Morbid - Episode 307: The Grotesque Murders of Joel and Lisa Guy

Episode Date: March 21, 2022

Lisa and Joel Guy Sr. were said to be loving, kind hearted and passionate people. The two of them had raised a family together and at 55 and 61 years old were ready to retire. One caveat with their plan was that they were still providing for their grown son Joel Guy Jr. They had plans to tell him that he was going to need to start supporting himself around Christmas. Unfortunately they would not be able to celebrate their next Christmas. Their only son would brutally murder them in their home on Thanksgiving weekend. Young Williams Animal Center donation page to donate in honor of Joel Guy Sr. and Lisa Guy As always, thank you to our sponsors: MeUndies: To get 15% off your first order, free shipping, and a 100% satisfaction guarantee, go to MeUndies.com/MORBID HelloFresh: Go to HelloFresh.com/morbid16 and use code morbid16 for up to 16 free meals AND 3 free gifts!  Babbel: When you purchase a 3-month Babbel subscription, you’ll get an additional 3 months for FREE.  Just go to BABBEL.com and use promo code MORBID Rothy’s: Get $20 off your first purchase at rothys.com/MORBID Peloton: Visit onepeloton.com to learn more See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Hey, Weirdo's, my name happens to be Ash and I am Elena and this is morbid. It is. We're here. I always try to say it more dramatic each time, but no, it's been almost four years so you can only be so dramatic. So much drama. Can only happen.

Much drama for your mom. How is everybody doing? It seems like you guys dug that last episode a lot and you know what? We had so much fun recording that episode. Fucking cheese man. I'm so glad you guys felt the same way we did about it because I was like, this was really fun. It was.

And even though it's a topic that like, obviously it's real. Yeah. And it's tragic that that was actually happening. Like some, we were able to find the humor and like the language and the records. Right. And I'm glad that you guys were able to find that too because, you know, I feel like you get us.

I just love to vibe with you guys. Yeah, it's just really nice to know you get us, you know. Thanks for, thank you for being a friend. Thank you for being a friend. Thank you for traveling down the road. And back again, your heart is true. And you're a pal in a confidant. If you throw a party, I'm just kidding.

You know what? Speaking of music, I have some gospel that I need to spread to you guys. You should, because she's spread the gospel to me this morning. I think we've been jamming up. I'm recruiting. So what is tonight? It's just a cult. All right.

You know how I'm sure you can all feel this, especially people like that are like, you know, in their 30s, I feel like you'll really get this because... Yeah, elder millennials. Yeah, elder millennials, I think you're gonna feel me a lot, but I'm sure, I hopefully all you will. But I think like, music to me is like boring now. Right now? Because it's all the same. It just feels like overall.

And it feels like rock went away. Like I just, I miss rock. That was my, like, genre. I just, I miss it. And I want to back. And last night, we were doing a recording. And when we came downstairs, we'd been, you know, upstairs for a couple of hours. And John was like, just so happy when I came downstairs. And I was like, what's it like? What you've been doing? And he was like, okay. So I found out about this new band called Ghost. And he said the entire two hours that we were upstairs, he had listened to the entire

album by himself in the living room. And he was like, I was smiling. I feel like I want to just like rage. I'm so excited. It's like, it's the rock that we have been missing. Like he's so excited. And he was like, and they have this cool aesthetic and I'm obsessed. And I was like, what?

So he starts showing me the two of us for the next three hours until we went to sleep. We're listening to ghosts. And literally yelling at each other how excited we are. As soon as we're... I'm sure many of you have listened to ghost because they've been around for a long time. We just had never heard of them somehow. I don't know how we were not on the strain, but holy shit. If you have not listened to Ghost, you got to listen to Ghost.

If you listen to Ghost, hey friend, we're officially in this cult together. I'm excited about it. You have to like, say about their background story because it's fun and cool. You got to look them up because they have this really cool vibe where it's like because it's fun. Yeah, you gotta look them up because they have this really cool vibe where they, it's like, you know, it's a very tongue-in-cheek kind of thing. And the lead singer makes these characters and he like makes them last for a couple of years and they're like prosthetics and costumes. And the fact that he can sing in the prosthetics that he has on his face is crazy.

Because he can barely move his mouth but he's saying amazing and he kills them off or has them resign every two years which is like in the middle of a concert and then just brings the new one out and this new one is like most of them are called like papa emeritus and it's like you know this cardinal character and it's really cool but I just love that it's rock. Like like true rock. True rock. I was like this. I'm in. It's really good too. But it's just one of those things. Like I showed Ash this morning after we dropped the girls off at school. I was like, you have to listen to this. And in the middle of the song, I kept being like, oh my God,

I just love it so much. Yeah, I mean, it was geekin'. I was freaking out. And it's so rare that music, I haven't had music make me feel that way in a long time. It's a good feeling. It's a good feeling, because I know what you mean. Like I get it. It just like gives you that like, oh, I just want to consume all of this. Yeah.

