Photos larger than 8Mb will be reduced. There is a problem with your email/password. And in photos of the crime scene, the prosecutor pointed out for jurors something that needed explaining -- a wet rag left in the pool of blood from the victim's head. John Baxter Hamilton, who was convicted of the Valentine's Day murder of his wife, lost his bid to the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals on Tuesday. In this article, youll learn more about Susan Hamiltons murder. The other says, "It's his shirt that convicts him." I do not think that John's havin' an affair. Retha Chamberlain, Special Judge Russell Hall's court clerk, said the process to complete the paperwork would delay the appearance until then. And if there was another pair, she'd go get those. Maybe Chicago gangsters get killed on St. Valentine's day. And the seemingly inseparable couple became even more so after they married. Horton said John Hamilton Mack Martin: I never saw anything to indicate that John said, "If I can't have you, nobody can.". A judge earlier ruled there was probable cause to detain Hamilton pending formal charges being filed. Home; Memorials; Cemeteries; Famous; Contribute; Register; Sign In; . Please enter your email address and we will send you an email with a reset password code. Their fourteen-year marriage, however, resulted in Susans heinous murder. her husband were working on their Watching. The blood spatter expert on the stand -- on the payroll of the defense -- hesitated before answering. Verify and try again. The doctor's behavior in the minutes after finding Susan dead seemed "off.". Her naked body was discovered by her husband, John. John Hamilton: My wife's, my wife, my wife I think my wife is dead. Please contact Find a Grave at [emailprotected] if you need help resetting your password. Randy Scott: It indicated that she still felt something for John, but it just things weren't the same as they were gonna be. Even the prosecutor, Wes Lane, had to admit that John had been telling the truth about that suspected affair. Investigators have a word for rage crimes: "overkill." Wes Lane: And that's when he started explaining that the blood spatter inside the sleeve. Investigators never recovered the murder weapon. According to the investigation, he was the perpetrator of his wifes murder. He wants everything in control in order. Still, there was the doctor's seemingly solid alibi. I mean, trying to set fire to his clinic. without her knowledge. 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? Susan Hamilton's body was found on The note made police question whether the Hamiltons' marriage was as happy as it had seemed, and they began to regard Hamilton as a suspect. Bevel and prosecutors have denied those allegations. His attorneys have claimed that police had improper contact with Bevel, who is a former police officer, during the trial. When he met Susan in 1985, they were both divorced with four children between them. Or you wouldn't have had time to have gotten it off your clothing. Dick Horton: Well, Susan was a very disciplined individual. John Hamilton, who had spent every day since his wife's murder in a jail cell, would finally get a chance to testify about the last days of the marriage -- a story he also told to us. But because it was Valentine's Day, I wanted to give Susan her first Valentine's card. John, the good doctor, was simply trying to counsel her. Of course, he didn't have the actual murder weapon to make a true comparison but he was able to leave the jury with a vivid impression: The doctor's shirt may have taken a kind of photograph in blood. The prosecutor tossed out an open-ended question: Wes Lane: Well, Mr. Bevel, is there anything that either the state's experts or the Oklahoma City Police Department missed in their examination of the evidence? In 2001, Oklahoma abortion provider Dr. John Baxter Hamilton beat his wife and then choked her to death in their home. . Daughter of Kamille Kareen and Louise Sibley.Mother of 2 children.Lived to age 55 years.Murder victim. "Anything else, they don't want you to hear. smashed into the floor. not kill his wife. he was upset. in december 2001, ten months after the valentine's day killing of his wife susan, dr. john hamilton was being tried for her murder. She denied having an affair or any type of personal relationship with the defendant. This is a carousel with slides. Susan, as it turns out, should also have left by 9:20, because she had a 9:30 meeting at a friend's house ten minutes away. Karen Reisig: I had gone into the doctor's lounge to dictate the procedure. Danyelle shares three haunting love stories that end in tragedy. John Hamilton and Alliena 0 cemeteries found in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, USA. Judge: Based upon the comments a majority of the jurors said to me in which they indicated they were very disappointed they didn't have the sentence of death as an option, I would consider yourself, you should consider yourself very lucky. But he never had a chance to do that -- or to tell the cops that the killer had gotten the jewels -- that's because he was put in the back of the police car and never got back inside the house again. 