Joyce Sheridan

Status:

Open

Jurisdiction:

Somerset County Sheriffs Department (NJ)

Death Location:

Skillman, New Jersey

Summary:

Joyce Sheridan, 69, a beloved retired teacher, was discovered repeatedly stabbed inside her bedroom at her Skillman, New Jersey home on September 28, 2014, which had then been set on fire with the couple barricaded inside. She was stabbed multiple times and died from a stab wound of chest perforating aorta, with the manner of her death classified as homicide. The case remains unsolved.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Death:

It was a beautiful, warm and sunny morning on September 28, 2014, when a neighbor called police after spotting smoke coming out of a second-floor front window of the Sheridan house. Shortly before dawn on September 28, 2014, local police and firefighters responded to a report of flames at the Sheridan residence on Meadow Run Drive. Authorities, responding to a fire reported at the home, found their bodies at around 6:15 a.m. Joyce was in cardiac arrest at the scene and was pronounced dead at Princeton Medical Center. They had both been stabbed to death, and an armoire was lying across John. Not a drop of Joyce's blood was found on his father, even though blood spatter from his mother was found 6-9 feet away from her body. Joyce had been stabbed 12 times in the head, chest and hands; they were obviously defensive wounds. Joyce Sheridan suffered a number of wounds, including eight wounds to her head, five of which were incised wounds. Three of the wounds were stab wounds. She also suffered a stab wound to her chest, which ruptured her aorta.

Additional Details:

The case was initially believed by the Somerset County prosecutor's office to have been a murder-suicide and they wrote a public report to this effect. The Somerset County Prosecutor's Office released the results from the investigation into the deaths of John Sheridan and wife Joyce Sheridan. The results of the investigation were announced Friday, after the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office and the Montgomery Township Police Department conducted more than 180 interviews with potential witnesses and examining scores of evidence. A copy of the death certificate for Joyce Sheridan, obtained by The Inquirer on Tuesday, lists the manner of death as homicide. The four grown sons of John and Joyce Sheridan released a statement expressing doubt about the findings released by Somerset County Prosecutor Geoffrey Soriano. The sons, including Mark Sheridan, a prominent Republican election law lawyer, said they would be suing under a New Jersey statute that allows next of kin to challenge findings on death certificates. A group comprising of nearly 200 New Jersey residents including the couple's four sons and three former New Jersey governors formed a group calling itself "Friends of John & Joyce Sheridan" and plead for the Somerset County Prosecutor. In the lawsuit, Scozzafava accuses the prosecutor's office of mishandling the murder investigation into the alleged murder-suicide deaths of Joyce and John Sheridan back in 2014. Five years later, State Attorney General Matt Platkin reopened the case after guilty pleas in a similar murder also involving political connections. Blood evidence does not support the conclusion that John Sheridan stabbed Joyce Sheridan. Two kitchen knives were found in the bedroom, including one that authorities said was used to kill Joyce Sheridan. But the weapon used on John Sheridan was not recovered. Some 1,800 people attended the Sheridans' memorial service in Trenton on October 7th, 2014, including most of the state Legislature.

Case Last Updated:

Oct 31, 2026