And I actually was talking to Jordan from the nighttime podcast. It's Jordan. It's a goalist in the nighttime podcast. It's great. It is. But Jordan's like a very big ghost fan and he was very excited and he showed me a bunch of songs I hadn't heard. And so now we're gonna geek out together The most interesting thing about this song is that it's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song.

It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song.

It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a great song. It's a If you haven't, go listen. Go check it out. Check it out. So I just, that was my public service announcement that I found for the first time in a long time, like music that made me wanna just fucking kick things. Whoa. Whoa, so good. I don't really have any public service announcement. No, it's last night.

I just went home and ate a tuna fish sandwich and then I went to bed. Good for you, man. Yeah. I was an old lost night. You were like jamming in your kitchen to rock music, which was as the older one. I know, Jen.

You thought I'd go to my, I get turned up for your sandwich and get some rest. I get some rest. I gotta get some rest. I stayed up late last night. I've been going to bed at 10. I know. And then I went to bed at 11 last night

and I'm feeling the ramifications. Oh, that extra hour. I truly am geriatric. That's okay. It's fun. Yeah, I'm into it. Welcome to the club. Get into it, y'all.

Get into it. Well, you're not geriatric. You're listening to rock bands in your kitchen now. Yeah, you know me, man. You're so rock. You're so hype as the kids would say. So hype. John and I just yellin' at each other

in excitement last night. Oh my God. Sometimes I think about the fact that I'm John and I just yellin' at each other in excitement less than I, oh my God. Sometimes I think about the fact that I'm 25 and not 82, because sometimes I feel 82. You know, you know how I feel, you know what I mean? I think we all do. Yeah, me. You know what? Ash is gonna.

Yeah, listen to ghost and Ash is gonna bring us into a pretty, we're coming back. We're back in the, uh, back in the true prime of it all. This case is horrible. Like, yeah, absolutely horrific. Not going to be like last episode. No, it's not going to be as bad as Albert, but I mean, it's pretty, it's a pretty rough one. So this case begins in November of 2016 during Thanksgiving weekend.

And this is the case of the guy family. What a time. Yeah. So Thanksgiving weekend, you know, celebratory time break out the sweet potatoes, the yams, yams, potatoes, all of that. There you go. I think that's the song. And the guy family was getting together and they were gonna celebrate one last Thanksgiving meal in

their home in Knoxville, Tennessee. Now Joel Guy Sr. and his wife Lisa had actually recently put their home on the market and they were planning to move about 70 miles northeast to another area in Tennessee called Sagoinsville. I believe is how you said it. I looked it up about 42 times. I gave myself a phonetic pronunciation key here. You did everything right as far as I'm concerned. I tried. You did everything you were supposed to do.

There's an R in there. It's like Surgwinsville, but every person I said, I heard say it, said Sagoinsville. You feel like I can do this. I can do this. So they were moving to Sequoansville. No, because, and the reason they were doing this is because Joel Sr.'s mother had recently passed away, so he and his wife decided they were going to move into her house, like

purchase her home and move in there. Okay. And their goal was to do that right before Christmas. Okay. And his sisters were like super, super excited that their brother and their sister-in-law were going to be so close again, and they were really looking forward to spending Christmas together under one roof because it was something they really hadn't been able to do in years. Now Joel and Lisa just to give you a little

background on who they were, they got married in 1985 and they lived in Louisiana for a brief period of time before they moved to Tennessee. Joel Sr. was married once before to a woman named Patricia, and together they had three daughters, Michelle, Angela, and Shandice, I believe is how you say her name. Now, after he divorced from Patricia,

he obviously got married to Lisa, and together they had one child who was named after his father, making him Joel Guy Jr. Eek. Who I'm sure you've heard of. Yes. So to distinguish the difference between the two of them,

most of the family referred to younger Joel as Joel Michael. Okay. And to make things a little easier. So even though it was a blended family, everybody kind of seemed to get along well together, like as far as Joel's daughters and like their stepmother, they were really young when their father married Lisa.

And Lisa became like a big mother role in their lives. And they like totally looked up to her. In the summertime, they would go visit their dad and Lisa. And I think they would stay like a month just because where their mom lived was kind of far. So it was like, let's spend a month with dad. Yeah, that makes sense. I remember doing that when I was younger.

