Deadly Valentine
Dr. John Hamilton murder of wife Susan on Valentine's
On Valentine's Day in 2001, Susan Hamilton was murdered in her own home. All signs pointed to the most unlikely suspect - her husband, Dr. John Hamilton.
Original air date: September 21, 2005
Posted: May 10, 2023
By: Robert S.
Season 10, Episode 16
On Valentine's Day 2001, Oklahoma City's 911 center received a phone call. Dr. John Hamilton, a prominent obstetrician, told the operator that his wife Susan had been the victim of a savage beating. She was in the couple's bathroom, nude, unconscious, and bleeding from a severe head injury. This was no accident, and Dr. Hamilton feared his wife of 15 years may not make it. He attempted to administer aid until the paramedics arrived.
Dr. Hamilton told investigators he'd performed two surgeries at the hospital that morning. He then picked up flowers to bring his wife for Valentine's Day. It seemed that an intruder had gained entry, murdered Susan, and escaped through the back door, leaving it ajar. But neighbors did not report seeing any suspicious persons or activity during the morning, and there was no evidence of forced entry into the Hamiltons' home.
Police expanded their radius of potential suspects, and they started considering a group of people interested in doing harm to both John and Susan Hamilton. As an obstetrician, Dr. Hamilton performed abortions, and as Susan ran his office, both had been the targets of protests and picketing by anti-abortion activists. It was certainly plausible that an overzealous radical may have attacked Susan Hamilton.
Then, a major deception was uncovered in the weeks before Susan's murder. After agreeing he'd no longer continue supporting one of his grown children, Susan caught Dr. Hamilton sending his son money. Frustrated with John's lies, Susan packed a go-bag and spent a night with her friend. Upon returning, Susan told her husband under no uncertain terms, if he ever lied to her again, he could consider their marriage over.
Questioning the couple's friends and family uncovered another of John's lies. It seemed Dr. Hamilton had recently taken special interest in the subject of one of his cases. Phone records showed dozens of calls to an exotic dancer patient of the doctor. This seemed to indicate he was seeking something beyond their doctor-patient relationship. When Susan discovered these communiqués, she became enraged. She told Dr. Hamilton he would no longer be the dancer's doctor, forcing him to write her a letter confirming the termination. This had taken place less than a week before Susan's murder.
In considering Dr. Hamilton as a possible suspect in his wife's murder, the police had a solid indication of his means and motivation. But Dr. Hamilton had been performing surgeries at the hospital – his opportunity seemed implausible. Investigators once again looked closely at phone records and learned that John Hamilton had actually left after his first surgery. He was then paged numerous times, urgently asked to get to the hospital for his second patient's surgery. His alibi was quickly crumbling.
Finally, a close look at the clothing Dr. Hamilton was wearing and the inside of his car would piece together the story of how Susan was attacked and killed. It seemed unlikely that the mild-mannered doctor would snap and beat his wife to death, but the evidence pointed in no other direction – or did it?
The Facts
Case Type: Crime
Crime
- Murder
Date & Location
- February 14, 2001
- Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Victim
- Susan Hamilton (Age: 55)
Perpetrator
- Dr. John Hamilton (Age: 52)
Weapons
- Neckties
- Marble figurine
Watch Forensic Files: Season 10, Episode 16
Deadly Valentine
The Evidence
Forensic Evidence
- 911 call analysis
- DNA: Victim's
- Phone records
- Written narrative: Victim
Forensic Tools/Techniques
- Luminol
Usual Suspects
No Evil Geniuses Here ?
- None occurred in this episode
Cringeworthy Crime Jargon ?
- None uttered in this episode
File This Under... ?
- Fake 911 call
- Stripper / Strip club
The Experts
Forensic Experts
- Tom Bevel: Blood Spatter Expert
Quotable Quotes
- "Here in the bible belt, that’s not something that citizens typically embrace. We know it [abortions] goes on; it does happen, but to be openly doing something like that, and have a clinic that does those kinds of procedures, didn’t sit well with a lot of people." - Tamara Pratt: Reporter, KWTV
- "On this, I’m very confident that this doctor is not stressed to the degree that I think he would be under those circumstances. Which makes me feel very confident he rehearsed this before he made his call." - Leo Brunette: Voice Stress Analyst
- "He seemed to be out of control with emotions one way or another. He would get upset and start moving back and forth. He would start crying. He’d stop. And that was one of the concerns that I had; it was almost like he was acting." - Randy Scott: Lead Investigator
- "Dr. Hamilton’s claims presented some major contradictions. I don’t expect to find spatter. The spatter I observed were present on the front of his shirt below his neck, on both sleeves at the cuff, and these suggested that his arms and his body had been in close proximity to a spatter event." - Ross Gardner: Crime Scene Analyst
- "The stripper actually told me that she that she really believed that John Hamilton was trying to work up the nerve to ask her out on a date. There wasn’t any relationship there. But he knows men pretty well, and he was trying to work up the courage to even get to first base, and he wasn’t even off home plate yet." - Wes Lane: Prosecutor
- "This is Dr. Hamilton’s witness [Tom Bevel] there to help him get off the murder charge. It was absolutely a Perry Mason moment. And you could turn and look at the jurors and see them all go, 'Oh.'" - Tamara Pratt: Reporter, KWTV
TV Shows About This Case
- American Monster: The Last Valentine (s03e07)
- True Crime with Aphrodite Jones: Loved to Death (s03e06)
- Primetime: Valentine's Day Murder (February 13, 2003)
- Forensic Factor: Bloody Valentine (s02e02)
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