By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
The manner of death of John Sheridan, who died at his Meadow Drive home in 2014, has been changed from suicide to “undetermined” by State Medical Examiner Andrew Falzon., Dr. Falzon’s report, which was issued Jan. 13, overturns the suicide-murder findings of the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office. The Prosecutor’s Office claimed that Mr. Sheridan allegedly killed his wife, Joyce Sheridan, in their bedroom, and then set their bedroom on fire before killing himself Sept. 28, 2014., Dr. Falzon’s report does not change the cause of death, which was determined to be sharp force injuries and smoke inhalation. The report indicated that Mr. Sheridan’s wounds “have the appearance of self-inflicted wounds,” but no weapon was recovered at the scene that could be linked to his wounds., “All of this is unfortunately compounded by the extensive destruction of the scene by fire. It is therefore my opinion that the manner of death is best classified as ‘undetermined,’ ” Dr. Falzon wrote., Dr. Falzon reached his conclusion following an extensive study of reports that included autopsy reports for Mr. and Mrs. Sheridan, and a report by pathologist Michael Baden, a former chief medical examiner of the City of New York., Dr. Baden was hired by the Sheridans’ four sons to disprove the murder-suicide conclusion reached by the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office., The Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office claimed that Mr. Sheridan, who was the president and CEO of Cooper Health Systems, had been said to be upset over work-related issues, and his wife was said to be upset because her husband’s behavior was out of character., Mark Sheridan said Friday that he and his brothers — Dan, Tim and Matthew — were pleased that the manner of death had been changed from “suicide” to “undetermined.”, “We appreciate that the medical examiner acknowledged an error had been made,” Mr. Sheridan said. “It is a long way from being resolved for us. The next step we would like to see is for the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office to reopen the investigation.”
