Alleged and Attempted Murder 

Now, I would like to preface the following point by stating that the following event is unproven, open to a certain amount of interpretation, and in no way outright stated facts of the events. 

Yet, some allege that Lewis’s marital issues are more than polygamy, with claims that he may have really lived up to his “The Killer” nickname, murdering one – perhaps even multiple – of his wives. Whilst his fourth wife died in mysterious circumstances in a swimming pool shortly before a divorce, the most famous is his fifth wife: Shawn Stephens.  

The Rolling Stone’s Richard Ben Cramer covered the incident with great detail in a 16,000-word piece on the subject and it is through his work we owe a great debt to, with his piece giving many of the details of the incident.  

After 77 days, she was found dead in her made bed from a perceived drug overdose. Contradicting this was blood that the first paramedic reported on the walls, carpets, and Lewis’s own slippers and robe – something that should be absent from an overdose. More suspect was the smashed glass and distinct red marks on the body of not only Shawn but Jerry as well.  

Reportedly, Jerry murmured: “We need to find out who killed,” before stopping himself and continuing, “we need to find out how she died.” 

The night before her death, she made a phone call to her mother telling her she was leaving Jerry but he would not let her. A second phone call, one directed at her old crush making arrangements with her sisters to help take her away, ended with the phone going dead mid-conservation.  

The events after the death were perhaps the greatest injustice and circus of all. The deputy sheriff had an hour private conversation with Lewis, never divulging the contents of the talk. The mortician found traces of blood on the corpse’s fingernails and hair but his dad talked him down on following up on the medical detail for the sake of the firm’s reputation in the community. Moreover, the death was rushed through a county grand jury before the details of the investigation were known or followed up on. 

Now without jumping to conclusions, it is clear the details will never truly be known but the most repugnant thing is surely Jerry Lee Lewis’s behavior in the aftermath.  

Cramer’s initial piece reveals one of Shawn’s sisters even quoted Lee Lewis as saying: “Your sister’s dead and she was a bad girl.” Furthermore, he celebrated his 48^th birthday with friends only four days after the grand jury session. The next day after the funeral, he was back in Memphis with two strip joint dangers, smiling, and singing: “Ah tol’ her when she lef’ me… Ah’d have anothuh in her bed….” This was supposed to be the woman he devoted his life to at the altar, one he claimed he loved dearly, and within a few weeks of the events, out of sight and out if mind. 

Lewis also threatened Elvis at his Graceland residence waving a gun around – later expressing glee over Presley’s death – and also accidentally shot his bass player while dicking around with a .357 magnum, hitting him twice in the chest and although Lee Lewis accepted no responsibility, paid out $125,000. 

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