'She saved me': Memory gives death of Jerry Lee Lewis' 5th wife new ending

If her memories didn't deliver justice for the dead, they at least brought comfort to the living.

For all her adult life, Dawn Garlock, 57, has been haunted by her recollection of an early morning car ride — what she considers an abduction — in the late summer of 1983 from Memphis to the home of country crooner Jerry Lee Lewis and his fifth wife, Shawn, from Garden City, Michigan.

Garlock, who vividly recalled what happened, said she was just a naive teenager back then. But now she is convinced, nearly 40 years later, that Shawn Lewis tried to help her in DeSoto County, Mississippi, and that is why the young bride died.

Garlock's story, if true, gives the old mystery a new ending.

But even if it's not, it shows how deeply episodic memory affects all of us and how enduring it can be. It also reminds us why journalists seek the truth, even years later, when many would rather forget it.

To Shawn Lewis' surviving relatives, who said they first heard Garlock's account when she told them about a year ago, the account is evidence that their loved one didn't accidentally or deliberately take her own life.

"I believe she was my angel that night," Garlock said of Shawn Lewis. "I believe she knew — she knew what she had seen happen there that I did not know — and she knew what was coming. She bought me time, and me seeing the situation, I got the hell out of there."

The Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network, revisited Shawn Lewis' mysterious death after Jerry Lee Lewis, the boogie-woogie piano player, died in October at 87.

His seventh wife, Judith, recently posted on Facebook she is selling their bedroom suite. But when Jeff Powell, a self-described rockabilly superfan, read the Free Press article, he was so troubled that he had to know more. He called the former Garden City resident's siblings, who put him in touch with Garlock.

Then — after what Powell described as a sleepless night — he called the Free Press.

Other people, he said, needed to hear Garlock's story, too.

What really happened?

For the first time, Garlock — who now lives in Phoenix — spoke to the news media. She told the Free Press she was willing to speak as long as the family agreed, in part, because Jerry Lee Lewis was no longer alive, and because it was time, she said, to set the record straight — at least by her recollection.

In a two-hour, emotionally-charged phone interview, she recounted her story.

Shawn Lewis' cause of death was drugs.

However, that never rang true to her family, especially her mother, Janice Kleinhans, nor was it satisfactory to all the members of a DeSoto County grand jury, which convened Sept. 21, 1983, to look at evidence to determine whether to charge Jerry Lee Lewis with a crime.

In 1983, the Free Press reported that there was something suspicious about Lewis' death. Her family, who was Catholic, questioned whether the honey-blonde 25-year-old cocktail waitress had taken her life, especially since she said that she was leaving her husband just days before.

Still, the Memphis Press-Scimitar, a now-defunct local newspaper, reported that authorities said they conducted a "comprehensive investigation" that involved "more law enforcement officers and more man-hours than any official investigation in recent memory."

And the Commercial Appeal, a competing Memphis newspaper, reported that a pathologist opinion said Shawn Lewis "told someone" that she "took 'a handful of pills.' " The reporter, however, also pointed out the person Lewis told was never named and investigators maintained the couple were "the only people" home.

To answer her questions, Kleinhans wrote the FBI.

In a letter dated Dec. 29, 1986, the U.S. Justice Department responded: "The Civil Rights Division recently completed its review of the investigative report submitted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation concerning allegations that Shawn Michelle Stephens Lewis was the victim of a criminal violation of the federal civil rights statutes."

The letter added that after "a careful review of that report, we concluded that this matter lacks prosecutive merit, and we closed our file." It thanked Kleinhans for "bringing this important matter to our attention but also noted that "we intend to take no further action."

The case against him

The feds might not have found much to confirm Kleinhans' suspicions, but journalists did.

In early 1984, Rolling Stone magazine published a report that questioned the official narrative of what happened.

Under the headline, "The Strange and Mysterious Death of Mrs. Jerry Lee Lewis," writer Richard Ben Cramer — who won a Pulitzer Prize and died in 2013 — described how Shawn Lewis, then Shawn Stephens, met the man who nicknamed himself the Killer, married him, and died within three months.