And they all said like, what a good mom and what a good wife Lisa was. They said she always had supper on the table when Joel Sr. came home from work. She always greeted him at the door like excited to see him. And when they were there, she made sure that the cabinets were stocked with their favorite foods. Oh, that's sweet.

Like, she loved them, and she definitely loved the family of it all. Yeah. Now, one of the daughters, Michelle, remembered like, really looking up to Lisa, and she was like, I just wanted to be the mom that she was. Oh. And when Michelle got engaged,

her engagement ring was actually like a replica of Lisa's engagement ring, because she looked up to her that much. Oh, man. She was like, my first engagement ring was actually like a replica of Lisa's engagement ring because she looked up to her that much. Oh man. She was like my first engagement ring was like literally her ring because she was just loved herself. I loved her. And she was a step parent.

Like that's really cool to hear because when step parents become like parent parents, you know, like that's like a love you. And it's a hard transition. Oh for sure. You have no like on both sides. Yeah, exactly. Like the kids, you transition. Oh, for sure. You have no, like on both sides. Yeah, exactly. Like the kids, you don't know, like for the step parent, you don't know how the kids are gonna receive you.

And how much grief they're gonna give you until they finally give in. Exactly. For the kids, you don't know how this isn't your parent like that you've grown up with. So it's like, a lot of the time at least. So it's like, this is a new person that you have to get used to.

So when it just like clicks in both sides, like give each other the time and least. So it's like this is a new person that you have to get used to. So when it just clicks and both sides like give each other the time and give each other what they need, it's really nice. It's really beautiful. Yeah. What makes a person a murderer? Are they born to kill? Or are they made to kill?

I'm Candace DeLong and on my podcast, Killer Psychie Daily, which you can find exclusively on Amazon music. I share a quick 10-minute rundown every weekday on the motivations and behaviors of the criminal masterminds you read about in the news. I have decades of experience as a psychiatric nurse, FBI agent, and a criminal profiler. On Killer Psychie Daily, I'll give you my expert perspective on cases like the mysterious New York City drugings. Breaking down Lori Valow, a.k.a. Mommy Doomstays Motives, and what drove Caitlin Armstrong to murder? I'll also bring on expert

guests who add even more insight into these criminal minds. I promise you won't regret adding these 10 minutes to your morning routine. Hey Prime members, listen to the Amazon Music exclusive podcast Killer Psychie Daily in the Amazon Music app. Download the app today. So that was really beautiful. Yeah, this is going to hurt my heart. But Lisa and Joel Senior Sun, Joel Junior, he was a little different, a little different

kind of guy. He was born on March 13th, 1988, Pisces. And growing up, he was a really shy kid. He had some friends throughout his early school years, but not very many of them. And as he got older, he only clung on to one friend, who I believe ended up being his roommate, Michael McCracken. And even Michael felt like Joel was kind of distancing himself from the friendship the older they got. And even Michael felt like Joel was kind of distancing himself from the friendship the older they got. And he was like, I don't know, it just seemed like

he was pulling away from me. Yeah. Now, Joel's half sisters look back on their experiences with him, and they were realizing they were like, we just didn't have any memories with him because they said most of the time when they were at the house, Joel would just stay inside of his room and keep to himself. Like, they would have like family dinners,

even like Thanksgiving and holidays and stuff like that usually. He would either not come, or he would be in his room just not talking to anybody. Oh, that's concerning. Yeah, he just didn't want to socialize with anybody. So that's why when Thanksgiving of 2016 rolled around, and he not only decided to join them for dinner, but was like happy and outgoing the whole time,

everyone was a little confused by the sudden change in his disposition. Yeah, they're like, this is strange. I don't know about this. Yeah, because they actually- Listen, Omen. They didn't even think that he was gonna be coming to have Thanksgiving dinner with them in the first place,

but he showed up on Wednesday, like ready for some family time, and they all were like, okay, like cool, this is weird, but like I guess we'll enjoy it. Well, and they're probably all thinking, like the first thing you're gonna think is like great, maybe he's in a better place. And like we're all gonna be like, this is a good thing. Maybe he's turning over a new leaf, you never know.

He actually even took out a big thing of his childhood toys, which were like at home, and he was showing them to his nephews and like giving away the toys. And his sister, all of his sisters were really surprised, but one of them specifically was like, I didn't even think he knew my children's names. Oh my god. Like that's how distant he was. Yeah. And like just disconnected from his family. Wow. So thanksgiving honestly seemed to go really well. The family enjoyed their meal together, but after hanging out for a little bit Joel's daughter, Joel senior's daughters went home with their children later that night and Joel Jr. was gonna be sticking back at his parents house

He was gonna stay for one more night because he wasn't quite ready to make his nine and a half hour drive back to his apartment in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Ooh, long drive. Now he had originally moved down to Louisiana in high school actually to attend Louisiana State University and his hope was to one day become a plastic surgeon. Wow, but he withdrew from the school the year before in 2015. That was like kind of Joel's thing. Strangely enough, he had actually done really well in high school. He even attended Louisiana School for Math Science and the Arts in his final two years of high school, and it's a school for exceptional students. Wow. So he definitely was really smart.

