PA woman found guilty of killing her father, his girlfriend in Surf City, NJ

A woman from Pennsylvania now potentially faces life in prison after a jury found her guilty of killing her father and his girlfriend in Surf City in 2021.

Following a trial that ran for almost a month, on Friday, 57-year-old Sherry Lee Heffernan of Landenberg, PA, was found guilty of two counts of murder and several weapon-related charges in connection with the deaths of 87-year-old John Enders of Surf City and 75-year-old Francoise Pitoy of Manchester.

On the afternoon of October 3rd, 2021, officers with the Surf City Police Department responded to a home on North 7th Street to conduct a welfare check upon its residents.

When they arrived, they found the dead bodies of Enders and Pitoy.

A medical examiner determined Enders died from multiple stab wounds "with severance of the right carotid artery and blunt force trauma;" he was also shot. Pitoy died from "multiple stab wounds as well as a gunshot wound to the face."

Published reports day Enders had been stabbed 51 times while Pitoy was stabbed 39 times.

An investigation revealed that the victims were involved in a dating relationship with Pitoy staying with Enders, who owned the home.

The cooperative investigation ultimately determined that Heffernan - Mr. Enders’ daughter - was responsible for the deaths of both Mr. Enders and Ms. Pitoy.

The following day, Heffernan was taken into custody by the Pennsylvania State Police at her home in Landenberg.

Per reporting from Townsquare Media's New Jersey 101.5,

Prosecutors told the jury the motive was Heffernan being cut from her father’s will. At the time of the killings, the $2 million house had been listed online as a pending sale. In an earlier affidavit, a friend of Enders told investigators that the victim had changed his will within the month before his death, cutting out both of his daughters.

Heffernan is scheduled to be sentenced on May 10th at which time she faces life in prison.