was her doctor and gave her Try again later. Hamilton was wearing bloodstained clothing, but no shoes or necktie, while the victim had a necktie around her neck. free samples of anti-depressants Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate, or jump to a slide with the slide dots. However, the dark day arrived in their family on Valentines Day 2001, when he claimed Susan was in a pool of blood on the bathroom floor. It was about that bloody shirt taken from the doctor. Susan.". Select the best result to find their address, phone number, relatives, and public records. Many still believe he is innocent, and he. In addition to delivering babies, John Hamilton performed abortions at his clinic, and Susan worked there too. Mack Martin, the doctor's attorney, said, "We're going to enter a plea of not guilty, obviously. Learn more about managing a memorial . Failed to remove flower. And I looked at the defense table which was over to my left. Learn about how to make the most of a memorial. Wes Lane: She was talking leaving him. Investigators uncovered evidence that Susan had found records of dozens of calls from her husband's cellphone to a topless dancer, and prosecutors say Susan told friends she was thinking about asking John for a divorce. To use this feature, use a newer browser. Oklahoma Department of Corrections 3400 North Martin Luther King Avenue Oklahoma City, OK 73111-4298 If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, call Onelife at 800-559-9544 or the National Suicide Prevention lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255). And go back and do another surgery. Bevel believed the blood pattern was consistent with what would have happened if Hamilton struck his wife. Investigators have a word for rage crimes: "overkill." "Someone said there is a fine line between love and hate, and that man crossed it," Lane said in his opening statement in the first-degree murder trial for Hamilton, an Oklahoma City gynecologist, obstetrician and abortionist. Susan Hamilton died of blunt force trauma to the head and ligature strangulation or strangulation brought on by something being tied or pulled tightly around her neck, according to the medical examiner's preliminary report. Dennis Murphy: It's changed Valentine's Day forever for you and your kids, huh? But that Wednesday morning, John arrived home from the hospital, and found a horrific scene: Susan, lying beaten and strangled on their bathroom floor. John Hamilton: The more Susan and I talked about things the more things were clarified, the more things we got straightened out. John Hamilton: I don't know. Please contact Find a Grave at [emailprotected] if you need help resetting your password. John Hamilton in Oklahoma We found 15 records for John Hamilton in Norman, Tulsa and 9 other cities in Oklahoma. Are you sure that you want to report this flower to administrators as offensive or abusive? "She was angry, and she John Hamilton: You know, I've come to find out that blood spatter is really junk science. Steve Jimerson: Oh, they were la-la. After two hours of deliberation, the jury found him guilty of first-degree murder. Investigators had plenty of theories to work with, but the suspect they brought into custody shocked everyone. Search above to list available cemeteries. This relationship is not possible based on lifespan dates. Gardner carefully examined everything the doctor had been wearing that morning. The conviction of Oklahoma City resident Dr. John Hamilton in the 2001 Valentine's Day murder of his wife Susan Hamilton will be examined on "True Crime with Aphrodite Jones" in an episode titled "Loved to Death," airing at 9 p.m. Monday on Investigation Discovery. After arriving at the crime scene, investigators placed john in the back of a police car. And Susan's getting ready you know, trying to get dressed. The defense's expert was saying that Dr. John Hamilton most likely created those blood stains by bashing in his wife's skull. Susan Hamilton, 55, had discovered on her husband's telephone bills The first-degree murder charge accuses Dr. John Baxter Hamilton, 52, an obstetrician and gynecologist, in the beating and strangulation death of his wife, Susan Shibley Hamilton, 55. If convicted, he could be sentenced to prison for life with or without the possibility of parole. Susan Johnston: I said, "Susan, I don't think it's true. It was never on any abortion protesters. The day of the murder, one of Hamilton's patients had been at a hospital, sedated and ready for surgery, when Hamilton called and said he'd be arriving ten minutes early for surgery. On the steering wheel and driver's side seat and door sill, crime scene investigators recovered strands of susan's hair and a piece of her flesh. A random intruder? On Tuesday, District Judge Virgil Black allowed the doctor to attend his wife's graveside service under the supervision of sheriff's deputies. cemeteries found within kilometers of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. So yes, I went and tried to move the car. Nobody expected that to happen. Both had recently separated -- John from his first wife, and Susan from Dick Horton. Randy Scott: That would cause a suspicion for us to wonder why he's wanting to scrape his hands up. Drag images here or select from