After just a few shows in England, the tour was canceled. “He’s okay now. Jay and Creekmore had moved into the master bedroom by the time Jerry Lee came in to dress. Dr. Nick testified at hearings that he also wrote narcotic prescriptions for Jerry Lee Lewis. He slowly adjusted to the afternoon sunlight filtering into his Memphis house. Jerry Lee Lewis singing some of his greatest hits live at Church Street Station at the Cheyenne Saloon in Orlando, Florida. Once again, the crime lab did not finish the tests for months. I don’t even know ‘im. “She said, ‘I’m leaving him,'” her mother recalls, “‘if and when I can get away from him . “But I told her,” Danny remembers, “there wasn’t anything she could do about it, because it was private. Why didn’t he want her? Now he bent his pink moon-face with its sandy fuzz of first beard over her pale lips: no breath. Ballard also had wandered in, his eyes shifting slowly around the room; he regarded the high, king-size bed, with its four heavy posters and canopy; he glanced at a tray of dirty dishes on the floor, with leavings of steak bones and vegetables, and broken glass on the floor, too, with no large pieces to show where it came from; he noticed the 9-mm pistol Jerry Lee kept on the bed table, and mentally, he tracked the line of fire from Jerry Lee’s expanse of mattress to the bullet holes in the wall. And, Myra said later, she herself felt ready for marriage. He still didn’t have a written autopsy report. Blake also got through to Ballard, who promised, calmly, evenly — one legal man to another — to keep Blake fully appraised. “When you don’t have a homicide, you don’t have an investigation, and when you don’t have an investigation, what right do I have to release information?”. With Elvis facing two years in the army, the Killer bade fair to take the crown. It wasn’t like Shawn had been looking for it. Kenny Rodgers was at the mike: “Folks, the mos’ greates’ ennataina in the worl’ . The Killer only emerged once, when the body was being removed from the house. Sometimes, Hernando’s owner, Kenny Rodgers, would get up to the mike, straighten his pearly tie under the vest of his gray business suit and announce: “Ladies an’ gennlemen! Lawyers know with Francisco: Unless you can take him apart, you don’t even question him in front of a jury. She is a writer, known for Great Balls of Fire! I can tell you, $2800, but Jerry wanted the best. He said he wasn’t going back there without some iron on his side. After all, the justice had been up to the house for social occasions several times. . And he was lookin’ for a pair of sunglasses, just lookin’ around for a pair. The girls ran out to the house across Malone Road and begged the neighbors to take them to Memphis. She dreamed of marrying Scott, her boyfriend, but his parents were strict, and they never thought much of Shawn. Ballard later said his quote — “I believe it was suicide. Sowell refused to discuss any aspect of the case (although in a carefully worded leak to the Commercial Appeal, Sowell admitted that the private, out-of-state autopsy was illegal). “I made a phone call,” he says, with evident pride. One night, he pumped a slug from a .357 magnum into the chest of his bass player (who lived to sue). “Yeah, some of ’em he knows, some of ’em he don’t.” The dark-haired beauty at Jerry Lee’s left had her hands on his cheek and chin, her face right behind them. Hell, no witnesses, nothin’. And Jerry Lee never said much of anything about it, except that day, when he had a long talk with McCauley. Fifteen miles north, in Memphis, the Killer was resting at the house of J.W. It sort of came with the territory, as a Ballard: His father had been vice-president of the Bank of Hernando; now his brother was bank president. When Jerry Lee was taken home and his car was towed from the ditch, the deputies forgot to administer a test for intoxication. After all, McCauley was a college man, and Big Dog maybe finished eighth grade. On each copy, she crossed out “$6000” and wrote in the margin, “$7000.”. Jerry Lee took his hoard and departed in a black Cadillac. The Killer was there within seconds. Duck!’ We all thought he was going to shoot us.”. Of course, Creekmore knew the tales about the Killer, and frankly, the house gave him the creeps. Then he just looked at us really crazy and walked off into the house again. He signed with Sun Records in 1956 and quickly became a star. Shawn laughed: “Because he has a big dick and a lot of money.” Janice Quesenberry, another DB’s girl, says: “Shawn gave me a big hug and kiss and said, ‘Well, I’m going to go for it. Jerry Lee Lewis has seven marriages in his life. But now he had a ten-page report from Francisco. They were always around. He began playing the piano at age 9, copying the styles of preachers and black musicians that traveled through the area. .The last thing I want to do is have anybody think I was putting a lid on this thing.”. There were no other items near the victim’s body . One night, he shot his bass player in the chest (he lived to sue). “Mr. In 1982, Jerry Lee was booked for a show in Michigan. His notable songs included ‘Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On,’ ‘Great Balls of Fire,’ and ‘Breathless.’ Learn more about his life and career. On tour 200 days a year, it’s Jerry, twenty-four hours a day. She was over by the record shelf. And you can quote me on that.”, In This Article: But when a test revealed the baby girl wasn't Jerry Lee Lewis', he refused to leave his wife. He saw, up on her forearm, the row of angry little bruises, like someone had grabbed her hard. And McCauley was surely friendlier than his brusque air of command indicated. When J.W. Shawn’s garments, with substantial bloodstains, were found stuffed in a paper sack in the master bathroom. '”, They passed through the den on their way in, and Shelley said, trying not to cry, “I think I’m going to go now.”