The daylong search for a man who Hernando County Sheriff’s deputies may know something about the murder of Lee Ann Shoeman, 55, of Spring Hill has ended.
Hillsborough County Deputies responded to the Citrus Park Town Center Mall at around 5:30 p.m. Monday and found Jerome “Jerry” Sheridan, 49, in his car with self-inflicted wounds after he tried to take his own life.
Emergency crews were able to rush him to the hospital where they said he was talking.
Deputies had been searching for his car, a 1971 Pontiac GTO with no front fender and black stripes on the sides. They warned the public not to go anywhere near Sheridan or the car but to call 911 instead.
Deputies said Sheridan was wanted for questioning in his girlfriend’s murder.
When Shoeman, an English teacher at Central High School in Brooksville, never showed up for work this morning, a school secretary called the Sheriff’s Department and deputies made a well-being check.
When they arrived at her house on Meredith drive, they found her body.
Neighbors, along with the Sheriff, said the two were living together and had dated in the past.
Some neighbors said they never saw anything out of the ordinary with the couple, but according to our partners at the Tampa Bay Times, Shoeman had filed for a domestic violence injunction against him in the past.
Some neighbors said that was common knowledge.
"She probably should have just gone on and not had him ever come back again,” said neighbor Jim Goldade.
'You just never know,” said neighbor Gary Caples. “You just really never know. Everything looked fine… And now this."
Hernando County deputies said once Sheridan recovers, they will question him to see if he knows anything about the case.
Meanwhile, grief counselors will be on hand at Shoeman’s school on Tuesday to help students deal with this tragedy.