14 -- The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, February 5, 1997 NATION/WoRLD DNA results support Sheppard's testimony in famous 'Fugitive' trial The Washington Post An enduring mystery in the history of crime - the 1954 Sam Sheppard murder case that inspired the TV series "The Fugitive" - may have been resolved yes- terday. New DNA testing of 42-year-old evidence from the Ohio slaying suggests Sheppard was telling the truth when he said that an intruder, and not he, bludgeoned his pregnant wife to death. The intruder became the mythical "one-armed man" on TV and in the popular imagination. The DNA test results, presented to the Cuyahoga County prosecutor's office in Cleveland yesterday, found the blood and semen of a third person on crime scene items. The findings supported the physician's much-scorned story that a shadowy, "bushy-haired" figure had attacked his wife, Marilyn, in her bed as Sheppard snoozed nearby on a couch in the early morning of July 4, 1954. Largely because of circumstantial evidence, and because no credible evidence of an intruder ever sur- faced, Sheppard, then 30, was found guilty of the mur- der. The conviction was overturned 10 years later in a key U.S. Supreme Court ruling that prejudicial publici- ty had made the trial a "carnival." At a second trial in 1966, in which he was defend- ed by a young F Lee Bailey, Sheppard was acquitted. But doubts about his innocence persisted. He died an alcoholic in 1970, guilty of murder in the eyes of many. "I feel Dad is definitely exonerated," said Sam Reese Sheppard, the Sheppards' only son, in a phone interview from San Francisco. "The truth has finally prevailed. Since I heard the results I've bounced back and forth between anger and relief. At least, now Mom and Dad can be remembered as the people they truly were." Exactly who the killer was, however, DNA can't say - at least with any certainty. Earlier this year, an Ohio judge, hearing a civil case in which Sheppard's son is seeking a declaration of innocence for his father, ordered that a blood sam- ple be drawn from Richard Eberling, who had washed the windows in the Sheppards' suburban Cleveland home around the time of the murder. Eberling, 67, is serving a life sentence in Ohio for murder in another case. Eberling, who denies having killed Marilyn Sheppard, was identified as a suspect through a six- year private investigation of the murder by lawyers and investigators working with Sam Reese Sheppard. The allegation was contained in a 1995 book, "Mockery of Justice: The True Story of the Sheppard Murder Case" by Sam Reese Sheppard and writer Cynthia Cooper. The DNA tests found that Eberling could not be ruled out as the source of blood from the crime scene because he shared a key genetic marker with blood and semen taken from it. But the DNA analysis falls short of declaring a match between Eberling's DNA and that extracted from evidence. AP PHOTO Dr. Sam Sheppard, accompanied by law officers, returns to his Jail cell in Cleveland on December 21, 1954, after a jury found the 30-year-old doctor guilty of killing his wife, Marilyn. She was bludgeoned to death at their suburban home the previ- ous July 4. His murder trial inspired the television drama, "The Fugitive". - I Pilots may strike at American Airlines * 5 *@ Allen-Bradley Autom tion RELIANCEr EELEC .RfC SOFR sprecher+ schuh EecoCmft KMT Databyte See Rockwell Automation at: University of MI- Ann Arbor On Campus Presentation: February 12,1997 On Campus interview: February 13,1997 Check your placement office for locations. Explore a world of opportunity... http:#www.ra.rockweIl.com/careers/college * Rokwell Automation The Washington Post WASHINGTON - American Airlines said yester- day it would suspend all operations immediately if it is struck by its pilots union Feb. 15, an action that could leave thousands of passengers stranded in the middle of one of the biggest holiday travel weekends of the year. "If the pilots strike we will be forced to shut down the airline completely," said American spokesman Christopher Chiames, repeating an earlier warning by the nation's second-largest airline as the strike dead- line loomed closer, with both sides still deadlocked over terms of a new contract. The Allied Pilots Association (APA), which repre- sents American's 9,000 pilots, has set a strike deadline of 12:01 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 15. The deadline comes in the middle of the Presidents' Day holiday weekend. Chiames said travelers who start out on American that weekend would not be able to return home on the air- line if a strike occurs. Chaimes said the airline was still discussing whether to also shut down operations of its American Eagle commuter service, which employs pilots repre- sented by a different union. APA spokesperson David Groves said that if there is no agreement by the deadline, "there will be a strike:' He would not predict the chances of a strike, but said, "Our board of directors has presented what it would take for a settlement and that is our bottom line." The two sides are scheduled to meet in Dallas tomorrow to explain their proposals before heading to Washington on Monday for one last week of what is known as "super mediation" with members of the National Mediation Board. Neither side appeared optimistic yesterday that a strike could be avoided. American officials have been lobbying the Clinton American Airlines pilots walk the picket line outside the airline's terminal at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport yesterday. administration to call on both sides to submit their dis- pute to binding arbitration before the strike deadline. The pilots have refused. So far, however, there is no indication the White House is willing to act, at least not before a strike occurs. Legally, there is nothing the government can do to stop a strike short of asking Congress to end a walkout once it begins, which is considered unlikely. APA members in January turned down a tentative contract agreement reached late last year. Since then, the union has replaced its negotiating committee and put a new set of demands on the table - proposals that the company say would cost another $200 million per year and make American uncomp itive with other U.S. carriers. The pilots are pai average of $120,000 a year. .. - iwa " r - I A. OW -"rnr