Reports: Cooper CEO and Wife Were Stabbed

A Montgomery Township police officer sits in front of the partially burned home of John and Joyce Sheridan early Monday, Sept. 29, 2014, in Montgomery Township, N.J. Authorities say 72-year-old John Sheridan, president of a major southern New Jersey hospital, and his 69-year-old wife were killed when a fire broke out in their home Sunday morning, but the circumstances surrounding the deaths remain under investigation.

Two newspapers are separately reporting this morning that Cooper Health System CEO John P. Sheridan Jr. and his wife, Joyce, had both been stabbed repeatedly when they were found following a September fire at their home in Somerset County, New Jersey. Both Sheridans died in the incident.

The Courier-Post cites Peter Mitchko, Joyce Sheridan’s brother. Other family members reportedly criticized him for releasing information in “piecemeal fashion.”

Joyce Sheridan, a 69-year-old retired teacher, was stabbed repeatedly in the neck and at least once in the chest, according to Mitchko. The stab wounds to both Sheridans were apparently made by one of two knives recovered at the scene, he said.

But John Sheridan also had a penetrating wound to his neck that may have nicked his jugular, Mitchko added.

Dr. Michael Baden, a noted forensic pathologist enlisted by the Sheridan family just days after the deaths, determined the wound was made by a distinctly different weapon, Mitchko said.

The Courier-Post  and Fox 5/My 9 NJ had previously reported on the stabbing angle.

The Inquirer, meanwhile, cites “two sources close to the investigation” in its account:

John Sheridan, 72, was stabbed in the neck and his jugular may have been slashed, according to one of the sources, who like all the others spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation. Sheridan was also stabbed on one side, the source said.

Joyce Sheridan, 69, a retired teacher, was repeatedly stabbed in the upper body and chest, the source said.

John Sheridan, then-CEO of the Cooper Health System, died with his wife in September.

Family members released a similar statement to both papers: “We do not condone releasing information in a piecemeal fashion because of frustration with the process, it is not helpful to getting to the truth about what happened to our parents. We are committed to getting to the truth and that means we will not comment while the investigation is ongoing.”

The Inky adds that investigators from the Attorney General’s office and New Jersey State Police have joined the local investigation. Prosecutors have publicly cleared the couple’s four sons of any involvement in their parents deaths. The Inquirer has reported son Matthew, 40, was arrested hours after the fire for cocaine possession. He lived with his parents.