OK: Slaying of doctor's wife shocks neighborhood
Patty
2001-03-04
By Ken Raymond
Staff Writer
The Oklahoman
From the outside, there was no way to tell that anything was wrong. The house squatted on
its lot as it always had, its red-brick facade sprawling nearly to the curb. A Jaguar XJ6
sedan waited outside, parked beneath an attached canopy squarely in the center of a
half-moon driveway.
The gate leading into the back yard was closed, concealing any view of the small pool and
the potted plants that surrounded it. Icy rain dripped from a leaden sky, and doors up and
down the street were tightly shut to block the chill wind.
For now, the house looked little different from the other quiet homes in the affluent
Quail Creek subdivision. But that was about to change.
In moments, the street would fill with ambulances, fire trucks and police cars. Reporters
would follow. Doors would swing open as the somnolent neighborhood awoke.
It was shortly after 11 a.m. on a cold, wet Feb. 14 in Oklahoma City, and murder had found
a new address.
The relationship
From the outside, there was no way to tell that anything was wrong.
Acquaintances of John and Susan Hamilton found the couple ideally suited to each other.
John Hamilton, 52, was gentle and soft-spoken, an obstetrician and gynecologist well-known
for his reassuring bedside manner and medical skill.
His wife was a Mediterranean beauty with dark hair and an olive complexion. Friendly and
outgoing, she donated her time to the Oklahoma County Medical Auxiliary and worked at the
Oklahoma City Clinic for Women, which her husband owned.
The couple dated for about three years before deciding to wed. Each had been married once
before, and each had two children from their previous marriages.
When they settled into the house on Brush Creek Road, their neighbors saw a couple that
seemingly loved to spend time together. Side by side, they potted plants and attended
parties, dined at the Quail Creek Country Club and went to movies. John introduced Susan
to acquaintances as "my beautiful wife."
They appeared to have it all - togetherness, money, prestige.
But to some who knew them well, the relationship was less than idyllic. Friends told
police that Susan suspected John of having an affair and threatened to divorce him, but he
vowed that he could not live without her.
After Valentine's Day, he would no longer have a choice.
The crime scene
From the outside, there was no way to tell that anything was wrong.
Inside, there was horror.
Hamilton left the house early on Feb. 14 and performed surgery at Mercy Hospital. At some
point, he told police, he returned home to exchange valentines with Susan. Hers remained
in the house, along with a box of chocolates and a stuffed bear; his was found hours later
inside the Jaguar.
Hamilton returned to the hospital and performed a scheduled operation alongside a
colleague, Dr. Donald Rahhal. Then Hamilton returned home.
He arrived sometime between 10:30-10:45 a.m., he told police. When he got there, the front
door was open.
He found Susan, 55, lying naked on the bathroom floor, he told police. Blood pooled around
her, and he could not find a pulse.
The doctor began cardiopulmonary resuscitation on his wife, he told police, but when she
didn't respond, he called 911. It was 11:06 a.m.
Dispatcher: "What's the problem there?"
Hamilton: "Well, my wife ... somebody (unintelligible). My wife's bleeding all over the
place. Look."
Dispatcher: "Sir."
John: "I don't know. It looks like somebody's hurt her. Please help."
As the call ended, John indicated that he was going to resume CPR. But by then, police now
believe, Susan had already been dead for hours.
The arrest
From the outside, there was no way to tell that anything was wrong.
Paramedics and firefighters got there first, and it didn't take them long to determine
that Susan was gone. They left the body where they found it.
Her head and face had been battered. A man's necktie circled her throat. Blood spilled
across the floor and stained the bottom of the bathroom door. The medical examiner would
later find that Susan died of blunt force trauma to the head and ligature strangulation,
or strangulation caused by something being tied or pulled tightly around the neck.
The house - constructed years before by a seemingly perfect couple - was now a crime
scene, and police closed the roadway and strung yellow tape across the small front yard.
Initially, Hamilton met with authorities at the house. He wore a sports jacket,
button-down shirt and slacks, but no tie or shoes. He was drenched in blood, as might be
expected if he had performed CPR on his wife.
Police took him downtown for questioning by homicide detectives. He met with his
attorneys, but did not make a statement to police.
