Gentle waves lapped against the pylons in front of John “Jack” Enders’ $1.7 million waterfront home on New Jersey’s Long Beach Island in early October 2021 when police went to check on him and his girlfriend.
When Francoise “Frenchy” Pitoy’s family members couldn’t reach her, they called the police to make sure she and her longtime partner were OK.
But when officers stepped inside the 6-bedroom Surf City home on Oct. 3, 2021, they where shocked to find the bodies of Enders, 87, and Pitoy, 75.
Enders, who was found sitting in a recliner on the main level, was shot in the face and stabbed 51 times. Pitoy, who was found on the landing of the stairs, was also shot in the face and stabbed 39 times.
Surveillance footage showed a mysterious figure driving an RV to the area and entering the home in the dark of night on Sept. 29, 2021, as the couple was sleeping.
Who would want to kill the retired couple in their own home, let alone so viciously? Police wanted to find out.
The next episode of People Magazine Investigates,titled Knives Out, goes in-depth into the investigation of the shocking murders.
Premiering Monday, Dec. 16 at 9/8c on Investigation Discovery/ID and streaming on Max, the episode examines what was happening in the household before the shocking killing.
The couple wanted to sell the shore house and looked to Jack’s daughter, realtor Sherry Heffernan, for help, as seen in this exclusive clip below.
“Investigators learned from Jack’s friends that when Jack listed his waterfront property, Sherry was the original listing agent,” says PEOPLE Executive Editor Nick Maslow in this exclusive clip from the episode.
“It was a house she believed was going to be hers one day,” says Det. Denis Mitchell of the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Major Crimes Unit. “The fact that the house was for sale meant that the house wasn’t going to be Sherry’s anymore. But from what we’re told, Jack was unable to sell it.”
With the house still sitting on the market, Enders’ friend John Gofus says, “Jack decided enough was enough and called Sherry and said I want to be out of here by the fall and I’m going to have to list it with another agent, which Jack did eventually do. Sherry was out of the picture.”
Heffernan was no longer in charge of the sale or gaining from the sale, Mitchell said.
At that point, says Mitchell, “we had to ask ourselves, is this something that would make Sherry Heffernan angry enough to commit this brutal double homicide?”
People Magazine Investigates: Knives Out, airs on Monday, Dec. 16 at 9/8c on Investigation Discovery/ID and streams on Max.