More:Decades later, mystery swirls around the death of Jerry Lee Lewis' 5th wife, a Michigander

More:Man convicted of murder in '83 disappearance of Michigan man

In addition, Geraldo Rivera — then a lawyer and rising broadcast star — looked into Lewis' death for ABC's "20/20." When the primetime show aired, Rivera said: "We're not accusing Jerry Lee Lewis of committing a crime," offering speculation why some thought he did.

The segment included an interview with the rocker.

"Shawn Michelle Stevens Lewis was one of the sweetest ladies I ever met in my life; I loved her with all my heart and soul," Lewis said, in his own defense, switching to third person. "There is no way that Jerry Lee Lewis could ever, or would ever, even think of taking another person's life."

A Mississippi grand jury concluded there wasn't enough evidence to charge the entertainer with a crime, but the Commercial Appeal reported at least three jurors thought the death was suspicious, and one of them — who was unidentified by name — said she was convinced Jerry Lee Lewis "should go on trial."

Ride to the house

Garlock — whose maiden at the time of the death was Follin — unburdened a lifetime of emotions.

"The story of what happened the night prior, and morning of, is a complete lie and it has always been," she said, adding that she didn't put it all together until years later. "I think it really is affecting the family now, to have this all brought back up."

But her story is also difficult to confirm — or refute — with law enforcement records.

The Free Press asked several agencies — the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, the DeSoto County Coroner, DeSoto County Sheriff's Office and Garden City Police — that were involved with the case for records from the death investigation.

The Mississippi public safety department suggested checking with the local coroner and sheriff.

DeSoto County Coroner Joshua Pounders said he would not release any records and abruptly hung up the phone. DeSoto County Sheriff's Lt. Stephen Raines said many records were lost in the '90s, a result of massive water damage, and he was "unable to locate any records or individuals with information related to the incident."

Garlock's story starts at Hernando’s Hide-A-Way.

She said she was drawn into the incident by another waitress, a friend she hardly knew. Brenda — that's what Garlock thought her name was — was in her late 20s or 30, Garlock said. They worked together at Bad Bob's and then went to Hernando’s, about a mile away.

"She had asked me if I'd go outside with her and smoke a joint, let her smoke a joint," Garlock said, recalling it was still dark out. "I didn't smoke pot, so I was, like, 'no Brenda.' But she was like, 'Just go out for a minute.' So I went out the door with her and there was a car sitting out there."

Garlock said Brenda got in the car, and then said to her, "Come on!"

Jerry Lee Lewis — who Garlock recognized — was behind the wheel. Garlock recalled regretting getting in the car and asking the rocker to go back to get her cigarettes. He replied, "We'll get you some," turned up the music and sped off across the Tennessee border.

'I want to go home'

When they arrived at a house, Garlock said she thought Lewis was just going to get something and return to the car.

Then, she saw a young woman, Shawn Lewis, open the door. Garlock and Brenda got out of the car and went inside. Garlock remembered Shawn Lewis put on an album, danced around and sat in her husband's lap.

The couple made drinks in the kitchen and offered them. Garlock was in one chair, Brenda in another. Brenda took a drink and passed out. Garlock said she declined the drink. At some point, Garlock recalled, Jerry Lee Lewis became irritated with the music and told Shawn Lewis to change it.

When the couple left the room, Garlock said she tried to call her mom to pick her up. But Jerry Lee Lewis came back, took the phone handpiece from her, and hung it up. Then, he threatened her: "You don't know who I am. I can have you arrested for trespassing."

Garlock replied: "Look, I don't like you. I don't like your music. I want to go home."

Shawn Lewis had been going in and out of the room, and then went out to the pool. Garlock said she didn't know where she went, so she went out to the pool, too. Then, she heard Shawn Lewis tell her husband: "I'm not going to be responsible for these girls."

Garlock said she saw Jerry Lee Lewis grab Shawn by the arm.

At some point later, Garlock said she made eye contact with Shawn. Garlock believes she saw fear in her face, and the look on Shawn's face revealed, in Garlock's mind, a plan: Lewis would distract her husband, and, Garlock said, it was as if Shawn Lewis was telling her with her eyes: "Get out of here!"

Garlock shook Brenda, who finally came too.

Then, Garlock said, they ran. They went to a nearby home, where an older couple lived and drove them to Memphis. Garlock said she went to her boyfriend's house and later, to her mother's home, where she fell asleep. Later, Garlock's mom woke her in a frenzied panic.