Yeah, I mean, to want to be a plastic surgeon, you could at least be on the path of being able to get into medical school. Definitely, but he wasn't necessarily on that path because once he made it to college, he really didn't seem to have any direction, any motivation, just like he seemed lost. Yeah. And after he graduated from high school in 2006, he actually ended up going to George Washington University in DC, but he only spent one semester there before he decided to withdraw. Oh, and he total had spent nine years in and out of college and had nothing to show for it. Oh, nothing. Like nine years in and out of

college. How did it go nine years, man? You got to like stop at some point and be like, okay, like, what's not working? We got to think of a different way to go about this. Exactly. So it's not for everybody. Yeah. I mean, I dropped out of college and it's completely fine, but you just got to take nine years to do that. Well, it's like you got to take a moment and come to that realization eventually.

Exactly. And the other thing is this isn't him like, shelling out his own money to pay for college because if you know this story and now if you don't I'm gonna tell you his parents literally paid for everything. Joel Guy Jr. never worked a day in his life. He had one like short-lived internship during college and that was it. And his parents are paying for everything and he's just like, everything out of schools. Not like, everything at school.

Yeah. Not getting anything like that shitty. And living in like a batten Rouge apartment that his parents are also paying for. Yeah, come on. And Joel's half sister Angela said the only reason their mother Lisa worked, a stepmother slash mother,

was to give her paycheck over to Joel, Junior. Oh, that's terrible. She literally went to work every day and didn't take the money for herself, handed her check over to her grown adult son. That's bad. That's bad on all fronts. It's, she paid for his clothing, college, apartment, bills, everything.

And her husband, Joel's father, Joel Sr., would give his son money to you, but at this point he was at his wit's end, and he actually stopped giving him money long before the mom did. But that was all going to change soon because Joel guy senior. So he worked as an engineering designer for a company called Alstem. Oh, wow. But he's a really smart guy. Super smart guy. But right around Thanksgiving, he got laid off. So at the time he was 61 and he was like, am I really going to go back

to this or should I just retire here? So he started to talk to Lisa and he was like, you know, like I'd really like to retire. There's actually no reason for you to be working because you're just giving your paycheck to our son. Like, why don't we retire together? Yeah. So like I said, he was 61 at the time and she was 55. So they're like, two of them are ready to just figure this all out. And just to be together. Yeah, and just like, that's the time when you get to just be together and just look back and be like, damn, good job, us.

All right, let's, we raised four kids together. Yeah, you know, like good jobs, we worked hard. Now let's have some fun. Yeah. So the two of them, they sat down, they figured out exactly how much they would need to retire. Like they were clearly super smart in the way they went about this.

They accounted for every last penny they would have to spend. One of their daughters recalled that they even set their budget to include beer and cigarettes. Amazing. Which I was like, I love that. You got a budget, man. Yeah. And when they got to the bottom of it,

they realized that they would definitely be able to retire with what they had, but in order to do so, they had to they would definitely be able to retire with what they had, but in order to do so, they had to stop funding Jolcee. Of course they did. But he was doing it for so long, and now it's going to be really hard to pull that back. So long, he was 28 years old by this point. You can't do that, man.

I know it's like out of the goodness of, you know, parents do that because it's hard. Yeah. I can't do that, man. I know it's like out of the goodness of parents do that because it's hard. I can't imagine. Like I want to literally buy the girl if I could like spend every cent I have just buying them fun things. That's how I feel. But I would do that. And it's like, it's so fun.

And it's like you just want to help them. Right. You just want to do everything for them because you're like, well, I created you. I feel like I should, I want to help you. Yeah. But it's like you have to think it's so hard. And I imagine it gets harder and harder and harder. I imagine I'm going to struggle bust with this the whole my entire life. But it's like, it's a, it's a bad precedent to set because it's really

hard to pull that back later. Yeah. Because then this person thinks they're entitled to it. And boy, did he? Yeah. 28 years old. Like, surely you would be able to get a job and figure things out on your own. Yeah. Yeah. But we'll see what happens.