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. The defense also hired a respected crime scene investigator, Tom Bevel, as an expert witness. together at the defendant's said Johnston, who also is married to a doctor. They were kind of a unit in that regards. Randy Scott: John Hamilton was just not the victim's spouse that we were seein'. Dennis Murphy: So these things that you say are kind of like out of focus- moving the car, there was the other thing -- the business about moving her jewelry, hiding it in her drawer? And we kissed. And I was, you know, I was so nervous. Failed to delete memorial. Many still believe he is innocent, and he. Tom Bevel: In my examination, I found additional blood that was not talked about anywhere, on the inside of the right cuff. It was Susan's good jewelry. And-- my children started, "Well, I'll never celebrate it again." One blow crushed her skull, Gofton said. A prominent doctor's wife is murdered on Valentine's Day. Then the prosecutor rose for his cross-examination. On Feb. 14, 2001, he phoned 911 to report finding his wife in the master bathroom of their Quail Creek home. Drag images here or select from your computer for Susan Shibley Hamilton memorial. A name that would shock everybody. A friend was combing Susan's clothes closet for something appropriate for her to be buried in, when she came upon something concealed in an underwear drawer. They took his clothes as evidence, and placed him in an interview room. Spruill said she probably grabbed at the necktie with both of her hands. Susan Hamilton, 55, had discovered on her husband's telephone bills John Hamilton: It was a shock to everybody. Wes Lane: This had a lot of dots to connect. Gibson Paul found himself getting dumped on Feb. 14, 2011, grabbed a gun and opened fire . Susan Hamilton, 55, had been strangled with two neckties and beaten. In December 2001, ten months after the Valentine's Day killing of his wife, Susan, Dr. John Hamilton was being tried for her murder. Dennis Murphy: You were starting to see her come around? As a Finnish lawyer, Simon Ekpa has made a name for himself in the legal profession. day. (Oklahoma Department of Corrections) Dr. John Hamilton placed the. He was born on April 23, 1950 in Phenix City, Alabama. At the end, I think she was calmer and she said, "I'm gonna think about it.". Mack Martin, the doctor's lead attorney, knew it would be uphill. I was never gonna see Susan again. the defendant was calling her 10 Year should not be greater than current year. This week, ya girls are celebrating Valentines Day a day late. Just, you know, just a very light-hearted conversation. David Bradbury: The way that this woman had been beaten, I mean, her face was swollen, her face was bloody. her daughter was taking sides The prosecutor told the jury he envisioned the murder this way: the doctor coming back mid-morning after his first surgery, trying to patch things up with his wife who, majorly, wasn't buying it. By then there'd been that neighbor's tip about problems in the Hamilton marriage. asked him to move out of their John Hamilton: I talked to the surgery nurse and she said, "The surgery before yours started 30 minutes late.". much I love your mother and I It started out negative. "She said, 'I'm scared and I've never felt Maybe he ends up terminating that to save his marriage. been beaten with a blunt instrument. Prosecutors are trying to prove Hamilton hid his bloody clothes and the blunt instrument used to kill the victim. Susan.". Randy Scott: He has time to get back by the house 'cause their-- their house is very close to in between the two hospitals. Dennis Murphy: So that was the reason you went home? John Baxter Hamilton. Mrs. Hamilton, 55, had worked as a physician's assistant at her husband's abortion facility, Oklahoma Women's Clinic. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? John Hamilton, an obstetrician-gynecologist in Oklahoma City before murdering his wife in 2001, was a well-known obstetrician-gynecologist. Aguirre testified Dennis Murphy, Dateline NBC: Who was she? Hamilton maintained his innocence throughout his trial, which may have turned on dramatic testimony from the final witness in the case. February 14th, 2001, would have been their fifteenth Valentine's Day together. Try again later. Now he would be able to tell his side of the story. This browser does not support getting your location. She would've never hidden it in her underwear and all of a sudden the, you know, it just clicks that he's tryin' to make it look like a robbery. He said he performed a surgery around 7 a.m., then came home to exchange Valentine's cards with his wife. Prosecutors claim the defendant had fingernail scratches on one of his shoulders when he was arrested. Randy Scott: She gets the bill and upon looking at the bill she notices-- she starts marking and finds a huge number, and I'm talkin', close to 100 phone calls to this phone, back and forth to John. John Hamilton: I still believed that the system would work. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. Susan managed john's abortion clinic, working there two days a week. By the time the prosecutor had wrapped up his case, he'd laid out a theory of what happened -- that the doctor had used the neckties to pull his wife down from to the ground, then bashed her head in with that murder weapon never found. On Feb. 14, 2001, he phoned 911 to report finding his wife in the master bathroom of their Quail Creek home. But beyond his professional accomplishments, little is known about his personal life, especially when it comes to his family. I mean, because it was out there in view, I guess. Prosecutors Allege Murder Between Surgeries. People used to believe they were in deep romantic love back then. I told some people at the clinic, "I wish I had someone that would look at me the way John looks at Susan." A panicked Hamilton told the operator that he was attempting to perform CPR on her. They'd been suspicious earlier, back at the house when he scratched his hands against the cage in the police car. And while there were scenarios to serously consider: a berserk robber, or maybe the legion of activists opposed to the couple's abortion practice, the crime scene wasn't telling them that. I was horribly wrong. 