Kelly Osborn finally will get what she’s sought for 10 years — a new look at the 10-year-old investigation of her daughter’s death in a Bradenton Beach motel room.
Ed Brodsky, 12th Circuit State Attorney, said his office is taking the case “under review.”
“Her father brought us additional information he wanted us to consider,” Brodsky told The Islander in a phone interview Sept. 19, calling the information “new” evidence.
Bradenton Beach police found Sheena Morris dead Jan. 1, 2009, hanging in the shower in her room at the BridgeWalk motel, 100 Bridge St.
Authorities first concluded her death was by suicide, but later the District 12 Medical Examiner’s Office changed its finding to “undetermined.”
“It’s something that I hadn’t seen before,” Brodsky said of the new evidence, but he declined to specify what David Morris disclosed, citing ethical considerations.
The District 12 Medical Examiner’s Office first ruled the manner of death a suicide Jan. 14, 2009, and BBPD closed its death case, prompting Morris’ mother, Kelly Osborn, to publicly protest the decision and point to Morris’ fiance, Joe Genoese of Indian Rocks Beach, as a suspect in her daughter’s death.
Genoese denied his involvement and authorities have not said he was suspected of any wrongdoing.
The most recent prosecutor’s review has no timetable for completion, said Brodsky, who expects to reach out to BBPD, as well as the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
The prosecutor also emphasized the death investigation is under review, “not reopened.”
Brodsky explained the context, saying the evidence follows a December 2018 report by independent forensic experts on lividity and a January letter from the medical examiner “kind of disagreeing with these experts.”
Dr. Michael E. Berkland, a discredited forensic pathologist, and crime scene technicians Janice Johnson, King Brown and Dawn Watkins, all of Pensacola and working for the family without compensation, prepared the 2018 report.
Their report relies on a photograph from the crime scene showing a pattern of lividity — blood that settles after death — on Morris’ back and buttocks that appears to be from a wicker chair in the motel room.
The report concludes that Morris was moved to the shower after she died and the death scene was staged.
Their findings contradict reports in 2013 authored by the FDLE and 12th Circuit Assistant State Attorney Arthur Brown III that support the suicide determination.
While the state attorney’s office has now decided to look at the case again, BBPD has remained steadfast that the evidence — including a lack of evidence suggesting strangulation — supports the suicide finding.
“The case stands where it’s been. It is closed,” Bradenton Beach Police Detective Sgt. Lenard Diaz said Sept. 18.
FDLE spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger weighed in Sept. 11 on the lividity report from the independent forensic experts.
“Last month, we did receive information from the state attorney’s office. We understand how painful this loss is for her family, however, upon review, there is no additional information that would cause the case to be reopened at this time. Our case remains closed.”
“Nothing has changed,” Plessinger said Sept. 18.
Thank you Islander for keeping us updated on this story , as i have been following for some time. I had read a article on this story from another media outlet that the marks on this woman’s back were “post mortem “. With out being blunt here ( you only die once) the markings on her back matching up to that chair appear to be quite telling compared to her being found in a bath tub or a shower. Its seems as though this story may be more than a suicide. Keep up the great coverage.