Murder of William "Curly" Shelton

On December 4, 1957, 32-year-old  William "Curly" Shelton was found lying face down in the front seat of his convertible. The vehicle was behind VFW Club on  U.S. 41A and 3 miles South of Henderson, Kentucky. He had been beaten to death and the murderer seemed to have only used his fists and stomped on him. He had a fractured skull and a broken leg and the beating resulted in his death. He was seemed to have been beaten outside of his vehicle and then thrown into the vehicle after the beating. 

Curly was a T.V. star in Evansville, Indiana. He was a regular on "Hillside Hoedown" a popular Saturday night country music variety show that aired on  WEHT-TV in northwestern Kentucky and Southwestern Indiana, and Eastern Illinois. He was a guitarist and vocalist.

He was kind of a playboy and was involved with several women. Some of who were married or in a relationship. He was also a heavy drinker and in deep debt, but police said robbery doesn't seem to have been the motive. It could be possible one of the women he was involved with's boyfriend or husband killed him. This case has never been solved.


SOURCES:
Kentucky State Police
WKYT
News 14
Messenger-Inquirer
The Messenger