. Additionally, his latest single was called “High School Confidential,” which, though unrelated to his relationship, did not help his case. The family planned to convene — even Shawn’s grandfather, who’d been too infirm to make it to the wedding, was planning to go. Jerry mumbled on until Denise thought she would cry, then she hung up. “You stupid ignorant sonsabitches,” Jerry Lee screamed from the piano bench. Want more Rolling Stone? . They couldn’t even attach his possessions, because the IRS already had two liens on the house and its contents. “He’s the greatest,” J. W. said. Shawn took us to a hotel there, near the airport, and dropped us off.”, The family didn’t have tickets home, and they didn’t have the money to buy them. His speech was slurred. Phoebe is from his third marriage to Myra Gale Brown. It was just my concern for Jerry, livin’ there and wantin’ the best man for sheriff. Once again, hard to say. But the investigators assured him there would be an autopsy, so why go to all the trouble of calling a coroner’s jury? At 13:51 hours I advised Mr. Lewis that his manager J.W. “If they were ten-milligram tablets, she would have taken ten to twenty of them,” Ballard quoted Francisco. . But then, snap, it would rule him . “I’m Myra, Jerry’s wife,” replied Myra Gail Lewis. But they’re tryin’ to make Jerry into some kind of scapegoat or somethin’. “He’s very good that way. “When I heard it was Jerry Lee Lewis, I knew it was just a community service.”. I introduced them. “How’d that get in there?” Danny Phillips told him about the family’s private prayer in Hernando. In thirteen years as Mrs. Jerry Lee Lewis, Myra Gale counted three nights at home alone with Jerry Lee. One morning, she awoke to find Jerry and some of the band still drinking in another room of the house. No, not one particular friend . I couldn’t tell my father. On the wedding day, Shawn’s mother says, she found Jerry regarding three pairs of pills, laid out neatly on a bed table: two of each, three different colors. I’m not staying if you don’t. He was the kind of Ole Miss graduate who came out so studiedly tweedy that he made Harvard Law men look flamboyant. The Killer already had a half-million dollars in judgments against him, and none of the plaintiffs could collect. . Of course, Francisco would cost a bundle — far more than the county’s $260 limit for autopsies. . He usually arrived unannounced in the middle of the night, wanting a hot meal and hot sex.”. . I’d hate to say it was a hypodermic mark, but it looked like a puncture wound.” Francisco’s autopsy notes: “There are two small abrasions on the anterior aspect of the right arm, adjacent to the arm pit measuring three millimeters in diameter each.” There is no further description of the “abrasions.”, There was at least one hypodermic picked up at the house that day. It slowly dawned on Shawn’s family, sitting in their third-row pew, that they were the only strangers in the Assembly of God church. Then he saw the cross. Startled from her sleep, she lifted her arms to ward off his blow and struck him. . . For a while, it looked like Jerry Lee would have to pack the whole party off to Tennessee, where things could be done with less wait and bother. The tests were nowhere near complete by the time the case went to the grand jury. The men did a lot of back-pounding. Jerry Lee Lewis receives Mississippi Country Music Trail marker John Gehrig Jerry Lee Lewis was inducted into the inaugural class of the Rock and Roll Hall of … Jerry Lee wasn’t even on standby. Sheriff Sowell wants me to take you away from here.” Jerry Lee rose from the recliner. You didn’t take too many, or I’m gonna call the ambulance.’ She said, ‘No, it wasn’t that many.’, “People come out to hang the drapes, wake him up. Later, Shawn called Jerry Lee to calm him. Then he knocked her across the room. They are Nickie and Kai. When she got up at two the next afternoon, Jerry Lee was still up, drinking in his den. He said he could find “no mechanism” by which it could have been forced on her. Ballard brightened: “I think that as time passes, I’ll feel better knowing that we let a grand jury see everything we had . He was holding up a hand, smiling, acknowledging cheers. His managers had warned him about the British press and their delight in tearing down American superstars, but Lewis hadn’t listened. The Killer wore a white tuxedo and a red, ruffled shirt to his wedding on the patio of the big Nesbit house. He and Jerry Lee had agreed that the Killer would pay. To me, I just can’t believe that girl just got to that bed and lay down and died. A campaign button on his lapel showed him in a smile and a suit, and advertised his name and lever. But McCauley and Jerry Lee had agreed that the Killer would pay. “Shawn was, like, whimpering: ‘You’re so mean. Myra Gale Brown was born on July 11, 1944 in Vicksburg, Mississippi, the daughter of Lois and J.W. He signed with Sun Records in 1956 and quickly became a star. I was really upset. But Creekmore Wright, the second man on the job, sure hadn’t seen any case this hot. . Pam Brewer set it up: She told Shawn that Jerry Lee wanted to take her to a party in his suite. He had that air of command about him. In the end, she says, Jerry Lee Lewis’ downfall was a bigger issue than her age. . The night was nearly over when Blake got a call back from Jay Clark, who agreed to take statements from Shawn’s mother and sister. They together sang Gospel music and boogie-woogie. I’m just a little ol’ judge.”, Justice Perryman’s eyes crinkle behind his horn-rims with something like amusement as he tells of his role as acting coroner: “Yuh, I talked to Jerry Lee. There was blood on Shawn, blood on Jerry Lee’s robe and slippers, blood on a door, on the carpet, on a lamp, on gauze, on a towel, on bedding, on Shawn’s clothes found in the bathroom . Jerry Lee responded: “I think my divorce is a matter for God.”