Was Sheena Morris’s Death a Suicide or Homicide?

Sheena Morris’s death on New Year’s Day 2009 was ruled a suicide by Bradenton Beach police within weeks, later reclassified as “undetermined” by the medical examiner in 2011, and reviewed again by a Manatee County grand jury in May 2021, which found insufficient evidence to call it a homicide.¹ No one has been charged in connection with the 22-year-old’s death, and her family continues to dispute the official findings.

Morris, originally from Clay, New York, was living in Tampa and staying at the BridgeWalk Resort on Anna Maria Island with her fiancé, Guiseppe “Joe” Genoese, to plan their wedding. Her body was found hanging from a dog leash in the shower of Room 525.

What Happened at the BridgeWalk Resort

Shortly after 1:00 a.m. on January 1, 2009, hotel guests called 911 to report a violent argument in the couple’s room. Bradenton Beach police responded and spoke with Morris, who had visible red marks on her neck. She told officers the marks came from Genoese’s watch. At 1:21 a.m., officers observed Genoese leaving the hotel through the stairwell but did not stop or question him.²

Morris then called 911 herself. She reported that Genoese had taken her purse and left her stranded without money. Investigators later described wounds on her hands as defensive injuries from the altercation.²

At about 2:00 p.m. the same day, police returned to the room to assist hotel staff with an eviction over barking dogs. That is when they found Morris’s body.³

Why the Suicide Ruling Was Questioned

Bradenton Beach Police Detective Lenard Diaz was assigned to the case. He had never investigated a suspicious death on his own before.⁴ He concluded the death was a suicide and closed the investigation on February 10, 2009.⁵

Diaz did not interview Genoese until 22 days after the death. He wrote no police report for that interview or for a later interview with Marcos Claudio, a former employee and tenant of Genoese’s, whose home Genoese said he went to after leaving the hotel. The timing of Genoese’s arrival at Claudio’s home remained in dispute.⁶

Several physical details fueled the family’s argument that the scene had been staged. Morris’s feet were caked with sand, but there was no sand reported in the shower stall or on the bathroom floor. Her pant legs pointed toward the shower door rather than bunched upward, which the family’s experts said was inconsistent with the thrashing typical of a hanging. Petechial hemorrhages in her eyes, more commonly associated with strangulation than hanging, were also noted.² Morris’s purse, which she had told the 911 dispatcher Genoese took, was found inside the room.⁴

The most contested forensic question involved lividity, the settling of blood after death. Certified senior crime scene analyst Jan Johnson, a four-decade veteran of work with the FBI, FDLE, and Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, identified geometric red lines on Morris’s lower back and buttocks in crime scene photographs. Johnson concluded the lines matched the wicker weave pattern of a chair in the hotel room, with both the marks and the chair features aligned at a 38-degree angle. Her finding was that Morris had been seated in the chair long enough after death for blood to pool, then moved to the shower.⁷

District 12 Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Russell Vega and Assistant Medical Examiner Dr. Suzanne Utley rejected that interpretation. They said the marks were more likely caused by creases or seams in Morris’s clothing and that the pattern was not visible at the original autopsy. The medical examiner’s office formally stated it “strongly disagree[d]” that the lividity pattern proved the body had been moved.⁵ Johnson maintained the marks were “irrefutable.”⁷

How the Case Was Reinvestigated

Morris’s mother, Kelly Osborn, left her career as a real estate agent and spent years challenging the suicide ruling. She hired multiple forensic experts and three crime scene consultants, each of whom independently concluded the scene had been staged. Around 2010, a second autopsy performed by a New York pathologist at the family’s request found the cause of death to be “asphyxia due to neck compression due to hanging” but classified the manner as “undetermined.”⁸

Dr. Michael Berkland, a former Pensacola medical examiner retained by the family, also reviewed crime scene photographs and concluded the scene was staged. His assessment persuaded Dr. Vega to change the official manner of death from “suicide” to “undetermined” in March 2011.⁹ Berkland’s credibility was later damaged when investigators discovered human organs stored in soda cups and food containers in a Pensacola storage unit he rented in August 2012. He had previously been fired from two medical examiner positions for failing to complete autopsy reports.¹⁰

In October 2012, after an investigative series in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement reopened the case under an effort called “Operation Beach Assist,” assigning three special agents to work with Bradenton Beach police. Both the FDLE and the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office acknowledged their earlier reviews of the local investigation had been “cursory.”¹¹ Genoese provided a DNA sample during this phase; he would not confirm whether he gave it voluntarily or under a search warrant.⁶

