CRIME: Forty Seconds of Fury

On July 4 at 5:50 a.m.—the exact time may be important—Mayor J. Spencer Houk of Bay Village, a suburb of Cleveland, was awakened by a phone call from his friend, Dr. Samuel Sheppard: "For God's sake, Spence, get over here quick. I think they've killed Marilyn." In seven minutes Houk reached Sheppard's house. The young doctor was shaken and bloody. His wife, Marilyn, 31, four months pregnant, was dead. Last week Dr. Sheppard was indicted for the murder. "I am not guilty," he insisted. "How could I commit such a terrible and...