On Brush Creek Road, detectives and technical investigators spent hours waiting for a
court document that would allow them to enter the house and search for evidence. The front
door hung open the entire time, and the body remained inside.
Ultimately, search warrants were granted for the house, the Jaguar and John's locker in
the men's surgical dressing room at Mercy Hospital. Police gathered clues, and the medical
examiner took custody of Susan's body.
About 5 p.m., Hamilton was arrested on a murder complaint. In a court document, police
questioned his emotional response to the killing and said there was no evidence of a
bloody suspect fleeing the scene. By the time the document was written, police had also
spoken to some of Susan's friends, who told them that the couple had been involved in
"heated" arguments over Hamilton's alleged affair.
In an unusual move, Hamilton was granted permission by the court to attend his wife's
graveside service on Feb. 20, in part because both his relatives and hers requested that
he be there.
The doctor attended in manacles, accompanied by sheriff's deputies who escorted him back
to jail when the service was over. He has remained there ever since.
On Feb. 21, he was charged with first-degree murder.
The shock
By then, it was obvious that things had gone horribly wrong.
There'd been trouble at the house before, but nothing to compare to this. In addition to
his other work, John performed abortions at the women's clinic, a vocation that spawned
protests. Picketers frequently gathered outside the clinic, and less frequently, they
showed up outside the house.
By all indications, Susan had been embarrassed by the protests. Her first conversation
with one of her neighbors began as an apology for bringing picketers onto the street.
More than once, the couple phoned police to disperse the crowds outside their house, but
it had never turned violent.
And now this. A beloved woman dead. A respected doctor in custody.
Impromptu memorials sprang up outside the house: flowers, potted plants, hand-printed
signs.
At Mercy Hospital, disbelief and shock gripped Hamilton's colleagues. The emotions have
not lessened in the weeks since the arrest.
"No one who knows him well believes he could have done this," said Rahhal, who has known
Hamilton for almost 30 years. "We know him to be a nice, kind, gentle person, not one who
is given to sudden outbursts of anger."
Rahhal and other doctors at the hospital have taken on the doctor's patients for now, and
are maintaining a "firm stance" that he is innocent until proven guilty.
Surviving family members have remained silent, preferring to keep their grief private and
their memories sacrosanct.
John's attorney, Mack Martin, has said his client is innocent and will not be tried in the
media. Beyond that, Martin has said nothing.
The house, too, is quiet. From a distance, it could pass for any other. The front door is
closed now, the police tape gone.
From the outside, it's almost as if nothing happened at all.
Maggie
***Great story, but there's apparently a whole lot missing. Does anyone know
what the evidence is against the doctor? It must be pretty strong to have
gotten him arrested so quickly, but we don't have even a hint what it could be.
Maggie
"When we got into office, the thing that surprised me the most was that things
were as bad as we'd been saying they were."--John F. Kennedy
OKC TRINIA
>what the evidence is against the doctor? It must be pretty strong to have
>gotten him arrested so quickly, but we don't have even a hint what it could
>be
I live in OKC and I haven't heard anything about this story. Where did this
story come from? I'll try and see if I can find any info.
"TV DOSEN'T CREATE PHSYCO'S, CANCELLING THE SHOWS DO" SCARY MOVIE
Dog3
"Patty" <la...@bug.com> wrote in message
news:uzzo6.2342$K66.1...@nntp1.onemain.com...
> Slaying shocks neighborhood
> 2001-03-04
> By Ken Raymond
> Staff Writer
> The Oklahoman
>
> From the outside, there was no way to tell that anything was
wrong. The house squatted on
> its lot as it always had, its red-brick facade sprawling nearly
to the curb. A Jaguar XJ6
> sedan waited outside, parked beneath an attached canopy squarely
in the center of a
> half-moon driveway.
Man, you just never know about people. There is a seemingly
perfect couple down the street. I think he's a tax attorney.
Sometimes when I'm walking the dog (they always leave the garage
door open) I can hear them quarreling violently. I haven't seen
her around for awhile and the house just went on the market.
Maybe she's buried in the back yard.
Michael
Patty
": ***Great story, but there's apparently a whole lot missing. Does anyone know
: what the evidence is against the doctor? It must be pretty strong to have
: gotten him arrested so quickly, but we don't have even a hint what it could be.