The FDLE finished its investigation in August 2013 and issued a report that November concluding there was “no evidence of homicide.” The agency specifically addressed Berkland’s staged-scene claims and found them “not consistent with the facts shown in the investigation.” Forensic psychologist Dr. John Super, part of the FDLE review, noted that sand was visible on the shower floor in photographs and that water droplets were present, contradicting several central assertions.⁹ Osborn rejected the findings and accused investigators of conducting an “assassination of Sheena’s character.”¹²

The Grand Jury Finding

After the Herald-Tribune published Jan Johnson’s lividity findings in August 2019, State Attorney Ed Brodsky forwarded the new reports to the FDLE and Bradenton Beach police.⁴ By September 2019, he confirmed the case was under review.¹³

In January 2020, Brodsky transferred the case to the Florida Attorney General’s Office of Statewide Prosecution for grand jury proceedings, an office that typically handles organized crime cases spanning multiple circuits. He said the referral was made “due to the extraordinary circumstances and history in this case” and to prevent the family or the public from second-guessing his office.¹⁴

The Manatee County grand jury heard testimony from Bradenton Beach police officers, FDLE officers, five medical examiners (including two retained by Osborn), a crime scene expert hired by Osborn, and two members of the Morris family. On May 14, 2021, the panel determined the evidence was “insufficient to establish that the death of Sheena Morris was a homicide.”¹ Osborn thanked Brodsky for the referral but she and the family continue to believe the evidence supports a finding of murder.¹⁵

Where Joe Genoese Stands

Genoese has consistently denied any role in Morris’s death and has never been formally named a suspect or charged with a crime. His account is that he left the hotel room after the argument and drove to Marcos Claudio’s home.

In October 2012, the “Dr. Phil” show aired a two-part series in which Genoese took a polygraph administered by Jack Trimarco, a former FBI chief polygraphist. Trimarco concluded Genoese was “deceptive” when asked, “Did you kill Sheena?” Genoese acknowledged the result publicly, said “they set me up,” and claimed the examiner used “trick questions.”¹⁶ Assistant State Attorney Art Brown III noted that polygraphs can be “a useful investigative tool” but have “limits in terms of evidentiary value” and are often inadmissible at trial.¹⁷

On ABC’s “20/20” in October 2013, Genoese told David Muir, “I’m not guilty of anything” and “I have nothing to hide.”¹⁸ Questions about the timeline of his alibi on the night of Morris’s death have never been publicly resolved.

Current Status

The official manner of Sheena Morris’s death remains “undetermined.” The Bradenton Beach Police Department has never reclassified the case as a homicide, and no criminal charges have been filed against anyone. The forensic dispute at the heart of the case, especially the meaning of the lividity pattern, is unresolved between the family’s experts and the state’s medical examiners.

1
AMI Sun. Grand Jury Finds Insufficient Evidence for Homicide in Morris Death
2
Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Experts: New Evidence in Sheena Morris Bradenton Beach Death Disproves Suicide
3
AMI Sun. New Evidence in Morris Case May Point to Murder
4
Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Sheena Morris Case: Prosecutor Gives Law Enforcement New Evidence
5
The Islander. 10-Year-Old Undetermined Death Case Remains Closed
6
Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Sheena Morris Ex-Fiance Provides DNA Sample
7
Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Experts: New Evidence in 2009 Sheena Morris Case
8
Bradenton Herald. State Attorney Reviewing 2009 Death of Sheena Morris
9
The Islander. No Evidence of Homicide in Death of Sheena Morris
10
Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Embattled Examiner’s Local Link
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Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Ernst: We Deserve the Truth About Sheena Morris Death
12
Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Sheena Morris Death Receiving More Scrutiny
13
Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Prosecutor: Sheena Morris Case Is Under Review
14
Bradenton Herald. State Attorney Refers Sheena Morris Case to Office of Statewide Prosecution
15
MySuncoast. Grand Jury Rules That There Is Not Enough Evidence to Rule Death of Sheena Morris Homicide
16
Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Sheena Morris Former Fiance Does Poorly on TV Show’s Polygraph Test
17
Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Review of Sheena Morris Death Is Winding Down
18
Syracuse.com. ABC’s 20/20 Shares Sheena Morris Story With National Audience