ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 5, 1997 TAG: 9702050091
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CLEVELAND
SOURCE: Associated Press
THE STORY of a bushy-haired killer, which inspired "The Fugitive," gained credence 40 years after the slaying.
DNA tests on blood taken from the home of Dr. Sam Sheppard support his famous alibi - that a bushy-haired intruder beat his pregnant wife to death more than 40 years ago, a lawyer hired by Sheppard's son said Tuesday.
The findings are the strongest indication yet that Sheppard, whose sensational story inspired the TV series and the movie ``The Fugitive,'' was telling the truth, said Terry Gilbert, who represents Sheppard's son, Sam Reese Sheppard.
The test results are ``entirely consistent with Sam Sheppard's story, that he came upon an intruder and there was a struggle,'' Gilbert said.
The findings were presented Tuesday to Cuyahoga County officials and a team working for Sheppard's son, who has worked for years to clear his father's name.
The initial investigation assumed all blood found at the scene was Marilyn Sheppard's, since there was no evidence that Sam Sheppard was cut.
His DNA could not be tested, either, because Gilbert said attempts to obtain a sample of Sheppard's DNA from the back of a stamp on a 1943 letter were unsuccessful.
Forensic DNA specialist Dr. Mohammad Tahir, who conducted the tests for free, said he tested two bloodstained items - a wood chip and a swatch of Sheppard's pants - preserved from the crime scene, as well as two vaginal smears taken during Marilyn Sheppard's autopsy.
The tests showed the blood could not be hers, but the findings did not exclude a convicted murderer who once washed windows at the Sheppard home and was briefly suspected of her slaying, Gilbert and Tahir said.
The scientists said the DNA could belong to inmate Richard Eberling, although they gave no statistics on that likelihood.
``The dominant type I found was consistent with Mr. Eberling,'' Tahir said.
The dried blood could also have been a mixture of two other people's blood, or possibly one person's blood that became contaminated over the years, Tahir said.
Semen that was found in the vaginal samples also did not exclude Eberling, Gilbert said.
``Frankly, I think the whole thing is baloney,'' Eberling, 67, said Tuesday from the Orient Correctional Institution in Columbus. He is serving a life sentence on an unrelated murder charge.
Asked if he was innocent of Marilyn Sheppard's murder, he said: ``Oh, God yes, good Lord, yes. I was home in bed that night sleeping.
``I didn't do it. I know I didn't.''
Eberling has said he cut himself at the Sheppard home shortly before the slaying. Five years after Marilyn Sheppard's death, he was found with two of her rings in his possession.
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Sheppardby CNB