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Dead End: A New Jersey Political Murder Mystery

EPISODE 2: Not Your “Typical” Murder Suicide

Dead End: A New Jersey Political Murder Mystery

WNYC

Jersey, Sheridan, Murders, And, New, Crime, John, Joyce, True, Politics, True Crime

4.61.9K Ratings

🗓️ 28 April 2022

⏱️ 27 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Sheridans’ eldest son Mark is consumed with getting to the bottom of what happened to his parents. As the lawyer for Governor Chris Christie’s election campaign, Mark is in a unique position to uncover answers. Instead, he’s met with roadblock after roadblock. The questions really pile up when he learns that detectives haven’t even interviewed several key witnesses or completed a thorough investigation of the crime scene. Not only that, a key piece of evidence is missing.

New voices interviewed in episode:

    Barry Jansen, retired forensic technician for the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office
    Tom Draper, Sheridans’ neighbor
    Michael Baden, medical examiner hired by the Sheridan brothers

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

A quick heads up. This episode describes a violent crime in graphic detail.

0:16.0

I've covered a lot of bad guys in my career, but I've never tried to actually solve a murder.

0:22.0

Maybe I listened to too many detective stories, but I thought I might just be able to crack this one.

0:29.0

It's not just a who-done-it. This story is like a Russian doll. Every question I ask leads to another.

0:37.0

Why would this mild-mannered grandfather kill his wife of 47 years?

0:43.0

And why weren't the mysterious deaths of a prominent couple investigated?

0:49.0

The call came in just before sunrise on Sunday, September 28th, 2014. On this quiet cul-de-sac, 9-1-1 calls were rare.

1:11.0

White smoke was pouring out of the bedroom window. On the second story of a large center hall colonial, where John and Joyce Sheridan lived, Halloween decorations were in the front yard.

1:37.0

But something much more sinister had happened inside.

1:44.0

The neighbors stayed on the line with the 9-1-1 dispatcher while he tried to alert the Sheridan's.

1:51.0

The fire fight is arrived and quickly upgraded to a two-alarm fire at 631.

2:05.0

More fire and rescue squads were on the way. They checked in and were told how to approach where to park, which equipment to bring.

2:31.0

The door to the master bedroom wouldn't budge. And when they finally got in, they find a large arm-war had fallen over and blocked the entrance.

2:45.0

And there's something else. This wasn't just a fire. There was blood everywhere.

2:54.0

They found John Sheridan's body under the arm-war. He was stabbed and badly burned. The door blocked by the arm-war would become a crucial detail for detectives, because if there was an intruder, how did that person get out?

3:22.0

The second victim came before he removed at this time. Now it's still working on the fire.

3:27.0

Second victim removed the work on the fire at 658.

3:31.0

Then, they removed the body of Joyce Sheridan, who was found lying on the floor by the bed. The firefighter who carried her out was covered in blood.

3:50.0

This is Dead End Episode 2. I'm Nancy Solomon.

4:04.0

Everything about that morning was utterly confusing to the four sons of John and Joyce Sheridan. Mark, the oldest, would eventually spend two years working late into the night to piece together every detail.

4:19.0

So what we know about that week now is he bought new dress shirts. He had bought a couple suits the week before dry cleaning was dropped off two days before they died.

4:30.0

It was a pretty ordinary week. There were Halloween decorations being put out everywhere. There was a little town that my mother put together in one room.

...

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