One of the most tragic and bizarre murder stories ever to jar Cape Ann came to an abrupt end Monday night, when Dr. Richard Sharpe was found dead, hanging from a bed sheet in his cell at the state prison in Norfolk.
News of the death of the cross-dressing Gloucester dermatologist, serving a life sentence for the murder of his wife, spread quickly here yesterday.
Sharpe, 54, was found hanged in his cell with a bedsheet tied to his bunk bed at Norfolk state prison just before 7:30 p.m. Monday, prison officials said. He was reportedly found by his cellmate.
Yesterday afternoon, a spokesman for the Norfolk District Attorney's office said an autopsy was completed, but the medical examiner has left the cause and manner of Sharpe's death listed as undetermined, pending toxicology reports. Prison officials had not, as of last night, declared the death a suicide.
Sharpe, formerly of 8 Great Ledge Road, West Gloucester, shot his estranged wife, Karen Sharpe, 44, on July 14, 2000, with a high-powered rifle. The couple's two younger children, Karen Sharpe's brother and a baby sitter were in Karen Sharpe's Wenham home at the time of the shooting. Karen Sharpe had a restraining order against her husband at the time of the incident.
The weapon was never found. A jury convicted him in 2001, but he would appear in criminal court again years later when, in 2007, he was acquitted of charges that he plotted to kill the prosecutor in his murder trial.
Richard and Karen Sharpe, who were childhood sweethearts, were going through a divorce after nearly 27 years of marriage. They had three children, including two who were 7 and 5 when their mother was killed, and a 26-year-daughter, Shannon.
A manhunt ensued as police searched for Sharpe, who was found in New Hampshire 30 hours later after a motel clerk recognized Sharpe's face from a television news report. Police tracked him to Pine View Lodge in Tuftonborough, N.H., where he had registered for a motel room under his own name.
Gloucester police Lt. Michael McLeod, along with Sgt. William Leanos, remembers being there at the time of his arrest.
McLeod, now retired after serving as police chief, received a call from a fellow police officer yesterday morning about Sharpe's death.
"I remember that night in New Hampshire. He was strange that night. He showed no remorse," McLeod said. "It was pouring buckets of rain that night. It was torrential. They evacuated as many people as they could from the motel and threw in the biggest can of tear gas I ever saw in my life. He came right out. They put him to the ground and took him away."
McLeod sat with Sharpe at the Tuftonborough Police Department after the arrest.
"He said just a few syllables. He wasn't upset. He wasn't screaming or crying. It was like 'OK, you got me,'" recalled McLeod.
During the manhunt, a Gloucester police dispatcher informed officers who were searching for Sharpe in Gloucester that the suspect may be dressed as a woman. When Sharpe was being placed under arrest in New Hampshire, McLeod said he was shocked at the doctor's appearance, because he looked like he was developing breasts.
Sharpe's case drew national attention when photographs of him wearing slinky dresses and fishnet stockings were widely published after his arrest. His wife had said in earlier affidavits that he stole her birth control pills in an effort to enlarge his breasts.
Sharpe, who was affiliated with both Addison Gilbert and Beverly hospitals, also was an instructor of dermatology at Harvard Medical School. Over the years, he had hundreds of patients on Cape Ann. When he first came to Gloucester, he had his office at Cape Ann Medical Center at Blackburn Industrial Park. He later moved to an office near O'Maley Middle School and, lastly, had an office at the Shaw's plaza on Eastern Avenue.
He is remembered as a smart doctor who helped patients, but also as a doctor who often unnerved patients who would go for an office visit for a specific mole or skin lesion, then be asked to remove all their clothes with no bedside manner.
He was a successful doctor, who branched off into other businesses including laser hair removal, and made millions of dollars. But those who knew him also saw his decline and saw the volatile relationship between the couple grow worse.
Alan Estes, a Gloucester musician, knew Sharpe because his wife at the time worked at Sharpe's medical office for many years, and he also did work on the doctor's house. He later wrote about the tragic incident in a song titled "The Ballad of Dr. Sharpe."
Estes said his ex-wife had left Sharpe's practice before the shooting.
"Everybody was watching him go down hill," he said. "He was a successful businessman and doctor and he was always walking a fine line of lunacy. People saw him losing more and more touch with reality as time went on."
Estes heard the news of Sharpe's death yesterday from a fellow musician friend, Sal Baglio of Swampscott, who left him a message and sang part of Estes' song yesterday morning.
"I couldn't believe it," said Estes, who recalled that Sharpe often came to the Rhumb Line, accompanied by his wife, after the office closed to hear Estes play.
"How tragically it all went down," Estes said. "He showed up at the door while the two kids are in the house, and took their mother's life. I saw a very messed-up person from day one and the song I wrote is one of desperation."
Estes said so many residents knew him from being a patient and because he lived in Gloucester.
"For a while he was a fairly social guy," he said.
Fred Shrigley, owner of the Rhumb Line on Railroad Avenue, remembers Sharpe because he frequented the nightspot to hear Estes, a regular performer there.
"He would come in with Estes' wife and listen to the music. She was a beautiful woman and I think he liked to be seen with her," recalled Shrigley. "But he started to get weirder and weirder."
Shrigley said Sharpe was eventually barred from the bar after an incident when the doctor was acting erratically, under the influence of some unknown substance, and harassed the bar's doorman.
Some residents are unable to talk about Sharpe and what happened.
Suzanne Crossen of Manchester, a former employee of Sharpe, testified at the trial. When contacted yesterday, she said she had no comment at this point. According to the Court TV Web site, she resigned from her job after she learned that his wife left him and was hiding from him.
Other Cape Ann residents who testified at the trial included Dr. Cynthia Bjorlie, who worked in the same office building at Cape Ann Medical Center, and Paula Hiltz, a former employee.
Sally Loring of Manchester, a former patient, echoed the words of Estes and many others, and was not surprised at the news, given the tragic situation of the incident on all sides.
"What does someone do with himself serving a life sentence? I just don't know. I thought of sending him some books at first, but decided I just didn't want to do that," said the 80-year-old Loring. "His wife is gone and someone is raising their children. The whole thing is terribly sad."
Not long after Sharpe was arrested, he was transferred to Bridgewater State Hospital because officials feared he might attempt suicide. Sharpe, then 45, was moved from the Essex County jail to the Bridgewater psychiatric hospital.
After his conviction, Sharpe also tried to hang himself in his cell in March 2002. His death yesterday remains under investigation by the state Department of Correction and Norfolk District Attorney William Keating.
Gail McCarthy can be reached at gmccarthy@gloucestertimes.com.
A TIME LINE OF EVENTS IN THE CASE
July 14, 2000: Karen Sharpe shot and killed.
July 16, 2000: Richard Sharpe arrested.
July 20, 2000: Karen Sharpe's family files wrongful death suit against Richard Sharpe.
July 2001: Fellow inmate accuses Sharpe of offering him $1 million to help Sharpe escape.
July 21, 2000: Richard Sharpe charged with murder and held without bail.
Nov. 29, 2001: Sharpe convicted of first-degree murder, sentenced to life in prison.
December 2001: Wrongful death suit settled for $5 million.
March 2002: Sharpe tries to kill himself in prison.
August 2007: Fellow inmate says he and Sharpe plotted to kill Sharpe's prosecutor, Sharpe found not guilty.
Jan. 5, 2009: Sharpe found hanged by a bed sheet in his cell.
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