According to Sheppard he was sleeping soundly on a daybed when he heard the cries from his wife. He ran upstairs where he saw a form in the bedroom and then he was knocked unconscious. When he awoke he saw the person downstairs, chased the intruder out of the house down to the beach where they tussled and Sheppard was knocked unconscious again. He awoke with half his body in the lake. Sheppard was sentenced to life in prison and spent 10 years in prison before he was acquitted after a retrial.