ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 30, 1996 TAG: 9604300085
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CLEVELAND
SOURCE: Associated Press
The 1954 murder of Dr. Sam Sheppard's wife has taken yet another twist: A former nurse says a killer now in prison told her 13 years ago that he committed the crime.
Kathie Collins, 34, met last week with prosecutors to tell them about a 1983 conversation she had with Richard Eberling in which he described the murder.
At the time, Collins was a night nurse for the woman Eberling later was convicted of killing. Eberling is serving a life sentence for that murder.
Eberling, 66, has denied any involvement in the Sheppard case, which helped inspire the television series ``The Fugitive.'' He wouldn't comment Monday.
In an interview in Monday's Plain Dealer, Collins said Eberling told her he killed Marilyn Sheppard and then knocked out her husband.
Sheppard was convicted of killing his wife, then acquitted in a second trial after spending 10 years in prison. He died in 1970, still under wide suspicion.
Collins said she did not know until recently that the Sheppards' son, Sam Reese Sheppard, was trying to clear his father's name by linking Eberling to his mother's killing.
Sheppard has filed a civil lawsuit against the state seeking damages for the wrongful imprisonment of his father, and the prosecutor's office has reopened its investigation.
Collins said she and Eberling used to talk each night at the home of Ethel May Durkin, the Lakewood woman whom Collins cared for. Eberling supervised Durkin's domestic help.
Collins said Eberling described knocking out Sam Sheppard and killing Marilyn Sheppard, then almost immediately realized his mistake and told her to ignore what he had just said.
LENGTH: Short : 42 linesby CNB