"Dawn, come here!" Garlock recalled her mom saying. She pointed to a TV report. "This could have been you."

Shocked, Garlock said she thought: "I had just been with that girl!"

Two unnamed girls

Days — maybe a week or two — later, Garlock said, local authorities questioned her.

She said they seemed uninterested in what she witnessed. Instead, they had a lot of questions that seemed strange. They wanted to know whether she had seen drugs or syringes at that house. She had not. After that, Garlock said she left the investigation in the hands of the officials.

In the early '90s, Garlock moved to Arizona.

Around that time, Garlock said, she also read the long Rolling Stone article.

Near the end of the article, one thing leaped off the page. There were problems with the investigation, suggesting that local authorities missed or didn't look for evidence. A state investigator "found two girls Jerry Lee had picked up at Hernando’s Hide-A-Way three nights before Shawn's death."

Garlock said she believes she was one of the "two girls."

Except, she said, it wasn't three nights before, it was the same day.

The magazine account said the women gave a statement to authorities that Jerry Lee Lewis "took them to his house for group sex with Shawn; it led to an argument. The girls ran out to the house across Malone Road and begged the neighbors to take them to Memphis."

But, news reports said, those statements were not presented at the probable cause hearing.

Garlock said she kept her recollections mostly to herself for years, but she wanted to tell someone. She said she tried to call around to find Shawn Lewis' mom. She tried the Hyatt hotel in Dearborn, where the Rolling Stone report said Shawn Lewis once worked. No luck.

Then, about a year ago, Garlock posted a summary of her narrative on Facebook as a comment, when someone else had brought up Shawn Lewis' mysterious death. Garlock said she only vaguely recalls what she wrote because she no longer uses that account.

When Garlock tells her story now, what she witnessed and what she has heard and read about are entwined. Her story is punctuated with obscenities, tears and even indignation, when questioned. In it, she also is 16. But that couldn't be right: Garlock was born in 1965; the death in 1983.

When asked about the discrepancy, Garlock said she must have misremembered that detail.

Still, there is little doubt that Garlock has long carried a sense of guilt.

"I've always felt, in my heart, she saved me," Garlock said of Shawn Lewis. "But I did not know she was in danger."

'The missing piece'

Garlock said she eventually tracked down one of Shawn Lewis' siblings — her little brother, 58-year-old Tom Stephens — via the internet and told him her story. When recently contacted by the Free Press, Stephens confirmed Garlock's recollection and added that when he heard it his "jaw hit the ground."

Stephens, who named his older daughter after Shawn, said Garlock offered him "the missing piece" to the mystery.

Her account, he said, lined up with others, and with his own recollections of what his sister's home in Mississippi looked like. He had visited her before her death. But he had one gnawing question for Garlock: Why did she wait so long to call them?

If she had contacted him sooner, maybe her account could have sparked a new round of media reports and police investigations. In addition, he said, their mother died in 2019, and more than anyone, she would have loved to know, too.

Stephens put one of his older sisters, now Shelley Hughes, 62, in touch with Garlock. When the Free Press initially wrote about what happened, Hughes was sitting next to her mother, holding her young son, Bryan Stephens, in her lap.

He's now 40 and never got to know his aunt.

Hughes, who also was younger than Shawn, said she has talked to Garlock twice — a year ago, and more recently — and her story has not changed.

"To me, it's the total truth," Hughes added. "There's no way you can remember every one of them details and a year later you're still telling the same story, with the same details."

Hughes said that after Garlock contacted her, she struggled to get a hold of someone to revisit the case. Hughes added she wishes "that guy" — she wouldn't say Jerry Lee Lewis' name — could know the family never believed Shawn took her life.

"I've been crying for 39 years," she said. "Thirty-nine years and it's still that raw."

But, she said, Garlock's story gave her solace.

"She was a good person," said Hughes, who began to tear up. She added that when Garlock told her what she remembered, "I was at a loss for words. I thought: Thanks for telling us. It was a little late. But it was comforting — and she did confirm a lot of things about how I thought it went down."

Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Story gives death of Jerry Lee Lewis' fifth wife, Shawn, a new ending