Sharon and Eddie Herring:1973, Dayton, Ohio
Eddie Herring was a popular nightclub singer in Dayton in 1973. He had been a member of The Dominoes, a doo wop group. (If you’ve heard the song “Sixty Minute Man” from the 1950’s, then you’re familiar with The Dominoes.) He was married to Sharon Herring and the couple had a young daughter at home, named Denise.
On February 3, 1973 someone entered the home of the Herring family during the daylight hours. They murdered Eddie Herring and his wife Sharon with a shotgun.
Sharon and her daughter were in a back bedroom. They didn’t hear any sounds of an argument or a fight. They did hear the shotgun blast that killed Eddie. Sharon attempted then to hold the bedroom door closed as the killer was trying to enter. Sharon yelled at her daughter to try to go out the window, but her daughter was curled up in a corner too terrified to move.
Denise, thankfully, was not killed in this terrible home invasion. When the killer fled the scene the little girl went to a neighbor for help.
Who killed Eddie and Sharon Herring and why? Was this a racially motivated hate crime? Eddie Herring was a black man and Sharon was a white woman. Was someone racist enough to come to their home and kill them just for that reason?
A .22 caliber bullet casing was also found at the scene. Both Eddie and Sharon had died from Shotgun blasts. So, what was that .22 caliber casing doing there?
Eddie and Sharon were memorialized by their community. Dayton had a lovely, bustling nightclub scene with many entertainers then. People who work in factories all week want to get dressed up from time to time and go out. The musicians and singers performed a concert in honor of the couple. The closing song was “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”. The crowd in that busy club went silent. Eddie was so beloved by his fellow musicians.
Why were they murdered? What was the motive? The killer was described as a “skinny white man”. Who was he?
Dayton had several home invasion murders in the first months of 1973. Mrs. Gloria Jean Buck and her children, Tracy and Scott, were murdered on Saturday, January 13th, 1973 on the N.W. side of Dayton.
13 year old Linda Dearth was murdered on January 25th, 1973. Both of those crimes were committed during the daylight hours and a.22 was used at both of those crime scenes.
Did this killer assume that Sharon Herring was home alone too?
Both of those murders and the murders of the Herrings are still unsolved.
Did this killer leave fingerprints or DNA behind? Does any evidence still exist that can be tested? Did Sharon or Eddie manage to touch or scratch this man before he shot them? Could DNA be under their fingernails?
Who was killing people in Dayton in 1973? One man who was a killer around that time was a truck driver named Kenneth Ray Barker. In 1974 he abducted, assaulted and killed Karen Miller in October 1974 from Beavercreek. I believe he also killed Maggie Mae Keys in 1972 and Cindy Rader in 1975. (He was arrested later on the same day that Cindy Rader was murdered for the murder of Karen Miller.)
He had stalked Karen Miller at her workplace and then followed her home. Had he stalked and followed any other victims?
He was found guilty and sentenced, first to death but his sentence was later commuted to life, for the murder of Karen Miller. He was up for parole in late 1994. But, parole was denied in January of 1995. He died in prison in 2008.
Did he murder Eddie and Sharon Herring? Was Kenneth Ray Barker the “skinny white guy”?
Denise and her older siblings all had to grow up without their parents. Denise had the added trauma of witnessing this terrible murder.
Can this brazen double murder be solved? I hope so.
Sharon and Eddie had a lot more living to do. Eddie had more songs to sing.
Rest in Peace Sharon and Eddie
If you have a tip about the murders of Sharon and Edding Herring please submit a tip here:
https://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/Files/Law-Enforcement/Investigator/Cold-Case/Homicides/Herring
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