NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — 1010 WINS spoke with the family of Jafari Joseph—a 40-year-old Brooklyn native who was murdered in upstate New York—about his death and their uncertainty over where his body is.
“The last conversation I had, it was a happy one, you know, I didn’t think that would have been my last conversation with him,” Joseph’s mother Joan said.
Joseph, originally from Flatbush, moved to Plattsburgh on the northwestern shore of Lake Champlain in upstate New York, but remained close with his family. When he stopped answering their calls and texts the day after Christmas, they knew something was wrong.
“My brother takes certain things serious, so like holidays,” Joseph’s brother Teddy said. “He didn’t call his mom for New Year's? Come on now.”
Joseph had been missing since Dec. 29 and his mother told Teddy that she had a stomachache over the situation. He began doing the footwork of calling hospitals and jails in his area, but she learned that her instinct was correct when sheriffs visited her home in Brooklyn and informed her that Joseph was shot to death in the city of Peru.
After being reported missing to the Plattsburgh Police Department, multiple agencies became involved in the case. The New York State Police Department executed multiple search warrants, processed the crime scene and conducted multiple interviews that led to the arrest of Timothy Timmons, 61, on Jan. 7.
Timmons, accused of shooting Joseph to death on a property on Fuller Road in Peru the day he disappeared, is charged with second-degree murder.
According to Clinton County District Attorney Andrew Wylie, the property belongs to Timmons’ ex-wife, and Joseph may have been in an argument with someone in the Timmons family.
Timmons was arraigned and is being held without bail. He is pleading not guilty despite state troopers executing multiple search warrants on his cellphone records, vehicles and residences.
Teddy said that he personally spoke with the last person to see Joseph that night, and the witness relayed that he had jumped out of a window to save himself, but was followed and shot to death outside.
State police said that the crime does not appear to be a random act of violence.
Despite the arrest and the murder charge against Timmons, Joseph’s family said that they have no idea where his body is.
“I don’t know how I’m going to live without knowing that we have his body and we could give him a proper send off,” Joan said.
Mourning his brother, Teddy shared some of Joseph’s character.
“My brother was a real lover,” he said. “He’ll love you for free.”
State police are asking for anyone with additional information to call 518-563-3761.