With the delivery of a 33-page document, the “Archangels of Justice” are looking to civil rights laws to spur a federal investigation into Sheena Morris’ death.
The 22-year-old Tampa woman was found Jan. 1, 2009, hanging by her dog’s leash in a shower in a Bradenton Beach motel room.
The Archangels’ document and supporting records allege police incompetence and a state law enforcement cover-up in Morris’ death investigation.
The document was delivered April 20 to Bradenton Beach Mayor Bill Shearon and the offices of U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The document claims the civil rights of the deceased, her mother, Kelly Osborn, and father, David Morris, were violated by alleged criminal acts of police investigators and the state attorney.
It names the Bradenton Beach Police Department and Manatee County Sheriff’s Office personnel for their parts in allegedly botched police and crime scene investigations, as well as representatives of the Florida Law Enforcement Department and Florida State Attorney for a report that allegedly seeks to hide inept or incompetent police work.
The Archangels of Justice is a Florida limited-liability company formed in Jan. 1, 2014, by two former police investigators, Salvatore E. Rastrelli and Ira B. Robins of Stuart.
“I did receive it,” said Shearon, after being handed a 6-inch binder with CDs at city hall.
Two men identifying themselves as the Archangels of Justice, accompanied by a reporter and a photographer, delivered the document, he said.
Shearon said, “With all due respect, they are only allegations at this point.”
BBPD Chief Sam Speciale said he’s read the’ submission, and it contains nothing not already addressed by previous FDLE and SA investigations.
“It was a very well laid-out presentation, but it still doesn’t show anything new.”
He acknowledged they will take it to the federal agencies on the civil rights issue, “because that’s what they do.” He said he’d reopen the case if there is new evidence.
In the early morning hours of Jan. 1, 2009, before they found Morris’ body, Bradenton Beach police responded to a call from motel guests at the BridgeWalk Resort, 100 Bridge St., saying there was an argument in the motel room where Morris and her fiancé, Joe Genoese, were staying, according to the 12th Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s report.
A BBPD officer noted Genoese was leaving as they arrived and the officer left without filing a domestic battery report despite seeing a mark on Morris’ neck.
BBPD was again called to the motel room and at 2:19 p.m. found the body, according to the state attorney’s report. A BBPD report indicates Manatee County’s medical examiner and the Manatee County Sheriff’s crime scene technician were called in soon after.
Morris’ death was first ruled suicide and later changed to undetermined.
Family members publicly disagreed, hired investigators and drew national attention to the case.
A 2012 “Dr. Phil” episode aired a failed polygraph of her fiancé, Joe Genoese, who had left her at the Bridgewalk Resort earlier in the evening, and “20/20” shows in 2012 and 2013 explored questions surrounding Morris’ death.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement convened a multi-agency review panel of police, crime scene investigators, prosecutors and medical experts, and in October 2013, found no evidence of a homicide.
Homicide Division Chief Assistant State Attorney Art Brown reviewed the FDLE report, the police investigations, and considered evidence, including photographic exhibits, expert witnesses, the alibi of Genoese, as well as the claims of a staged hanging. In a November 2013 report, he confirmed FDLE’s findings of no foul-play.
Buchanan’s Sarasota office had no comment on the Archangels’ document.
U.S. Attorney spokesman Will Daniels said the document would likely be routed to the agency’s civil rights division or the FBI to determine if there is federal jurisdiction.
“Typically, the federal government doesn’t do murder cases,” he added.
FBI media spokesman Steve Ibison advised BBPD Police Chief Sam Speciale in 2012 on his inquiry that the FBI did not have authority to review a death investigation lacking federal nexus or statutory authority, according to The Islander archive.