BRADENTON BEACH, Fla. — More than 11 years after Sheena Morris was found dead inside of a Bradenton Beach hotel room, the Florida Attorney General’s Office of State Prosecution has agreed to review the case.
- Investigators initially ruled the death a suicide
- Mother of victim hired her own forensic investigators
- More Manatee County stories
Between local and state investigations, this will be the fifth time an agency has looked into her death.
“We feel as a family that she’s never had a real investigation, I’m hoping that this is going to be the first,” said Shenna’s mother, Kelly Osborn.
Morris, 22, was found on January 1, 2009, hanging in a shower stall by her dog’s leash. Investigators quickly called her death a suicide, which Osborn has disputed since the beginning.
Osborn has long suspected her daughter's boyfriend was involved, as the two were spending the night together at that hotel.
Since Morris’ death, both local and state agencies have looked into the case. Osborn says each time she felt it was one agency covering up for another.
“They focused on just trying to put Sheena into a bad light,” she said.
Osborn has since hired private forensic investigators who believe that her daughter’s death was murder. Osborn says while reviewing crime scene photos, they discovered lividity marks on Morris’ backside that were the result of sitting on a hotel room chair after her death.
She believes that it is impossible for her daughter to have hung herself if she was seated in a chair in the hours after she was deceased.
Osborn said she’s cautiously optimistic that this time, investigators will help bring her family closure.
“There are people out there who are honest and have integrity and will someday get this right,” she said.