Silence fuels speculation

New Jersey political fixture John Sheridan and his wife, Joyce, died a month ago today as emergency workers fought a deliberately set fire in their home and tried to revive the couple. And yet almost as little is known about who or what killed them now as on the morning of Sept. 28.

Especially in light of Sheridan's long-standing prominence as chief executive of Camden-based Cooper University Health System and a onetime member of New Jersey's cabinet, the dearth of information about his death is remarkable and disturbing. For 30 days now, Somerset County Prosecutor Geoffrey Soriano, whose office is heading the investigation, has maintained what can only be described as a siege posture, refusing to communicate with the media and the public about the case except by tersely worded e-mails and sporadic press releases that tend to raise more questions than they answer.

Ironically, Soriano used one of his rare written statements on the case to attack those seeking information, charging that "efforts of the various media outlets to obtain information from this office ... is unjustly and unreasonably causing speculation." In fact, it's Soriano's silence that is encouraging the guessing game.

Contrary to the spirit and in some cases the letter of New Jersey's right-to-know laws, Soriano and his subordinates - as well as Montgomery Township police and the state Department of Law and Public Safety, which have deferred to the Prosecutor's Office - have failed to disclose such basic facts as the cause and manner of the Sheridans' deaths; whether a homicide or any crime besides arson is suspected; and the results of autopsies and other analyses.

Perhaps the investigation is complicated; perhaps Soriano is stumped. But he has a duty to communicate with the people he works for.

Sheridan advised three Republican governors and headed a health-care juggernaut chaired by South Jersey's most powerful Democrat, George Norcross. The untimely death of a man so intimately connected with the state's power structure is a matter not of idle media curiosity, but of legitimate public interest.