So Lisa and Joel Sr. told some of their family, including their daughters and Joel Sr. sisters that they were going to retire and they were going to move out to Sagoin's bill. And everyone was just over the moon for them. Like I said, Joel's sister, the sister's, yeah, Joel's senior sisters were stoked that their brother was gonna be closer. They're course.

They couldn't wait to just bond and hang out. Yeah. I don't know if they were retired, but these two are retiring. Maybe they're gonna plan trips together. Like, of course. They need an exciting time. When you see your sibling

or somebody you care about has worked their whole life really hard. Yeah. And then comes to that point where they are able to retire because some people are never able to read. I mean, it's so sad. And it's because you have to literally sit down and say, okay, this is hopefully when we're gonna live

until and we need to make sure we have money for the rest of our life. 20 to 30 years. Yeah, that's a lot of planning. It's a lot of planning, so when people are able to do that, it's a celebration, like that's great. And especially people who have worked really hard their whole life, it's like, And given all they had to somebody else as well.

Like exactly. Not only taking care of themselves, but also just like did everything they could for themselves. They did everything they were supposed to do. They went everything that they thought they were supposed to do. Yeah. So they planned on telling Joel to, but I guess the original plan was that they were going to wait until Christmas to let him know.

I'm not sure what the reasoning was for that. Maybe they were going to tell him like after Christmas and just in hopes to get through the holidays without some kind of backlash. I imagine that was the... They were definitely expecting it. Yeah. Now it doesn't seem like anyone is sure whether or not Lisa and Joel were able to have this conversation with Joel Jr. before they were killed, but putting two and two together almost everybody involved in

this case notes that that conversation happened. Yeah. And probably happened earlier than Thanksgiving weekend. Makes sense. And was probably the reason exactly why Joel was like, oh yeah, I'm ready for some family time. I was just gonna say that's why he showed up being like, woohoo, lifting this. Mm-hmm. Now, as I said earlier, everyone felt like Thanksgiving had gone really well

that year, like they were happy about it. But the Monday after that though was really strange. So Lisa, she worked for a company called Jacobs Engineering as an accounts payable administrator in human resources. Like we hear in a lot of these cases, Lisa was always on time. She pretty much never missed work. And if she was going to take a day off or come and late, she would call beforehand, just a good employee. Yeah. And she got along really well with her boss, Jennifer Whitehead. So Jennifer was waiting for Lisa to come into work on Monday morning.

And as she waited, she looked at the clock and she's like, okay, it's, you know, 705's getting a little later, 710, I'm getting a little worried here. She let 15 minutes go by and then she was like, I'm gonna call her, like 15 minutes is fun. Because she was that on time all the time. Exactly. That tells you what kind of worker she was. It definitely does. Because 15 minutes to a lot of people would be like. That tells you what kind of worker she was. It definitely does. Because 15 minutes to a lot of people would be like, well, you know, they'll be it.

Yeah, 15 minutes to my boss is in the past. I love you so much, everybody, but I was very late all the time. Like, I'm so sorry. Yeah, like whenever I hear that in cases, like she was always on time. I'm like, not applicable. Yeah, not applicable here.

I am a constantly late kind of gal, but Lisa was not. So Jennifer was like, I don't know, something's off here Like why wouldn't she call? So she gives her a call and the call rings obviously for a little bit But then just eventually goes to voicemail She keeps calling calls a couple more times. Let's a little more time pass in between each call She starts texting her not getting a reply at all. So Jennifer was like, okay, you know I don't like maybe she has car trouble.

Maybe like something's going on. I don't know. I should call Joel Sr. Her husband lets make sure everything's okay. So she calls Joel Sr. No answer. Oh, calls him again. No answer. Text him a couple times. Didn't get a reply. Now the other thing on Jennifer's mind was that later that day, some of the other people in the office were actually supposed to be getting together with Lisa to celebrate her retirement. They were going to take her out to lunch.

Oh, man. And she's like, she wouldn't have missed this. No, like why was she just not show up? Yeah, she was looking forward to it. She had worked there a long time. And she just wouldn't have missed the lunch. It was, she was excited. Yeah.

