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John “Jack” Enders, 87, and longtime girlfriend Francoise “Frenchy” Pitoy, 75, were living their best retirement lives in Surf City, New Jersey.
Tragically, on Oct. 3, 2021, their blood-covered bodies were found by police making a welfare check.
“Before even entering the residence,” Ocean County Major Crime Detective Denis Mitchell told Snapped, airing Sundays at 6/5c p.m. on Oxygen, “you start to get that odor of decomposition,” .
Even for seasoned officers, the scene was grisly. As Executive Assistant Prosecutor Michael Weatherstone said, “This was a very bloody crime scene.”
Autopsies later revealed that Pitoy was stabbed 39 times and Enders 51 times. Both had been shot in the face.
Who were Jack Enders and Francoise Pitoy?
Born in France, Pitoy met her husband, who was in the military, there. They settled with their children in New Jersey, where she worked as a nurse. The marriage would later end amicably after 16 years.
Philadelphia-raised Enders was a retired businessman who’d served in the Air Force. He was widowed with two daughters in Pennsylvania, and he had a home in Surf City on the Jersey shore.
Enders came into Pitoy’s life around 2001 and the couple “made each other glow,” according to her daughter Valerie Lewis-Evans.
In 2021, the happy couple was making plans to downsize to a one-level house in Florida.
Detectives search for clues at the crime scene
Investigators ruled out a robbery gone wrong as a motive. “This was somebody who was angry with these people,” said Weatherstone, “and wanted them to know [that].”
Pitoy was found on a landing near the near stairs leading to the second floor, where her attack began when she was in bed.
Enders was found on the main level under a pile of clothes. “That tells us,” said Mitchell, “that whoever committed this act had a closer connection to Jack.”
Blood evidence was collected throughout the house. Images of bloody footprints were taken as evidence.
Tracking a timeline of the double homicide
Detectives learned that Enders had been estranged from his daughter, Terrie Swavely, for a number of years.
More recently a rift developed between him and his other child, Sherry Lee Heffernan. She was divorced and worked in real estate.
Enders put Heffernan in charge of selling his Jersey shore house but replaced her when she failed to make a deal.
When detectives reviewed security footage they saw a white Winnebago near the crime scene in the early morning hours of Sept. 29, 2021.
Around 5 a.m., a ghostly figure was captured on surveillance cameras entering the house. Another security camera provided a better view of the suspect leaving the house carrying items.
The footage showed the suspect, who stood about 5-foot-8, climbing over a fence wearing clothes that were too big and appeared to belong to Enders.
Investigators weren’t able to get a license plate from the footage, but they made a key discovery: Heffernan had a white 2003 Winnebago registered to her.
Sherry Heffernan is arrested
After discovering there was an active warrant for Heffernan for an unrelated charge, authorities arrested her for that offense.
Police interviewed her son, JJ. “He and Sherry,” said said journalist Kevin Shea, “believe that Francoise is a gold digger.”
Before being questioned, Sherry Heffernan lawyered up. She wasn’t interviewed, but she was swabbed for DNA. A warrant was obtained to search her Winnebago and residence.
Police turned up ammunition in her house that was the same as shell casings found at the crime scene. A firearm that matched the .9mm murder weapon wasn’t recovered, but there was a receipt for that type of gun.
Heffernan’s cell phone history showed her leaving her residence in Pennsylvania on Sept. 29 around 1 a.m. She arrived at the crime scene at 4:58 a.m. The phone was turned off until 9 a.m. back in Pennsylvania.
Police accessed Heffernan’s home surveillance footage. She was carrying “items that look very similar to what she was seen carrying when she left the residence in Surf City,” said Surf City Police Sergeant Victor Rice.
Caitlin McQuade, an Ocean County Latent Print Examiner, obtained impressions of Heffernan’s feet. They matched evidence from the crime scene. Her DNA also matched evidence found at the scene.
Sherry Heffernan tried for murders
Heffernan was charged with the two murders. In February 2024, Heffernan’s trial began.
Prosecutors highlighted her motives, including that in 2021 her father cut her out of his will. He also wouldn’t allow her to sell his house.
“Having all that taken away from her,” said Rice, “just made her snap.”
Heffernan was found guilty. She was sentenced to two life terms.
Snapped airs Sundays at 6/5c p.m. on Oxygen.
