Untimely and unexplained

A former member of New Jersey's cabinet, adviser to three governors, and chief executive of Camden-based Cooper University Health System, John Sheridan lived a life of public service and prominence. It makes for a jarring contrast with the secrecy that has surrounded his death.

Sheridan and his wife, retired schoolteacher Joyce Sheridan, were pronounced dead on Sept. 28 after authorities were dispatched to a fire at their Somerset County home and found them unresponsive. Three days later, the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office, which is leading the investigation, announced that the fire had been intentionally set.

Over the two weeks since, however, the office has provided virtually no additional information, confronting the legitimate public interest in these disturbing and untimely deaths with little but silence and stonewalling. The Prosecutor's Office, Montgomery Township police, and the state Department of Law and Public Safety have refused to disclose such basic facts as the cause and manner of the Sheridans' deaths and injuries; whether a homicide or any crime in addition to arson is suspected; whether there are any suspects in the arson or in any other crimes committed; and the results of the autopsies, toxicology reports, and other tests.

Officials from the Prosecutor's Office - including Somerset County Prosecutor Geoffrey Soriano and his ostensible spokesman, Jack Bennett - have not spoken publicly about the case or with Inquirer reporters in person or by telephone. The sum total of their communications on the case is contained in a few terse statements and e-mails.

A recording of the 911 call reporting the fire, released Wednesday in response to a public-records request, only serves to raise more questions. A neighbor who knocked on the Sheridans' front door after noticing smoke coming from the house told a dispatcher, "Somebody's trying to get out; they're banging on the door." But the Prosecutor's Office said in a statement that the noise seems to have come from the fire.

Under New Jersey's Open Public Records Act, government information is presumed to be public. Certain information about criminal investigations must be provided within 24 hours of a request or as soon as possible, including the crime committed and the type of weapon used, if any. Still more information must be disclosed in the case of any arrests. And law enforcement officials are required to explain why any information is being withheld.

The law exempts certain records related to continuing investigations, but only if disclosing the information would jeopardize an investigation or compromise public safety.

The Somerset County Prosecutor's Office has made a point of noting that the investigation has not revealed a threat to the public, presumably to justify its failure to provide additional information. But the absence of any danger is one more reason for officials to disclose information that the people and their representatives have deemed public. Indeed, authorities must do so to abide by the letter and spirit of the laws of the state to which John Sheridan devoted much of his life.