Joe Sheppard

[Tretsy]

Can anyone recap the story of Joe Sheppard? I believe he murdered two girls and buried them in his parents backyard somewhere in the midwest??
I believe he was captured in London Ontario Canada after working for years and having a family...
Is he still in jail? I don't remember the full extent of the story itself.

[DarkDante]

It was Telico Plains, Tennessee. Shepard was sort of this backwoods guy who was portrayed as a "cold blooded psychopathic killer" (which I thought was funny considering the update).

Anyhow Shepard as far as we know was involved in the murder of two girls: Roxanne Woodson and Cathy Clowers both local residents. Both girls were murdered while apparently on dates with Shepard with the likely reason being the rejected his advances to "take the date to the next level" so to speak.

The Woodson death was detailed much more than the Clowers death in the UM segment with Shepard initially claiming that Woodson just abandoned him during their date and ran off into the woods never to be seen again. Once her body was found on his property his story changed to that Roxanne had fallen in the woods and died accidentally and due to the fact that he thought nobody would believe his version of the truth, took her back to his parents house and buried her there. Seriously, maybe not a "cold blooded psychopathic killer" but certainly an idiot.

Well the body was discovered as you noted and Shepard was put on trial for her murder. After this went down, the disappearance of Cathy Clowers which had occured several years previous to the Woodson death came back under investigation. Joe Shepard offered to the police that he knew where Clowers was buried and offered to take them there. After some digging the police located the body of Clowers in exactly the same place Shepard said it would be. One unique aspect is that both girls had their pants leg wrapped around their head, indicating they were likely murdered by the same person.

Shepard was also later convicted of the murder of Cathy Clowers but escaped prison in the late 70s and fled to London, Ontario Canada. Whats funny is from watching the segment the first time many many years ago, I expected them to find this wild serial killer running from the law (from the way they described him) and when they found him he was this clean-cut family man living in Canada. Always found that funny.

Anyhow they extradited him back to the United States and I believe in 1989 the final ruling came down that Shepard was responsible for both deaths and was sentenced to life in prison. If you google his name you'll notice that since then Shepard has filed many appeals contending misconduct and lack of evidence and the like in order to obtain his release. But to my knowledge he is still serving his sentence as of this date.

[crystaldawn]

Wow, groovy avatar Dante.....

[Tretsy]

Thank you very much, I live in the city where he was found and it was such a big shock. He was married, 2 teenagers and working as a mechanic or somehting. His family claims they knew nothing about him and I often wonder how they are doing....

[justins5256]

Originally Posted by Tretsy

Thank you very much, I live in the city where he was found and it was such a big shock. He was married, 2 teenagers and working as a mechanic or somehting. His family claims they knew nothing about him and I often wonder how they are doing....

That's really interesting. Did you ever meet him in person before his arrest? I seem to recall that he was using the alias "Joseph Tripp". Is that correct?

[Arnold_OldSchool]

Pretty funny watching the lifetime segment as Stacks says "We have reports of Shepard living on the mexico border...suddenly !!!UPDATE!!! Ontario, Canada...oooopss

[crystaldawn]

Found an article on Shepard where it says he maintained his innocence until his death last year.

http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2.../16735101.html

[Francium]

Originally Posted by crystaldawn

Found an article on Shepard where it says he maintained his innocence until his death last year.

http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2.../16735101.html

If he was walking with a cane, he must have had a hard time in prison. Though he never would admit to doing the crimes, it is nice to see he at least cared for his children, which is not something to take for granted.

[Detective Inspector]

Originally Posted by crystaldawn

Found an article on Shepard where it says he maintained his innocence until his death last year.

I used to watch UM with my grandmother as a child, and I have just started re-watching these episodes. It's nice to find updates online and see many of these cases finally solved.

In the UM reenactment, Shepard first said he last saw Roxanne in the woods. His story then changed to she fell, he didn't know if she was alive or dead, and he admitted to burying her in his yard. The article quotes Shepard, 'I didn't bury them . . . I didn't kill them' He clearly has trouble keeping track of his lies.

I found a newspaper article saying he worked in a car wrecking yard in Canada. It said he was 35 in 1988, making him 25 the year he was dating 15 y/o Roxanne (and 23 in connection with 14 y/o Cathy Clowers). You'd think police or parents would have done something to this creep chasing these young girls.

[cokercreek20]

Originally Posted by DarkDante

It was Telico Plains, Tennessee. Shepard was sort of this backwoods guy who was portrayed as a "cold blooded psychopathic killer" (which I thought was funny considering the update).

Anyhow Shepard as far as we know was involved in the murder of two girls: Roxanne Woodson and Cathy Clowers both local residents. Both girls were murdered while apparently on dates with Shepard with the likely reason being the rejected his advances to "take the date to the next level" so to speak.

The Woodson death was detailed much more than the Clowers death in the UM segment with Shepard initially claiming that Woodson just abandoned him during their date and ran off into the woods never to be seen again. Once her body was found on his property his story changed to that Roxanne had fallen in the woods and died accidentally and due to the fact that he thought nobody would believe his version of the truth, took her back to his parents house and buried her there. Seriously, maybe not a "cold blooded psychopathic killer" but certainly an idiot.

Well the body was discovered as you noted and Shepard was put on trial for her murder. After this went down, the disappearance of Cathy Clowers which had occured several years previous to the Woodson death came back under investigation. Joe Shepard offered to the police that he knew where Clowers was buried and offered to take them there. After some digging the police located the body of Clowers in exactly the same place Shepard said it would be. One unique aspect is that both girls had their pants leg wrapped around their head, indicating they were likely murdered by the same person.

Shepard was also later convicted of the murder of Cathy Clowers but escaped prison in the late 70s and fled to London, Ontario Canada. Whats funny is from watching the segment the first time many many years ago, I expected them to find this wild serial killer running from the law (from the way they described him) and when they found him he was this clean-cut family man living in Canada. Always found that funny.

Anyhow they extradited him back to the United States and I believe in 1989 the final ruling came down that Shepard was responsible for both deaths and was sentenced to life in prison. If you google his name you'll notice that since then Shepard has filed many appeals contending misconduct and lack of evidence and the like in order to obtain his release. But to my knowledge he is still serving his sentence as of this date.

Hey There,


I'm from Tellico Plains and would like to establish contact with you. I'm researching the Joe Shepherd situation.

[Cooker3]

Roxanne Woodson was absolutely beautiful, damn.

1 thing that surprises me is that he didn't bury her in the forest like he did with Cathy Clowers. I kind of feel if he had she may never have been found and he might have got away with it.

[Corkys-Place]

The guy was trash. Plain and simple.