Daughter Charged A Year After Beloved Teacher's NJ Death

BELLEPLAIN, NJ — A year after a Belleplain woman's death, her daughter has been charged with drugging and murdering her, the Cape May County Prosecutor's Office announced.

Gabrielle Michaelis-Cifoni, 59, died Oct. 31, 2018, and drugs were later found in her system, the CMCPO said. Authorities ruled her death a homicide Sept. 23, though it's not clear why the decision took 11 months.

Authorities arrested her daughter, Josephine A. Scheid, on Nov. 8 in Sarasota, Florida, the CMCPO said. She was charged with murder, computer criminal activity and other charges.

Michaelis-Cifoni, originally from New Jersey, moved to Florida in the 1980s, according to the Bradenton Herald. She taught math at Manatee High School in Florida and then at the former Manatee Community College, now State College of Florida.

She won "Professor of the Year" multiple times, according to her obituary. Michaelis-Cifoni also had a great sense of humor and was always ready with a funny story or clever quip. Even as her health declined, she continued putting others before herself.

"She enjoyed her title as Professional Shopper, Chef and Grandmother Extraordinaire; but her proudest and most noteworthy, personal accomplishment was having the title of 'Mommie,'" the obituary says.

Michaelis-Cifoni moved back to New Jersey in 2002, according to the Bradenton Herald. It's not clear what kind of relationship she had with her daughter, although Scheid did recently post a tribute to her late mother on Facebook.

Scheid gave her mother a lethal cocktail of drugs to keep her semiconscious in a comatose that that led to her death, according to authorities. Her obituary says she died in New Jersey.

The drugs included hydromorphine, alprazolam and lorazepam. Hydromorphine is an opioid used to treat pain, while the other two drugs are usually prescribed for anxiety treatments.

She did so as part of a scheme to defraud her mother's estate, according to officials. Scheid also lied to Cape May County authorities and New Jersey State Police, officials said. She later deleted data from her mother's cell phone, according to the Bradenton Herald.

Scheid also was charged with abandonment/neglect of an elderly person, endangering an injured victim, criminal restraint, misapplication of entrusted property, perjury, tampering with evidence and obstructing administration of law, authorities said.

Authorities put Scheid in the Sarasota County Jail, where extradition is pending, the CMCPO said.

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