. Whitten, traveling with the band, flying in Learjets and shopping from a limo! If he gets annoyed, he’s going to drive the nails right into your coffin.”. As she fiddled with her key in the lock, the Killer opened the door from within. Or could the methadone have entered via some route other than her mouth and her stomach, perhaps after she’d eaten? The sheriff said a search had turned up no nonprescription drugs, and no unusual amounts of prescription medicines. Call me tomorrow.’, “She said, ‘I don’t know if I can. J.W. . Francisco’s autopsy does not even list the bruises and bloodstains evident to untrained eyes. Disc jockeys banned his records, television wouldn’t touch him. [Riley rocketed back in his chair, hit the wall, staring. Jerry was in a good mood, joking and dancing with Shawn, trying to charm Shelley. Even so, it seemed to him that Shawn hadn’t slept in the guest bed: She’d been placed in it, maybe after death. In the county seat of Hernando, at the Brantley-Phillips Funeral Home, the morticians, Danny Phillips and his father, John Phillips, had time for a good look at the corpse. . “Well, a friend of mine in Memphis told me he was the best man in the race . You can leave condolences in the Guest Book, buy sympathy flowers, and pay your respects. . For McCauley’s report never made it into the investigative file, never left the sheriff’s department until after the grand jury had decided no crime had occurred. Jerry Lee was wild. But none of us ever expected her to wind up in a pine box.”. Oh, yeah, I checked it out and felt he was the best qualified.”. Sorry. . He is currently married to … When the song “One and Only You” started playing on the tape, Jerry Lee smiled and murmured, “This is dedicated to you.”. The next night, he was back in Memphis, back at Hernando’s Hide-A-Way, with two girls at his side; one witness said they were dancers from a strip joint called Gigi’s Angels. Shit. . . In fact, Jaren would be found at the bottom of a Memphis swimming pool, dead of a mysterious accident on June 8th, 1982, just before her final settlement. His eyes stared, flat black spots, unmoving, unblinking, giving out nothing. . The witnesses and jurors were sworn to silence. Then Lottie came back and told the crew chief from Goldsmith’s: “I have something I have to take care of right now. After all, she’d gone off to start married life with her possessions packed in the only sizable container she had: her doll house. And Jerry Lee had a liking for firearms. Yet no woman was good enough. . . . Instead, they’d stood outside the house, knocking for a half-hour. You ought to come and try to meet him . They were very understanding. Anyway, with McCauley at the scene, it was better than having Big Dog. Rock n’ roll icon Jerry Lee Lewis and his former wife Myra Lewis share a laugh in this photo taken in 1956. Jack McCauley, a deputy sheriff, came into the room at that moment. Both men headed out to the house on Malone Road. Brown played elec… From those he married, he demanded a superhuman innocence, in accordance with the pentecostal teachings of the Assembly of God. As one prominent citizen of Hernando, the DeSoto county seat, put it: “What you got up there is one of two things — either drug money or Memphis money, and we don’t want either one in our county.” So, from his office at the jail, Sowell must have had another requisite in mind, although it didn’t need saying: Big Dog Riley, sheriff-to-be, had to stay well away from this case. . If I’ve ever seen a tragic figure, I saw one then.”. He grabbed Shawn’s wrist, as if to feel her pulse, then dropped it and just stood staring at her. Shawn and Shelley sat in the sun at the pool, until Jerry Lee came out, looking mean and slurring his words. When they left at four in the morning, Jerry Lee was still flying. . Broken glass was still on the floor, but the big pieces had been removed. But somehow, in Garden City, Shawn never seemed to get much more. And who cut the line? Nobody quite knew what Jack was doing, fooling around in patrol cars with a deputy’s job that paid $12,000 a year. He picked up a set of keys and whipped’em at her, hit her in the forehead. It was pathetic. Hell, if you don’t know what you’re doing . His fourth wife drowned in a swimming pool and his fifth wife died of a … Now, y’ all got a man’s life in your hands! In his classic 1984 essay, Richard Ben Cramer wonders if Jerry Lee Lewis got away with his wife's murder. She didn’t want him coming on. Dead. . (The Killer ordered the deputies to fetch his tow-truck man, David Camp, campaign manager to James Albert Riley.) . He checked the eyes. “You scared of me?” he once asked her sister. Shortly after he took control of the scene, McCauley found her locked in the master bedroom. It started to sink in on Shawn’s mother after the hymns, about ten minutes into the service, when Jerry Lee walked into the church and everything paused while he made his way up to the front pew. What did his family have against her? Shawn hadn’t been a great fan of the Killer’s, not until that first night in his suite. . 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