So Jennifer was like, no, I, I am calling the police. Like, I'm nervous. I'm just going to see if they can do a wellness check. So the police agree and they go out to the home. Now upon first glance, everything seemed okay. And they left and that reported back to Jennifer. The residence looks fine. We didn't get any answer at the door, but it doesn't look like anything's wrong in there. So she was like, okay, like cool. But she kept trying, kept trying to reach Lisa or Joel, and she's failing to get any kind of response. So she calls the police again, and she's like,

can you just go check on the house again? Like, this is really weird. And the panic that must have been starting to arise here. Yeah, exactly. No, like when I can't get a hold of my parents, oh my god, we drive to their fucking house. We literally will drive to their house. If I can't, we can't get a hold of my parents, oh my god, we drive to their fucking house. We literally will drive to their house. If I can't, we can't get a hold of them for like an hour. We drive to their house. Panic. Like, and it's like they are very capable

human beings. Like they are not like, no, every time we show up they're like, guys, like we're okay. Right. They're like, oh, the phone was just like off the hook or something like, yeah. Guys, or they're like, oh, sorry, the cell phone wasn't on the ringer. Yeah, and I'm like, come on, like, leave it on the ringer. I need to know you're okay. Exactly, and I imagine this is exactly how Jennifer felt, and then we'll get into it in a minute. But Joel, senior's daughters were also trying

to get in touch with him, and they were getting nervous. So Detective Jeremy McCord was the one tasked with doing the second welfare check. He was, because another officer had gone out first, and obviously didn't find anything. So Jeremy McCord gets sent and they're like, maybe check a little bit further. Yeah. So he remembered that as soon as they pulled up to this house, there was just like an ominous feeling in the air. He immediately felt like something was wrong. Nothing looked wrong, but the situation just felt off. Yeah. And now both Lisa and Joel's cars were parked in the driveway,

but there was no answer at the front door. Then they only had these two cars. So. And the front door was locked. Now, when they got up to the house, they saw that there was a four-sale sign in the front yard. Because remember, they're moving. Yeah.

So they assumed, you know, maybe there's some kind of lock box somewhere. Maybe we can call the real estate agent, figure out the code, get entry that way. But the lock box was nowhere to be found. Usually they're like around the front door, door knob. And it's also like, why are there cars in the driveway? Immediately. That would immediately be so straight. Yeah. So can't find the lock box.

So they're like, okay, let's call the real estate agent. Maybe she like put it somewhere else here, she. And this real estate agent tells them they're definitely should have put a lockbox on the front door. But since there wasn't, she said, maybe check one of the guy's cars for a garage opener, I think you can probably get in that way through the door. Yeah.

So, Detective McCord and the other officer who did the first wellness check, Stephen Ballard, they wanted to save that as kind of a last resort obviously because they're trying not to break into the house basically. So they surveyed the scene a bit further. Now they took note that the door knob on the front door didn't seem to match the deadbolt above it

and that there was all kinds of scratches around the metal part. So it kind of looks like whoever had installed this had some trouble doing so. Like it kind of looks like whoever had installed this had some trouble doing so. Like it was like very scratched up. Yeah. And now when they went around to the back of the house, they had to like hop over a fence, but they go to the back and they are seeing, you know, maybe there's a back door we can gain entry that way. So they find the back door, but they realized why the front door knob looked so strange. Because the door knob from the back door had been removed and installed onto the front door. So the back door had no door knob. There was a hole.

What? Now as he peered down to look into the hole that was left in the back door, Detective McCord immediately felt heat coming from the inside of the house and realized that he was detecting some kind of chemical odor also coming from inside. of the house and realized that he was detecting some kind of chemical odor also coming from inside. Oh my God. And from his vantage point looking through this hole, he could see that there were groceries sitting in the front foyer that clearly would have been put away sooner rather than later because there were there was like bacon ice cream, meat and vegetables.

So it was at that point that they checked both of the guys' cars to see if they could get that garage open and gain entry that way. Luckily, one of the cars was open and they were able to get the garage open and go into the home through the door, like that garage door. Always lock your garage door, by the way. I know, PS.

I know, I know they were home and stuff, but like you should lock it even on your home. Yeah, definitely. So as they made their way inside the home, they saw that there was a large pot sitting on top of the stove top, and the stove top was on, and the oven was on as well. Now, the smell of chemicals in the air at this point

was so overwhelming that Officer Stephen Ballard said, it actually made the skin on his forehead start to tingle. Holy. Hey, the humidity in this home was like borderline unbearable. said it actually made the skin on his forehead start to tingle. Oh, really? The humidity in this home was like borderline unbearable. I wonder if they were worried that there was something that was gonna explode here. Probably.

If I smelled chemicals and stuff and felt that heat, I mean, the stomp is on. We need to get out of here. Yeah, but you know, they gotta get this wellness check, don't I guess. I mean, good for them, they're good investigators. So they walk past the downstairs thermostat and they see that the downstairs one has been set to 90 degrees. So immediately they're like,

oh, what the fuck is going on here? The stove is on, there's groceries in the front floor, you guys aren't answering. It smells like chemicals in here. It's a 90 fucking degrees. What is going on? I can't imagine. I would be immediately nauseous walking out. Yeah. And then they had to go upstairs, and it was even hotter up there. Of course. Because it rises. It was 95 degrees upstairs. Oh, hey there, fellow podcast listener.

