The Sheppard Case: Still Unraveling A Mystery   

Like any good mystery, the Sam Sheppard story, with all of its plot twists and gruesome details, still makes people wonder.

Still--after almost 46 years--curious individuals and crime junkies speculate about the guilt or innocence of the man who inspired the successful movie and television series "The Fugitive."

James Neff is one of them. And the author and former journalist is now trying his hand at cracking the notorious murder case.

In 1954, Marilyn Sheppard, the wife of prominent doctor Sam Sheppard, was found bludgeoned to death in the couple's Bay Village, Ohio, home. Sheppard was convicted of the crime but continued to proclaim his innocence. He said he woke up in his living room on the night of the murder and struggled with the real killer--a "bushy-haired" man--before being knocked unconscious.

Sheppard spent a decade in prison before the Supreme Court ordered a new trial, saying the original trial had been tainted by the "carnival atmosphere" of media publicity. The doctor was acquitted in 1966 with the help of fledgling lawyer F. Lee Bailey. Four years later, Sheppard died.

Neff was in high school when Sheppard was acquitted, and he's been fascinated by the case ever since. That's why the 46-year-old Cleveland native decided to revisit the story for his book, tentatively titled "Chasing the Fugitive," which is expected to come out next year.

"This case was a mystery," he says. "I thought, 'Why not use all the skills and powers of an investigative journalist while using the new technology of forensic science?' "

Neff's research, which has taken more than 10 years to compile, includes independent DNA testing of possible suspects and one-on-one interviews with Richard Eberling, considered by attorneys for the Sheppard estate to be the main suspect in the crime. Eberling, a window washer for the Sheppard family at the time of the murder, died two years ago while serving time on another murder charge.

The author isn't the only person who wants to revisit the past. Sheppard's only son, Sam Reese Sheppard, filed a lawsuit in 1995 against the state of Ohio for the wrongful imprisonment of his father. The younger Sheppard was 7 when his mother died.

Prosecutors for the state of Ohio issued Neff two subpoenas for the civil trial, which began February 14--the first asking Neff to turn over his research, and the second asking him to testify. Neff fought the subpoenas with help from the Society of Professional Journalists, and both orders were dropped. The jury rejected the claim that Sheppard was innocent.

Neff was a reporter for Cleveland's Plain Dealer for a decade. He then spent five years at Ohio State University directing the Kiplinger midcareer fellowship program for journalists, before deciding to focus solely on his book. He has written three other books: "City Beat," "Mobbed Up" and "Unfinished Murder."

James Ewinger, who has covered Ohio courts for 10 years at the Plain Dealer, says he has a theory about why the Sheppard story continues to draw interest. "It is the case that determined the way the news media covers these trials," he says. "It was the subject of a TV series, a theatrical release and at least two TV movies. It has been credited as the case that started F. Lee Bailey's career."

While Neff won't yet reveal his own conclusions, he says he can build a convincing case for what he thinks really happened.

"I don't think it will be a mystery to me when I'm done," he says. Writing the book "is like shaping a sculpture. When you're all done with the final form, you can see the face."