your computer for Susan Shibley Hamilton memorial. He was banging his head into the screen. One of their arguments was that Tom Bevel should never have been allowed to testify. or don't show this againI am good at figuring things out. Wes Lane: Yeah, I mean, I talked to everybody from the restaurant waitress that would wait on them on Saturday mornings, and she was agasp that we could have charged John Hamilton, because she would see them at breakfast together all lovey dovey, and so, yes, there was just a vast amount of opposition and grand skepticism. Let's go find some experts to prove our case.' And then she decides to eliminate her competition. An important clue came in the card Susan had written to her husband, which had a handwritten note reading: "I bought my cards two weeks ago, so I guess maybe they don't seem as appropriate now. "His face showed It looked like the start of an attempted -- and then abandoned -- clean-up. It's a vivid picture. He died in October 2021, according to information obtained from a different source. Susan Hamilton Murdered 2001 Murdered , Bludgeoned , Strangled On the morning of Feb. 14, 2001, Dr. John Hamilton phoned 911 requesting urgent help for his wife. Dennis Murphy: Jurors saying, "Look at this shirt. One unanswered question for investigators is how the killer got out of the house at 3056 Brush Creek Road without leaving a bloody trail. There are no volunteers for this cemetery. At the end, I think she was calmer and she said, "I'm gonna think about it.". Contact supportservices@okmedicalboard.org for more information. "Moments like that in the courtroom just don't happen like that. So he runs by that house. Dr. John Hamilton placed the initial 911 call after his wife was strangled and beaten to death in Oklahoma on Valentine's Day 2001. . They took his clothes as evidence, and placed him in an interview room. Your Scrapbook is currently empty. Then came the prosecutor, Wes Lane's, turn on cross-examination. The group had faxed Hamilton a "wanted" poster the same week as the murder, and the doctor told Primetime he and his wife had both received threatening phone calls the week she was killed. He and his wife, Susan, had met in 1985 at a friend's birthday party. He says he did John Hamilton, a prominent Oklahoma City gynecologist, has been in jail without bail since Feb. 14. A very nice, innocent guy was facing a nightmare. In this case, though, the spouse had an alibi, and a good one. And the shoe splattered with Susan's blood from different directions as she was being killed? And I don't think they-- believed it. The court rejected Hamilton's. Randy Scott: The lady's layin' in the floor, covered in blood, blood all over the floor. So, you don't have an object to compare it against. Randy Scott: It indicated that she still felt something for John, but it just things weren't the same as they were gonna be. Please. However, the investigation revealed that the murderer was John Hamilton himself. District Judge Ray Elliott also ordered. This browser does not support getting your location. His theory was that the stains on the shirt were left by the murder weapon as it came in contact with the garment. "John said she had said something about divorce," Coffey said. the bathroom floor. Here there might be a spark of life in your wife and you're giving her CPR, "Oh, I've gotta move the car.". Ever. neighbor. AGE 40s John Hamilton Norman, OK View Full Report Used To Live In Relatives Investigators had to interpret the blood evidence left behind. "She was taken down almost immediately and spun onto her face, Spruill said. There is 1 volunteer for this cemetery. And then there were these curious stains on the doctor's shirt -- the blood expert thought he saw a similarity between their angular shape, and the wound created on Susan's head. mother, and Horton testified Dick Horton: Actually, we've turned it into a positive. Two weeks later he was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. The Hamiltons' 14-year marriage apparently had been in trouble for some time before the slaying. Steve Jimerson: They all said he was just as normal and jovial as he always was. In 1987, John Hamilton married Susan, and his wife began working part-time at John's clinic. Mack Martin: I never saw anything to indicate that John said, "If I can't have you, nobody can.". Oklahoma City investigators Teresa Sterling and Randy Scott arrived at the Hamilton house at noon that day. Her husband, John Baxter Hamilton was convicted of murder, and is serving a life sentence. Found more than one record for entered Email, You need to confirm this account before you can sign in. Bevel, under oath to tell the truth, told the court about the spatter in the sleeve and said it was consistent with Hamilton beating his wife over the head with a blunt instrument. Not necessarily a killer's shoe, countered the defense expert, but the shoe of Dr. Hamilton as he gave his wife CPR. Horton told the jurors her mother had And the seemingly inseparable couple became even more so after they married. John Baxter Hamilton. Aguirre, the topless dancer, John Hamilton: I wanted EMT to be able to get in. Time for a new episode! she hadn't done before. Are you adding a grave photo that will fulfill this request? ", Hamilton denies that he was having an affair or that his wife wanted a divorce. Randy Scott: There's no burglary prints to obtain downstairs. Susan, in particular, became entangled with neckties, resulting in a severe head injury. His former medical partner, for one, thinks that would be impossible. "There is a science to blood spatters," Lane said. Year should not be greater than current year. He was born on April 23, 1950 in Phenix City, Alabama. