Framed? Daughter Charged With NJ Double Murder Says So: Report

WEST CHESTER, PA — The woman charged in the murder of her father and his girlfriend at his home in Surf City said she was “being framed” after she appeared before a judge in Pennsylvania, according to a news report.

Sherry Lee Heffernan, 55, of Landenberg, Pennsylvania, has been charged with two counts of murder, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and unlawful possession of a weapon.

Surf City police found John Enders, 87, of Surf City, and Francoise Pitoy, 75, of Manchester dead on Oct. 3 with multiple stab wounds. Heffernan was arrested at her Pennsylvania home on Oct. 4 and charged with murder the next day.

Heffernan appeared before a Chester County judge Friday and agreed to waive her rights regarding extradition, the Daily Local News of West Chester reported. Heffernan told a Pennsylvania judge, “I would have surrendered myself in New Jersey if I had known I was wanted for something,” the report stated.

As she was led from the courtroom in handcuffs and shackles after the brief hearing, a reporter asked if she wanted to comment on the charges against her. "Not guilty," she told the reporter. "I'm being framed."

Heffernan had been cut out of her father’s will, one of Enders’ New Jersey neighbors told investigators, and Heffernan, a real estate agent, became "disgruntled" when Enders did not let her sell his house, according to an affidavit of probable cause.

Heffernan traveled to the Surf City home in a recreational vehicle in the middle of the night and left behind a bloody crime scene, police alleged in court documents. The Pennsylvania State Police found “numerous spots” of suspected blood in her vehicle, a 28-foot Winnebago.

Before she is returned to New Jersey, Heffernan must face criminal charges in Montgomery County for retail theft and receiving stolen property. She did not appear for hearings following an October 2019 arrest by Upper Providence police, the newspaper reported.

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