It's Elena. And Ash. And we're taking you back to the days before streaming services. Whoa. You know, when you would come home from high school and it was only a few hours until that TV show, everyone was watching

was about to come on. Well in 1999, that show was Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In our podcast with Wondery, the re-watcher Buffy the Vampire Slayer, we take it back to 1999. So get out your knee high boots and paste that poster of Angel on the wall. It's time to enter the Buffyverse. Some of you avid morbid listeners already know what we've gotten store. Join us.

Join us as we sway our way through Buffy's drama, action, and romance. Episode by episode. Spicy. Follow the rewatcher Buffy the Vampire Slayer, wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen early and add free on the Amazon Music or Wond dog crying somewhere up there, and they would later find out that the dog had been locked in the laundry room. Oh my god, and it's like 90,000 degrees in there, and it's probably even hotter in there, because it was a door that was locked.

Exactly, and shut into a smaller room. In a smaller room, I'm assuming. Yeah, and a laundry room is always hot. It's just a humidity anyways. Right, it's poor hot. And God only knows how long he was there. So they also saw blood splatter covering the walls. Once they made their way to the top of the staircase completely,

they walked past several blood stains on the carpet. Oh, no. A pile of woman's clothes that seemed to have been cut off because there was a pair of scissors that was just laying next to the clothes. And then in one of the rooms off of the hallway, they made a discovery so spine-chilling that it led the officers outside,

like they literally just left and called for backup and called in the house as a crime scene. What they found in that room was a pair of severed hands, seeding, leap-alonging to a man. So what? A pair of man severed hands, seedingly belonging to a man. So what? A pair of man severed hands, just sitting in a room. Now, as the yellow tape went up around this house, and the forensics team was being called in to start taking

and marking and eventually taking the evidence, Joel Guy Jr. drove past his parents' house, and he saw the chaotic scene unfolding on the front lawn. And it was at that point that he turned around and started making his way back to Baton Rouge without a care in the fucking world. Because he knew that his apartment was all paid for for a while, and his mother had just paid about $10,000 toward his rent, paid off some of his school debt, most of his utilities

for the months to come. But the money maybe she didn't necessarily pay that. I was money came from her, I can do it herself. She had already been killed when that money was used. Oh my God. She paid from his mother's account $10,000 toward his rent, his school debt, like a portion of it, and utilities months in advance.

So how are people like this? I have no idea. Like this kind of human, you're just like, oh, it makes you just wanna like shut yourself in your house and just be like, nope, not talking to anybody. It also like makes you not wanna have children. Well, it's just fucking parents. Geez, like I was gonna say, yeah,

I wanna lock myself in my house, but like, all alone. Yeah, like bye. You're like, I love my kids, but now I'm like a little terrified So one way or another Joel Kotwind that his parents were going to be cutting him off soon in his days of mooching would be over If they were gonna cut him off he felt like he had to do something to stop them. So he got to planning Oh my god in a black notebook he wrote down about five pages of notes. Most of the notes planned out meticulously the way he would kill his parents, but make it look like his father was the one to kill his mother. Wow.

That was the plan. So not only are you going to murder your parents who have taken care of your entire life and your entire adult life? Yeah. Like the whole time you've been on this planet. But you're also going to be smurch his legacy. Your father's name. By making it look like he killed his wife.

Yeah, I mean, wow, have no fear. This guy turns somehow into a bumbling fucking idiot. Good God, but holy shit. His plans were so deeply evil. Oh my, like evil, there's not even a word for the length of evil he went to. It's despicable is what it is. It's like worse than that.

So first, he decided he, and this is all written down, he would somehow incapacitate his father. The original plan that he wrote down in his fucking notebook was to throw, this is also like, I'm like, you're a teenager, like you're a man child. Oh, like, yeah, I can already see that. His plan was to throw this is also like, I'm like, you're a teenager, like you're a man-child. Oh, like, yeah, I can already see that. His plan was to throw something down the garbage disposal to break it.

And then go tell his dad that it was broken, get his dad under the sink, and attack him while he was fixing the sink. I'm sorry. That's the, I have nothing to say. You are 28 years old and you're gonna go be like, daddy, the sink doesn't work. Yeah. You're 28, you're old man.

28 years old and you think you're out of think. Yeah. Unreal. And it makes you go in and capacitate your father. You're like older father that way. Who's just about to retire and cut your ass off. So brave. Yeah, so brave.

