Aid Joe and Doreen Through Their Heartbreak

I took this picture of me, Joe Ross, and his wife Doreen today (Oct 3, 2024). Last Wednesday Joe received the worst news a parent can receive when a West Virginia State Trooper called him to say his son's skeletal remains had been found. Joe and his wife Doreen were devastated. Their son, Joe, Jr., had been identified through dental records. He'd been shot in the head twice sometime in 2021 in a very isolated area and his body was only recently discovered. I met Joe about a year ago when he began attending Ames Church in West Baltimore. I'm a trustee at the church, and when a wall of the 140-year-old Ames Church partially collapsed in January, we converted part of a former plumbing supply warehouse into the Ames Church sanctuary. Joe and Doreen live across the street from the church/warehouse. Joe was not only an integral part of the group of volunteers who helped convert a small portion of the building into the Ames Church sanctuary, he is there virtually every day performing tasks, of which there are many, as the warehouse is over 26,000 sq ft. He has helped move stuff that needed to be moved, organized stuff that needed to be organized, painted what needed to be painted, and is the volunteer custodian, shampooing carpets, cleaning up trash outside - whatever is needed, Joe is on it. I've worked with Joe at Ames about a hundred times this year. The photo was taken in the new sanctuary space.

Joe and his family moved from New Jersey to Baltimore in 2018. Joe, Jr., who was 18 at the time, could not adjust to Baltimore and moved back to New Jersey. At some point they had a falling out, and Joe interpreted Joe, Jr's lengthy silence, and Joe's inability to contact his son, as part of that spat. As far as the police can determine, he was taken from New Jersey to West Virginia and executed. Although their murder investigation is still very early, except for two bullet casings and some phone records from 2021, they have little to go on.

Joe and Doreen do not have the resources to take possession of their son's remains, have him cremated, bring him to Maryland for a memorial service, interment, plus a separate service in New Jersey. They are emotionally spent, not only for their tragic loss, which is compounded by an amazing amount of paperwork, but the grief of not having the means to get their son home. I told Joe and Doreen today I would post this. They were very grateful, as will I be, if you can help out. Thank you.