.

Sam Sheppard's attorney stated that the DNA testing absolved Sheppard of the murder.

Terry Gilbert, an attorney retained by the Sam Sheppard family, told the media that "the fetus in this case had previously been autopsied", a fact that had never previously been disclosed.

Sam Sheppard stated that he cut his finger while washing windows just prior to the murder and bled while on the premises.

The jury deliberated just three hours on April 12,2000, before returning a unanimous verdict that Samuel Reese Sheppard had failed to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that his father had been wrongfully imprisoned.