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. Maybe he ends up terminating that to save his marriage. The perpetrator then turned up the heat in the bathroom so the water in the shower would evaporate, he said. And so, the motive was love lost. And why was it delayed? However, there is no credible evidence that he is still alive or dead. The defense's expert, bevel, couldn't go that far. Louise Shibley, the victim's And he was in there. ", Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. All rights reserved. If you have questions, please contact [emailprotected]. The first-degree murder charge accuses Dr. John Baxter Hamilton, 52, an obstetrician and gynecologist, in the beating and strangulation death of his wife, Susan Shibley Hamilton, 55. John Hamilton, an obstetrician-gynecologist in Oklahoma City before murdering his wife in 2001, was a well-known obstetrician-gynecologist. I mean, I knew Susan was dead. Tom Bevel, a blood spatter expert hired by the defense, testified on cross examination that the "most probable explanation for blood inside Hamiltons shirt sleeve was that he had struck his wife with a blunt object. John Hamilton called his Oops, something didn't work. Danyelle shares three haunting love stories that end in tragedy. There was an error deleting this problem. Tom Bevel, the blood spatter expert hired by Dr. John Hamilton, had wrapped up his questioning under defense attorneys. John Hamilton: Oh, sure. I was horribly wrong. He said the blood got on the steering wheel when he stopped doing CPR for a moment to move his car before the emergency vehicles arrived. I told some people at the clinic, "I wish I had someone that would look at me the way John looks at Susan." John Hamilton: Please, please, send police, please send an ambulance, please. And while he may have stepped over his boundaries professionally, he said he never had an affair with her. With that revelation, the defense expert became the star witness for the trials prosecution. Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. How the case changed, the bottom fell out of everything. She had been strangled, and her face had been repeatedly By 9:30, he was scrubbing up for the operation -- a complicated removal of a tumor. Dr. John Baxter Hamilton was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Today, John Hamilton resides in a maximum security prison, behind the walls where Valentine's Day has little meaning at all. You are only allowed to leave one flower per day for any given memorial. degree murder trial of her stepfather, Dr. How did it get there? Bevel and prosecutors have denied those allegations. with John Hamilton. Like the observation made by detectives at the station that he seemed to be checking out scratches to his shoulder? Two years after their first date, they married at a local country club. sentenced to prison for life with or without the possibility of parole. The cry for help comes from Oklahoma City's most exclusive neighborhood. her mother, Horton testified in the first- When he met Susan in 1985, they were both divorced with four children between them. It was the high society doctor, married to the beautiful wife, that were crazy about one another. 2023 www.oklahoman.com. Her face savaged: almost unrecognizable. Randy Scott: I think the biggest part for us was trying to figure out how he could get there, spend any time there, and get back to commit the second surgery. Lane had questioned the other woman. Dennis Murphy: And the card would later become an issue because people saw kind of a snarky line from Susan of, "Well obviously, I got this before the trouble, huh? The scene was a bloody mess. "You could tell she was crying. Afterwards he tried to clean up, but quickly gave up. Tom Bevel: In order to say that, you have to have the murder weapon. A name that would shock everybody. It was a violent scene. Why do you do that? The Hamiltons did have enemies. Hamilton, an obstetrician-gynecologist, started performing CPR and called 911. And for that, they hired a blood stain expert Named Ross Gardner. But I do love you. But his argument wouldn't be enough. You can always change this later in your Account settings. For ten months -- ever since that Valentine's Day when he was arrested for the murder of his wife -- John Hamilton had kept his silence behind bars. I didn't kill Susan. Susan Hamilton was beaten with a blunt instrument, Oklahoma County District Attorney Robert Macy said in court documents that list 39 witnesses in the case. In the week before she was Something happened in that bathroom that absolutely triggered him, which he grabbed the ties, and he then, surprised her, and in his rage, did all the rest of the work. What's more, only days before the murder, another anti-abortion group had applied for a permit to stage a protest in front of Hamiltons house.