LBI double murder trial: Jurors watch daughter's RV traveling midnight murder route
TOMS RIVER - An Ocean County jury Wednesday watched a series of surveillance videos that traced a white Winnebago on a journey from Sherry Lee Heffernan's home in southeast Pennsylvania to her father's home in Surf City on Long Beach Island and back to Pennsylvania on Sept. 29, 2021 - the day prosecutors allege Heffernan murdered her father and his girlfriend in their home.
Defense attorneys argue there's no proof that Heffernan was even in that Winnebago.
But, a telecommunications expert also testified Wednesday that Heffernan's cell phone appeared to travel the same route as the Winnebago on that day.
Heffernan, 57, of Landenberg, Pennsylvania, is on trial before Superior Court Judge Kimarie Rahill, charged with the murders of her father, John Enders, 87, and his longtime girlfriend, Francoise Pitoy, 75.
The couple was found murdered in their home on North Seventh Street in Surf City on Oct. 7, 2021, by police who went there to perform a welfare check at the behest of Pitoy's daughter. Both victims were shot in the face. Enders was stabbed 51 times, and Pitoy was stabbed 39 times.
Kristin Pressman, supervising assistant Ocean County prosecutor, told the jury in her opening statement last week that the white Winnebago captured on the surveillance videos belongs to Heffernan, and that she was the one driving it on the route from her home to her father's home and back on the day authorities believe the couple was murdered.
Defense attorney Steven Altman told the jury last week it was unknown who was in the Winnebago, let alone who was driving it.
The surveillance video, which was introduced to the jury during the testimony of Sgt. Raymond Coles of the Ocean County Prosecutor's high-tech crime unit, shows a woman resembling Heffernan leaving Heffernan's residence in Landenberg, Pennsylvania, entering the Winnebago in the driveway and leaving about 12:57 a.m. on Sept. 29, 2021.
At 4:48 a.m., it is captured on surveillance video crossing the Route 72 bridge from Stafford Township onto Long Beach Island. From there, surveillance cameras from various homes capture the Winnebago winding through the streets of Surf City and pulling into the driveway of Ender's waterfront home at 4:58 a.m.
At 6:41 a.m., a surveillance camera from the house next to Enders' shows a person climbing over a fence from Ender's home onto the neighboring property, carrying what appears to be a yellow jacket and walking away.
At 6:57 a.m., the Winnebago is captured traveling along Long Beach Boulevard, and heading west to the mainland over the Route 72 bridge about a minute later.
About 9 a.m., the Winnebago was captured on video driving around in the Babylon Business Park in Horsham, Pennsylvania, where Heffernan's ex-husband is employed.
Then, at 7:43 p.m. the same day, the Winnebago pulls into Heffernan's driveway, and a woman resembling her exits and goes into the house.
The testimony of David Stern, a telecommunications expert, traced Heffernan's phone on a route similar to that of the Winnebago that day.
The defendant's phone was hitting off a cell tower in Lewisville, Pennsylvania, about 8 miles from her home in Landenberg, between 11 p.m. on Sept. 28, 2021 and midnight on Sept. 29, 2021, Stern said. The phone began moving between midnight to 1 a.m., Stern testified.
Between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m., the phone was crossing into Delaware, and between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m., it was traveling up Interstate 95 and over the Delaware River into Bordentown, Stern said.
Between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m., Heffernan's phone was traveling toward Route 72 and then over the Route 72 bridge into Surf City, Stern testified.
Exact GPS coordinates extracted from the phone at that point showed that the phone traveled up 16th Street in Surf City and onto North Barnegat Avenue before it made a right onto North Seventh Street and traveled to the dead end at Barnegat Bay, Stern told the jury.
There was no information available from the phone from 5 a.m. to 8 a.m., indicating it had been turned off, Stern said. When the phone was turned back on, it was in Pennsylvania, he said.
Between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m., the phone was in the vicinity of Horsham, Pennsylvania, Stern said. After that, the phone hit off cell towers at various locations in Pennsylvania before heading toward the Lewisville tower, about eight miles from Landenberg, between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m., Stern testified. The phone remained in that area for the rest of the night, he said.
Stern also testified that Enders' phone received a 30-second call shortly after 10 p.m. on Sept. 28, but no other calls were answered after that and any calls received went immediately to voicemail.
Kathleen Hopkins, a reporter in New Jersey since 1985, covers crime, court cases, legal issues and just about every major murder trial to hit Monmouth and Ocean counties. Contact her at khopkins@app.com.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: LBI double murder: jurors watch daughter's RV driving to murder scene