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. As the last witness in the trial, he'd refuted a lot of the prosecution's findings, and bolstered his client's case. Vandalizing his home. they thought the Hamiltons had John Hamilton, a prominent Oklahoma City gynecologist, has been in jail The doctor was still in shock, as the judge added his opinion. To the defense team, it seemed obvious from the first moments that investigators never seriously considered any suspects other than the husband. John Hamilton, a prominent Oklahoma City gynecologist, has been in jail without bail since Feb. 14. And both John and Susan had received threatening phone calls that week. On this day, Valentine's Day, in 2001, abortionist John Baxter Hamilton bludgeoned his wife, Susan, to death in their Oklahoma home. They do on Perry Mason, but they don't in the real world.". Two men's ties were tightly knotted about her neck. Shop Shop Discount Calls Inmate Deposits Letters and Photos Greeting Cards Postcards Magazines Books Find An Inmate Prison Directory Services In particular, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The way that we are taught to do CPR, we interlock our hands. Wes Lane: We could tell that-- that the blood had been moved around. John Hamilton: Yeah. He did not think it could have come from giving CPR. John Hamilton: No, she's not breathing, I don't get a pulse. He died in October 2021, according to information obtained from a different source. Contact supportservices@okmedicalboard.org for more information. Susan Hamilton suspected her husband was having an affair with a patient and stripper whose telephone number turned up 60 times on the defendant's cell phone bills. On Valentines Day 2001, John Hamilton murdered his wife Susan. The prosecutor was well aware of the hurdles he faced, not the least of which: the lack of motive. Dennis Murphy: They're gonna accuse you of trying to cover up the scratches that Susan made defensively as you were killing her. "You could have heard a pin drop," remembers Lane. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. And why was it delayed? for immediate release contact: diane denton december 16, 2004 615.741.3111 (office) 615.708.9384 (cell) disciplinary action report "My wife's bleeding all over the place," Dr. John Baxter Hamilton tells the 911 operator. Did it ever. David Bradbury: He had one hand on her chest, one hand on her abdomen, attempting to do compressions in this manner right here. Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. home at 3056 Brush Creek Road. How the case changed, the bottom fell out of everything. He was banging his head into the screen. They had been living a privileged life with their four children, and John was known in those days for being a romantic man toward his wife. Please reset your password. One thing everyone who knew the couple -- including the neighbor -- seemed to agree on -- was that whoever Susan's killer was, it certainly was not John Hamilton. Oklahoma City police Sgt. Something he'd noted and what would later be regarded as the atomic bomb of the trial of Dr. John Hamilton. The patient, as Susan discovered, was a stripper at a nightclub. last telephone conversation that she and And, as you might guess, it was a job that came with a little danger -- anti-abortion protestors were a curbside reality. Like the observation made by detectives at the station that he seemed to be checking out scratches to his shoulder? Bevel said he had no choice but to tell the court what he knew, even if it hurt the client who had hired him. Tom Bevel, a veteran of almost three decades with the Oklahoma City P.D. We took a one-to-one image of his shirt, and we overlay it. "Blood spatter is not an exact science, and Bevel had gone over to the dark side on him. It was never on any abortion protesters. The judge ruled that he would not allow any testimony about threats the abortion doctor and his wife may have received. Bevel believed the blood pattern was consistent with what would have happened if Hamilton struck his wife. at times she insinuated it was too He was talking on the phone. John Hamilton called his The court rejected Hamilton's. Failed to report flower. I still had 15 or 20 minutes. Melanie Martinez is a talented singer. I just felt like they were very happy. All photos uploaded successfully, click on the Done button to see the photos in the gallery. Are you adding a grave photo that will fulfill this request? He's crazy about you. "He (Hamilton) was really clinging to the defense lines that the blood result was not the way it was interpreted, Dennis Murphy, a "Dateline NBC reporter, told The Oklahoman on Wednesday. told Horton her mother had Believing that Susan Hamilton's threat of divorce was enough to make the doctor snap, prosecutors developed a theory that the couple had argued that morning after exchanging the cards and the doctor killed his wife. "It tells a story. She was strangled with a necktie and then her face was repeatedly smashed into the tile floor in the bathroom of her Quail Creek home. To investigators, that delay opened up the doctor's window of opportunity by up to an hour. And finally, there was the story told by blood. It was never on anyone that, there were calls that were made to Susan that scared her that weren't brought out. based on information from your browser. Penn's varsity track team, 1905 Dr. John Baxter Taylor, 1908 . Susan was attractive, intelligent. Rob Nigh: I've been doing criminal trials and appeals for 22 years and I've never seen a case like Dr. Hamilton's where the defense expert offered the most compelling evidence against the defendant. Dr. John Hamilton placed the initial 911 call after his wife was strangled and beaten to death in Oklahoma on Valentine's Day 2001. . Her face savaged: almost unrecognizable. He was only at home for a few minutes, because at 9 am his pager went off, the hospital calling him to get back for a second surgery.