ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, February 3, 1997 TAG: 9702030114
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-12 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES
SOURCE: JULIA PRODIS THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Still in pajamas, the 7-year-old was hustled past his mother's room where a police officer blocked the grisly scene.
Flashbulbs blinded him as relatives rushed him out the back door. His father, a prominent Ohio doctor, was charged with murder.
``That's when I really lost everything,'' said Sheppard, now 48 and living a Spartan existence in an Oakland residential hotel. ``Once I left there, I never had a home again of my own.''
He has been emotionally tormented ever since. He hopes O.J. Simpson's children fare better.
``These kids need support and love,'' Sheppard said. ``They need the respect and dignity to allow them to decide for themselves what really happened, what the truth is and how they're going to live with it.''
The case against Sheppard's father, Dr. Sam Sheppard, was as sensational in the 1950s as the Simpson case is today, inspiring ``The Fugitive'' TV series and movie.
Sheppard was ultimately acquitted of his wife's murder, but his original conviction and death sentence left doubts that linger decades later. He died in 1970.
``My dad was innocent. I think at least 50 percent of Ohioans think that,'' Sheppard said. ``I don't know if the Simpson kids are going to have that kind of benefit. Probably an overwhelming majority feel he is guilty. That's a hell of a stigma.''
For Sheppard, the stigma haunted and hindered him as he grew into a man. He has remained single and said he doesn't want to bring children into ``a world like this.'' Such emotions are not unusual, psychologists say.
Sydney, 11, and Justin, 8, are absorbing mixed messages about their mother's death. First their father was accused, then acquitted, then subjected to a civil trial brought by the parents of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.
The children moved in with their mother's family when Simpson was arrested 2 1/2 years ago. Louis and Juditha Brown tried to shelter the children in their gated Laguna Beach neighborhood, even persuading store managers to take tabloids off the shelves before they shopped.
As soon as he was acquitted in October 1995, Simpson sought to regain custody. In the subsequent court struggle with their former son-in-law, the Browns showed the judge a story Justin had written for a school assignment.
Justin wrote a murder mystery, featuring himself, his friend Romez and a killer holding a hostage with a knife and machine gun. ``Solved it: Romez and I found out that the murderer was my dad,'' he wrote.
Simpson was awarded custody Dec.20.
``The children share a relationship with their father that appears to be strong, positive and healthy, with powerful psychological bonding,'' Superior Court Judge Nancy Wieben Stock said in her ruling.
The Browns asked the judge to reverse her own ruling, but on Friday she denied that request. The Browns plan to appeal.
In the meantime, the children are living at Simpson's Brentwood home, occupying their days with school, dance lessons and soccer practice while their father is in court.
Sympathizing with the Simpson children are Tim and Christie White, who were 12 and 5 when their mother was shot in their father's building supply store in Enterprise, Ala., in 1985. George White was convicted, then exonerated.
Like the Simpson children, the Whites were sent to live with their mother's relatives. Tim White, now 24 and an assistant basketball coach at Lynchburg College in Virginia, recalled his grandmother's and uncle's reaction when his father telephoned from prison.
``They would pretend they were being nice to him in front of me. That bothered me, them being fake. I knew they hated him,'' he said. ``I had trouble trusting anybody because I felt I had been betrayed so many times.''
Christie, 17 and living with relatives in Florida while her father pulls his life together in Kansas, said that when she was younger, she wanted to know all about the case.
``I'd hold it in and wait and try to listen for answers, but I never got any,'' she said. ``To this day, I feel like I really haven't heard the whole, entire story. I've always wanted to know but have never really asked.''
Sheppard is consumed by finding his mother's real killer and clearing his father's name.
``Unless it's really resolved, I will never have closure,'' Sheppard said. ``Certainly, these kids are going to have to face that in the long run for themselves. If their dad has the guts to solve it or resolve it for them, that's what it's going to take.''
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Sam R. Sheppard, son of Dr. Sam Sheppard, fears whatby CNBawaits Sydney and Justin Simpson.