March 31, 2025 | By: Adrianna Weldon

This story is part of a collaborative project between Project: Cold Case and the University of North Florida’s Applied Journalism class.

Joseph Mullins loved building things and was always tinkering with whatever materials he could get his hands on. He took on many weekend projects, from helping cousins renovate their house to helping a friend fix a dog run. One of his favorite projects was when his stepsons expressed excitement for the sport of BMX biking; he built the boys a BMX biking course in his backyard. “Joseph was not a huge fan of sports,” his younger sister Linette said, “but he would adapt to whatever the boys wanted to do at the time.”
One of Joseph’s projects included building a treehouse in the backyard of his home in Portage County of Mantua, Ohio. He had been working on it for a while, and by the time December rolled around, he had been stringing lights around the windows for holiday cheer. One of his last Facebook posts was a photo of his almost completed treehouse with the lights, saying, “Do you think Santa will see it?”

Joseph would not get to see if Santa found the treehouse. On December 19, 2014, six days before Christmas, Joseph was reported missing from his home by his wife. Ten days later, his body was found; he had been beaten to death and abandoned near the Cuyahoga River. The police determined he had been murdered. It has now been over 10 years since his death. His case has never been solved.

Joseph was born on March 29, 1957, in the state of Ohio. The second oldest of six siblings, Joseph, and his family all shared a close bond. “If someone needed something in the family, they cared for each other,” Linette said. “Joseph could be the devil if you put his family in danger.” Joseph’s family would later move to West Virginia after his mother remarried.

Linette reflected on the fond memories she had with her brother. The two were 11 years apart in age, with them having different fathers. Linette had been the youngest child and the only girl. After facing the deaths of two of his younger siblings in 1968 and 1980, Joseph became quite protective of Linette. They shared a special bond, Joseph having spoiled her a lot, making her into an “adult brat,” according to Linette. As the years passed, the two did almost everything together from childhood to adulthood. “He was my hero,” Linette said. “He taught me how to drive. I stayed at his house whenever I could. Anytime I was in trouble, he would come and save me. He took care of me.”

As the years passed, Joseph started a family of his own. When he was still in West Virginia, he had been married for years and was raising his stepson, though he and his wife divorced. He later moved to Ohio, married his second wife, and played a major role in the lives of his wife’s four sons. He was very active in their lives and loved spending time with his wife and children. Until his death, Joseph worked as a printer by trade, working at his wife’s print shop, where they met. When he wasn’t printing, Joseph took side jobs as a carpenter, which involved a lot of tile work in houses.

Joseph was a nice-looking gentleman. He was small, standing at 5’-6” ft., though he thought of himself as 7’-4” ft. He was a man who lived life to the fullest. He was bubbly with a bright personality who loved helping people and making them happy. “He would wake up dancing. Always a constant,” Linette said. “He never woke up in a bad mood. He would always do what everyone else wanted to do; he wanted to make people happy.”

“There wasn’t anyone who didn’t love Joseph. People said he was fun,” Linette said. “Nobody could fathom why anyone would want to kill him, as he was such a good guy. He was a talker who would fire you up and just laugh.”

Joseph loved his Jeep, which he would take to go rock climbing every month with his stepson and friends. He would park it in crazy places no one knew were possible. If his favorite music artist, James Taylor, was playing on the radio, that made the ride all the better.

Once he retired from work, he had planned to move somewhere warm with his wife. His plans later expanded as he became a fan of cruises and wanted to travel the world to see new sites and explore cultures. According to Linette, “He had gone on his first cruise a year and a half before death—the Bahamas. He fell in love with it and had the best time. He couldn’t stop talking about wanting to do more of them once he retired.”

The last time Linette saw her brother was in November 2014, when he visited West Virginia. He had been attending the funeral of his best friend. “What’s embedded into my mind is when I saw him at the end of the funeral,” Linette said. “He was leaning against the wall of the funeral home, looking sullen.” The last time Linette heard from her brother was through a voicemail, the day before his disappearance. “I had worked as a secretary for Mingo County Sheriff’s department at the time and was helping with ‘Shopping with the Deputies’—taking underprivileged children shopping—and I had missed his call,” Linette quietly said. “In it, he said, ‘I know you’re doing your shopping with the deputies. Have fun; call me later. I love you.’ I never got to call him back.”

On December 19^th, 2014, Joseph was reported missing from his home in Portage County, Ohio. According to the Ohio Attorney General, his wife had returned home the previous evening and discovered Joseph not at home. She had initially thought he had gone over to his friend’s house, as it wasn’t uncommon, but when she called the friend to ask for Joseph’s whereabouts, the friend immediately came over and they started to search for Joseph.

Linette received a call the morning of December 20th from the Portage County Sheriff’s Office asking if she had spoken to Joseph in the past 24 hours. “It was 10 days of pure hell on earth,” Linette recounted. “I blew up the phone of anyone who would talk to me. I drove five hours from my house to his six times during those days, hoping for answers.”

During the investigation, according to the Ohio Attorney General, blood was found in the detached garage that belonged to Joseph. A blood smear was also found on his bedspread in the master bedroom, which also matched Joseph. However, besides Joseph’s keys and phone, nothing else was missing from the home, and there was no evidence of forced entry.

Police speculated that he may have gone outside thinking a friend had stopped by. Only to find it wasn’t the friend waiting for him. Another theory from the police was that he had ”taken off” somewhere. Linette had suggested the investigation for Joseph’s whereabouts wasn’t a priority because it happened during the holidays. “I don’t believe the police were and are doing everything they can. I know what that means; I work in law enforcement,” she said. “Joseph wouldn’t have just ‘walked away’; he knew his loved ones would be worried. He wouldn’t have put that on anybody.”

Joseph was found dead 10 days later on December 29, 2014. His body was found 30 miles from his home in the warehouse district of downtown Cleveland, abandoned near the Cuyahoga River. It was reported twice, first by a homeless man who had gotten the address wrong the day before, and the second time the next day from a coal barge worker saying they found a dead body. Joseph was determined to have been killed from blunt force trauma with injuries to his head and face.

Linette received the news of her brother’s death when she was at his home. “There’s no way to express it,” she said. “When you suffer that loss, it changes you. A part of that will never heal or be whole again.”

Linette felt as though she had to walk away from God, as Leviticus 19:17 says, “Do not have hate in your heart.” She has said she can’t find forgiveness because she doesn’t know who to forgive. “My brother is dead in the ground, and the murderer is walking around. It drives me insane,” she said. “I would like to take justice into my own hands, but who do I get mad at? There is nobody to be mad at.”

Further strife was inflicted due to an undisclosed speculation from the police, causing strained relationships between Linette and her family. Since Joseph’s death, his brothers Dennis and Georgie passed in May 2021 and April 2022. Linette is Joseph’s last living sibling.

Since her brother’s death, Linette has become a victim’s advocate for her sheriff’s department in West Virginia. She turned her grief into passion to become an advocate and assist people who needed it. Since 2023, Linette has held a yearly event where there is a candlelight vigil for anyone lost to homicide, inside and outside West Virginia. It is held on September 25th, the National Day of Remembrance for Murder Victims. “I hold it for my brother and anybody else,” Linette said. “It’s one way I feel I can pay him in his memory.” As of 2024, Joseph was the grandfather of five grandchildren with a sixth one on the way.

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Anyone with information about Joseph’s case is asked to call the Portage County Sheriff’s Office at (330) 297-3890. To remain anonymous, please call the Crime Tips hotline at (330) 298-4487.

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