(PatrioticPost.com)- The bodies of Joyce Sheridan and John Patrick Sheridan Jr. were discovered in their New Jersey home in September 2014. The case has initially ruled a murder-suicide, with investigators announcing that John Sheridan killed his wife before stabbing and killing himself. But the Sheridans’ adult children hired a forensic pathologist and called on the New Jersey Attorney General’s office to conduct an investigation. Joyce Sheridan’s autopsy determined she died from a “stab wound of chest perforating aorta” and that the manner of death was “homicide.” John Sheridan, 73, suffered extensive first- and second-degree burns throughout his body and had five stab wounds or incisions in his neck, chest, and abdomen.
The cause and manner of his death were initially listed as “suicide” and “pending further study” by the New Jersey medical examiner’s office. John Sheridan’s way of death was “properly certified as undetermined” by Connecticut’s Department of Law Enforcement (DOL) in 2016, pathologist Robert Baden said in an affidavit. The state changed course in 2017, citing DNA evidence that pointed to the presence of a third person, likely a male. Baden has conducted more than 20,000 autopsies in five-plus decades as a forensic pathologist.
According to Baden, the stab wounds on Mr. Sheridan did not look like those on Mrs. Sheridan. He said the ones on the wife were more “stiletto-like thin, sharp knife.”
Even the fire intrigued him, he admitted. He said over the years, he’s examined people engaged in fires after being killed. Those are often murders when the perpetrator subsequently sets the scene on fire to burn down any evidence. Suicide is an infrequent choice for someone to make.
The Sheridans’ family has long disputed the conclusions of police and has accused investigators of trying to mold the evidence to fit their theory.
Asked if Mr. Sheridan showed any signs of defensive wounds, Baden said the man’s hands were burned by the fire, which made determining the existence of such injuries difficult.
They leave behind four sons and three grandkids.
Hundreds of individuals, including politicians and elected officials, attended their memorial ceremony in October 2014.
It will be eight years since Joyce and John’s deaths in the coming months, but their family still doubts police analysis and results. They accuse investigators of trying to shape the evidence to match their narrative.
