The Unsolved Murder of Sheena Morris
This case will be a little shorter because it is still unsolved. I watched the show Still A Mystery on Investigation Discovery, it’s Season 2, Episode 3 titled ‘Brides and Murder.’ Sheena’s case is the first one in this episode.
Sheena Morris
On January 1, 2009 Sheena and her fiancee Joe Genoese were vacationing in Bradenton Beach, Florida. There would be a number of 911 calls that night that would lead up to a tragic death.
The first 911 call came in around 2AM and it was Sheena. She said:
““Hi my name is Sheena, “[Joe] left here probably about half an hour ago, I had deputies come out here, because he did physically hurt me.””
The police showed up and Joe was not there. Sheena showed them marks on her neck that Joe had given her, but they left without doing anything because Joe was gone. Sheena also said that Joe had taken her entire purse and was going to go to her house and trash it.
A next door neighbor at the hotel also called 911 and reported that it sounded like a domestic dispute was going on in the room next to him.
At 2pm the next day, Sheena was found in the bathroom of the resort hanging by her dog’s leash. The police and medical examiner apparently ruled it a suicide right away and didn't take any finger or shoe prints.
The next day on January 2nd, the medical examiner even called Sheena’s mom Kelly and told her that it was a suicide. Kelly didn’t think so and thought it was Joe. She met Joe the year before in 2008 when Sheena wanted them to meet him. He told Kelly that he was 35 years old. Kelly said in Still A Mystery that:
“He walked into my house, and I said you are not f****** 35.”
She was right, Joe was actually 45 (Sheena was 22), he had 3 kids and was going through a divorce. Kelly really tried to like Joe because Sheena was happy, but she never really liked him that much.
Kelly quit her job and dedicated herself full time for finding out what happened to her daughter.
In 2010, her death was finally changed from ‘suicide’ to ‘undetermined’.
On July 29th, 2012, a newspaper article was written about Sheena and the case once again got attention. The Florida Attorney General’s Office was going to re-examine the case.
Also in 2012, Sheena’s parents went on the Dr. Phil show to confront Joe.
I have linked all the parts from Youtube 1-6, the first part is further above- it’s Sheena’s 911 call.
On the Dr. Phil show they had Joe take a polygraph test and he was asked “Did you kill Sheena,” and “did you have anything to do with it?” He said no and it came back that his answers were deceptive.
In 2013, Joe went on 20/20 to again say he was innocent. He said that the polygraph test on the Dr. Phil show was deceptive and made him look like he was lying and killed her. He stated that she wanted to kill herself.
At first in the episode, Kelly (her mom) said Sheena was never suicidal and would never take her own life. However, towards the end she said Sheena had tried to kill herself when she was a teenager and was taken to the hospital after taking some pills. I think it’s a little strange how it was said she was suicidal before and then they changed it to she was. But in this case I don’t think she committed suicide.
In 2019, 10 years after Sheena died- new evidence came to light. A Senior Crime Scene Analyst named Jan Johnson was looking over crime scene photos and noticed a lividity pattern. A lividity pattern only happens after death. The lividity pattern was a V shaped pattern, and they realized it was from a chair in the hotel room. Jan Johnson said it only could have happened if she was placed in that chair after she died.
A few other pieces of evidence that Johnson found were that Sheena had sand on her feet, but there was none in the bathroom. She also had broken eye vessels that can only be found from strangulation. Johnson came to the conclusion that the crime scene was staged.
In September of 2019, it’s stated that the case is being reviewed.
Unfortunately this case is still unsolved and the only person that has ever seemed suspicious or “a person of interest” is Joe.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
I personally don’t think it was a suicide. I think Joe had an ugly temper and finally snapped. He seems guilty to me and never seems broken up about Sheena’s death, even though he was crying on 20/20.
I think the police should have investigated it more and not just assume it was a suicide without looking at the hotel room more closely.
I also think it’s weird that Kelly stated that Sheena would never be suicidal but about 15 minutes later said oh ya she was suicidal when she was a teenager, and made it seem like it was a misunderstanding. Sorry, but that bothered me. I’m sure Kelly is in pain and didn't want anyone to think she killed herself, especially after everyone in that town assumes it was suicide.
Sources:
https://www.bradenton.com/news/local/article239523513.html