Includes affidavits and 911 call
http://www.oklahoman.com/cgi-bin/show_article2?ID=645574&TP=getarticle
Affidavit shows police reasoning in Hamilton's arrest
2001-02-28
By Ken Raymond
Staff Writer
The Oklahoman
A bloody crime scene, a rumored affair and apparently inappropriate emotional responses
led police to arrest Dr. John Baxter Hamilton hours after his wife was slain in the couple
's Quail Creek home, police said in an affidavit released Tuesday.
The document - a probable cause affidavit signed by an Oklahoma County District Court
judge - describes some of the evidence that led homicide detectives to believe Hamilton
beat and strangled his wife, Susan Hamilton, 55.
Mack Martin, Hamilton's attorney, has said his client is innocent. Martin declined to
comment Tuesday.
Hamilton, a prominent obstetrician and gynecologist, was charged with first-degree murder.
He has been held without bail in the Oklahoma County jail since Feb. 14, the day of the
slaying.
Hamilton, 52, called 911 at 11:06 a.m. on Valentine's Day, telling dispatchers that
somebody "hurt" his wife, who was "bleeding all over the place." He identified himself as
a doctor and said he thought his wife was dead.
When police arrived, Hamilton was wearing bloodstained clothing, but no shoes or necktie.
His wife was lying nude on the bathroom floor in a pool of blood. She had suffered
blunt-force trauma to her forehead, and a necktie was around her neck.
The doctor told police he performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on his wife, then called
for help when she did not respond, the affidavit says. He resumed CPR after completing the
call. Hamilton was taken to police headquarters for questioning.
Police described his demeanor as inappropriate.
"Dr. Hamilton appeared to be acting and not truly concerned for the victim," the document
said. "Dr. Hamilton did not act as a person who often comes in contact with emergency
situations."
From talking to those who knew the couple, police learned that Susan Hamilton had recently
accused her husband of having an affair, which led to "heated" arguments, the affidavit
says.
"The victim threatened to leave or divorce Dr. Hamilton," the affidavit said. "The victim'
s friend ... advised detectives that Dr. Hamilton made the statement that he could not
live without the victim."
The condition of the crime scene also made investigators suspicious, the affidavit said.
"Although the house was reported unlocked and opened by Dr. Hamilton, there was no
evidence of escape by a bloody suspect," the affidavit said. "The crime scene was
extremely bloody, and the suspect could not have left the residence without leaving some
evidence of a blood trail."
Maggie
>
>": ***Great story, but there's apparently a whole lot missing. Does anyone
>know
>: what the evidence is against the doctor? It must be pretty strong to
>have
>: gotten him arrested so quickly, but we don't have even a hint what it
>could be.
>
>Includes affidavits and 911 call
>http://www.oklahoman.com/cgi-bin/show_article2?ID=645574&TP=getarticle
>
>Affidavit shows police reasoning in Hamilton's arrest
>2001-02-28
>By Ken Raymond
>Staff Writer
>The Oklahoman
>
>A bloody crime scene, a rumored affair and apparently inappropriate emotional
>responses
>led police to arrest Dr. John Baxter Hamilton hours after his wife was slain
>in the couple
>'s Quail Creek home, police said in an affidavit released Tuesday.
****Boy--I believe he did it, but that seems awfully awfully thin for an
arrest. If these cops were in Boulder, CO, the Ramseys would have had their
asses hauled off to jail on December 26, 1996.
WWWoLadyA
>>A bloody crime scene, a rumored affair and apparently inappropriate
>emotional
>>responses
>>led police to arrest Dr. John Baxter Hamilton hours after his wife was slain
>>in the couple
>>'s Quail Creek home, police said in an affidavit released Tuesday.
>****Boy--I believe he did it, but that seems awfully awfully thin for an
>arrest. If these cops were in Boulder, CO, the Ramseys would have had their
>asses hauled off to jail on December 26, 1996.
See!
If he'd been canny enough to dispense with the messy stabbing and maneuver an
airbag deployment to explain the trauma and asphyxia, you might have believed
him. ;)
A.
DedNdogYrs
murderers learn-it's really hard to get away with murder anymore.)
Dogs & children first.