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Dead End: A New Jersey Political Murder Mystery

EPISODE 4: The Dirt on the Garden State

Dead End: A New Jersey Political Murder Mystery

WNYC

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

4.6 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 10 May 2022

⏱️ 24 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

After it becomes clear the Somerset county prosecutor’s office couldn’t have done a worse job (unless their goal was to destroy the crime scene), some 200 prominent citizens send a letter to the state attorney general asking for his office to intervene in the investigation. Despite the letter signed by the biggest names in New Jersey legal circles—including two former attorneys general and three former governors—the attorney general never gets involved. The quest to find out why takes us through a brief history of problems in New Jersey's criminal justice system.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

I've got some intriguing leads.

0:06.0

There's DNA on the handle of the knife that killed Joyce Sheridan.

0:10.2

And it indicates the presence of another male individual.

0:15.0

But it's too tiny a fragment to make a match on a DNA database.

0:20.3

And I can't go anywhere with the story of the mystery car that could have been casing

0:24.6

the neighborhood.

0:25.6

Someone who would be unfamiliar with our area probably just didn't know that they were

0:28.9

moving quickly into what was a dead end street.

0:32.1

There might have been video surveillance footage of cars arriving and leaving that day.

0:36.9

Because there's only one way in and out of the neighborhood.

0:40.2

But the Somerset Prosecutors Office won't release any of their investigation files.

0:46.1

And there's the fire poker that might have been used to crack John Sheridan's ribs

0:50.2

and chip his tooth.

0:51.2

I'm sure it was never a fingerprint that was just in the pile in the bathroom.

0:57.0

So at this point, without subpoena power, my investigation into who killed the Sheridan's

1:02.4

is stuck on a cul-de-sac.

1:12.1

This is dead end, episode 4.

1:14.4

I'm Nancy Solomon.

1:18.1

I'm going to be honest with you.

1:19.9

I haven't solved this murder, at least not yet.

1:23.9

I'm rattling a few cages and things might be changing.

1:28.6

I'm getting phone calls from powerful people who want to know what I know.

...

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