Drug overdose killed former Manatee High teacher. Her daughter is charged with murder
Just over a year after Gabrielle Michaelis-Cifoni died, the former Manatee High School math teacher’s daughter has been arrested and charged with drugging and killing her with a cocktail of powerful drugs.
Josephine A. Scheid, 36, was arrested at her Sarasota home on Friday by the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office and now faces extradition back to Cape May County, N.J.
Michaelis-Cifoni’s death on Oct. 31, 2018, had initially been ruled as suspicious but it was not until New Jersey State Police received a tip in December 2018 that a joint investigation was launched by the New Jersey State Police Homicide South Unit and the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office. With the help of the Manatee and Sarasota sheriff’s office, investigators built a case that ultimately led to Scheid being charged with killing her mother.
It was not until Sept. 23 that Michaelis-Cifoni’s death was ruled a homicide by the Office of the Chief State Medical Examiner in New Jersey and that the cause of death was ruled to be a result intoxication of the drugs hydromorphine, alprazolam and lorazepam.
Hydromorphine is an opioid used to treat moderate to severe pain. The other drugs are usually prescribed as treatments for anxiety.
According to an arrest warrant, Scheid was giving her mother the lethal cocktail of drugs to keep her in a semi-conscious to comatose state that ultimately led to her death at the age of 58. New Jersey investigators say that Scheid did so as part of a scheme to defraud her mother’s estate of $9,000.
Scheid also lied to Cape May County Surrogate’s Court and New Jersey State Police troopers and detectives, impeding their investigation. She also later deleted data from her mother’s cell phone, according to investigators.
Michaelis-Cifoni, originally from New Jersey, moved to Bradenton sometime between 1983 and 1984, according to her family. For nearly 20 years, she lived in Bradenton, raising her children including Scheid. She taught math at Manatee High School and later went on to teach at the former Manatee Community College, now State College of Florida.
In 2002, she moved back to her hometown of Cape May, N.J., and went on to marry again. She lived in Belleplain, N.J., for the remaining 14 years of her life.
Scheid, who is listed as disabled as her occupation, has a long history with domestic violence, as the alleged aggressor and the alleged victim, according to court records.
Several months after her mother’s death, on Mother’s Day, Scheid posted a profile photo with a frame saying, “In loving memory of my beautiful mom, this Mother’s Day. Love & miss you, mom!”
Scheid is being held without bond at the Sarasota County jail. In New Jersey, she is facing charges of first-degree murder, computer criminal activity, abandonment or neglect of an elderly person, endangering an injured person, criminal restraint, misapplication of entrusted property, perjury, tampering with evidence and obstructing the administration of law.
If convicted as charged, under New Jersey law, Scheid faces up to life in prison.
The investigation remains on-going and anyone with any information about the case can call New Jersey State Police at 609-882-2000 or the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office at 609-465-1135. Information can also be submitted anonymously to the Cape May County Sheriff’s Office online at cmcsheriff.net or to Cape May County Crime Stoppers by calling 609-465-2800.
This story was originally published November 12, 2019 at 5:44 PM.
