His Parents' Deaths Unsolved, Son Flags 'Eerily Similar' Case

John and Joyce Sheridan's children didn't buy the official explanation of their deaths. The couple of 47 years were found dead in the burning master bedroom of their New Jersey home early on Sept. 28, 2014. It was ruled a murder-suicide, with the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office finding that the 72-year-old John, a former New Jersey transportation commissioner, stabbed his wife before taking his own life. Now one of the couple's four sons sees parallels in another case that has come to light. In a letter sent Friday to New Jersey’s acting attorney general and the Somerset County prosecutor, Mark Sheridan flags that case, reports NorthJersey.com.

Longtime New Jersey political consultant Sean Caddle pleaded guilty Tuesday to hiring two men to kill Michael Galdieri, who was found stabbed in his Jersey City apartment, which had been set on fire. His killing occurred six months prior to the Sheridans' deaths; NJ.com reports Galdieri had been employed by Caddle's consulting firm. "As you may be aware, those facts are eerily similar to the circumstances surrounding the death of my parents," Sheridan wrote. He flags a second detail: Caddle named George Bratsenis as one of the men he hired to carry out the killing. Bratsenis was arrested in Connecticut on Sept. 29, 2014, on an unrelated charge; police recovered a "long-blade butcher’s knife." The knife used to kill the Sheridans was never found and Mark Sheridan writes that prosecutors had said a knife was missing from his parents' knife block.

Sheridan in his letter asks that officials request photos of the knife recovered in connection with Bratsenis' arrest to see if it matches his parents' set. "Perhaps, if you are so inclined, you might even ask for a DNA sample from the knife to see if there is a match for either of my parents' DNA or the unexplained male DNA referenced in the State Police report related to my parents' deaths," he added. The New York Times notes that after an outcry from the sons, a state medical examiner changed the ruling on the Sheridans' death to inconclusive in 2017. But Mark Sheridan writes that the very scenario he is suggesting as plausible is one he has shared before: "Both [your] offices openly mocked the idea of a killing for hire involving a stabbing with a fire set to destroy evidence." (More unsolved crimes stories.)