Matthew Sheridan was arrested hours after his parents were found dead in their home.
MONTGOMERY -- Matthew Sheridan, who was arrested for possession of cocaine hours after the death of his parents, John and Joyce Sheridan, on Sept. 28, 2014, in what authorities call a murder-suicide, has been indicted on a charge of third-degree possession of cocaine.
The indictment was handed up on March 17 by a Middlesex County grand jury. However, the case has been transferred back to Somerset County, where it will prosecuted by the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office.
As previously reported by NJ Advance Media, the case had been transferred to eliminate the appearance of a conflict of interest because of possible civil litigation by the Sheridan family against the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office.
As of Tuesday, it was not clear why the case has been transferred back to Somerset County.
Sheridan, 41, who lived with his parents in the Skillman section of the township, was arrested when police allegedly found cocaine in his car hours after his parents death. Sheridan's car was parked outside his parent's home and the family was being questioned when the vehicle was searched.
"This was not the result of a motor vehicle stop," said Sheridan's lawyer, Henry Kilingeman, of Krovatin Klingeman in Newark. "The search was conducted when Matt returned home. It is a product of an illegal search at the Sheridan home.
"This is another example of the prosecutor's abuse of the Sheridan family in the wake of the tragic deaths of Matt's parents."
Who killed the Sheridans?Sheridan, who was driving home from New York when he was stopped by township police, had been free on his own recognizance following his arrest.
John Sheridan, 72, was chief executive officer of Cooper Health System and a politically-connected former state transportation commissioner. Joyce Sheridan, 69, was a retired schoolteacher.
On March 27, 2015, the prosecutor's office ruled the deaths of John and Joyce Sheridan as a murder-suicide, stating John stabbed his wife to death before pouring gasoline throughout their bedroom and setting it on fire. John Sheridan then stabbed himself and died in the burning bedroom, according to a prosecutor's report.
A timeline on the Sheridan investigation
Family, colleagues and friends of the Sheridans have long contested the prosecutor's findings, which culminated in the Feb. 18 decision to replace Somerset County Prosecutor Geoffrey D. Soriano with Michael Robertson.
State Sen. Christopher "Kip" Bateman said at the time that lingering questions about the Sheridan case was part of the reason for Soriano's departure.
The Sheridan's sons had recently submitted expert opinion to New Jersey authorities seeking to overturn a ruling that their father committed suicide, and on Feb. 17 a group known as the Friends of John & Joyce Sheridan stated in a letter that the family is offering a $250,000 reward "for information leading to the arrest and conviction of John and Joyce's killer(s)."
Its members include former Governors Thomas Kean, James J. Florio and Christine Whitman, former Supreme Court Justice Gary Stein and former Attorneys General John Farmer and Peter Harvey.
Dave Hutchinson may be reached at dhutchinson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DHutch_SL. Find NJ.com on Facebook.