Right, you're so, this is a great plan for sure. So he decided once he had killed his father, he was gonna sneak up on his mother and obviously kill her as well. But he was going to get his father's DNA underneath her fingernails to somehow make it look like they had struggled before they both ended up dead. All right, stop watching forensic files.

Like, my God, I told you. Whenever these guys, these people go through told them. Whenever these guys, like, these people go through all that and they're like, well, I was going to do this to make sure this. And it's like, oh, God, you're like such a, ugh, because it's like, okay, cool, like, great plan, that's, yeah, top notch.

It's just so ridiculous, it's so over the top. But then you see how this plan just like, thankfully fails so miserably. Of course. And like, his DNA is everywhere in this house. And it's like, he wrote down notes to prevent that. He was like, don't touch this, line this with plastic. Stay this long.

Which even that is stupid, because if you were really were cunning, you think you are? You would not be writing a statement. You would not be writing notes, you idiot. That's literally 101. cunning, like you think you are. You would not be writing a statement. You would not be writing a statement. You would not be writing a statement. You would not be writing a statement. You would not be writing a statement. You would not be writing a statement. You would not be writing a statement.

You would not be writing a statement. You would not be writing a statement. You would not be writing a statement. You would not be writing a statement. You would not be writing a statement. You would not be writing a statement. You would not be writing a statement. You would not be writing a statement.

You would not be writing a statement. You would not be writing a statement. You would not be writing a statement. You would not be writing a statement. You would not be writing a statement. You would not be writing a statement. You would not be writing a statement. You would not be writing a statement.

You would not be writing a statement. You would not be writing a statement. You would not be writing a statement. You would not be writing DNA everywhere. You need to write five pages of the things you shouldn't should not do. What an actual imbosyle. Yeah. He had all kinds of notes about avoiding the DNA around the house, how he was going to dispose of the bodies, to make sure he left the least amount of forensic evidence possible.

You know what, which you did not. He even had plans of burning the house down, which is why I think in his head, he was like, oh, I'll leave the notebook there. And it will burn as well. So no one will know what I did. Now he wrote that he would set a timer for the house to start burning down Friday morning because as he put it, quote, sunlight masks fire, but not smoke. Everyone at work. So they can't report it. Everyone in your neighborhood is going to be a job I've ever heard in my entire life. Sunlight masks fire, a blazing inferno with a house burning down. Like I'm sorry. No one's going to notice it because they're all at

work. There's no one on the street. There's definitely at least one person on your street that is home or is around the area. And it's like, no, sunlight does not make fire just invisible. That's not how that works. Why? And also, like, how do you even know it was gonna be a sunny day, you idiot? And like, what?

No, none of that makes sense. And then everyone at work can't report. It's like, oh yes, everyone in the entire world does that work on that day? So you can't account if somebody calls and sick, how the fuck are you supposed to know? What if somebody's a stay at home, like person? They call that a variable, my can't account if somebody calls in sick, how the fuck are you supposed to know what if somebody's a stay-at-home, like, person? They call that a variable, my guy.

What if somebody works from home? Exactly. Idiot. So the motive, although it would become clear to everybody at one point or another, it was also written down in the notebook just in case we couldn't figure it out. Wow. He was after his mother's life insurance policy.

So crazy, right? I don't have life insurance policy. I'm so sick of him. I know me too. I feel like right? I don't have life insurance policies. I'm so sick of them. I know me too. I feel like every case I cover lately is about insurance money. And I'm not even intentionally doing that. Oh no, no, it's more just like,

why do people use them that way? It's like, right, come on, dude. It's supposed to be for protection. The other thing is, and I'll get into it a little bit later, but I found out about what happens, obviously, if you're the person that kills somebody, and you think you're gonna get the insurance money, it's interesting how it works, and there's a whole rule that goes along with it.

It is interesting when you get into it, it's like the ins and outs of it, you're like, oh, yeah, nobody knows this stuff. No, but it's a complicated process. That's a motive of life insurance is just like, oh, God. It's been done. You're dumb. Right. Not it's been done, but you're literally the worst. Like, nobody ever, you you're gonna kill a human

being for money for life insurance money right meanwhile she's given you and he's given you money your whole goddamn life yeah very cool now he even knew he must have like known what was in these accounts I'm assuming he had like access to her passwords as well or maybe they were written down somewhere that he had access to because he knew exactly how much he would get. And in addition to knowing the life insurance policy, he also had a list in his notebook of the assets he could potentially get if his mom had died and some others that he might be entitled to a portion to if his father died. But what about the other two?

What about the sisters? Like, they're not going to get a portion of this life insurance money, you think? Well, so they wouldn't get a portion. I think he knew that he was the beneficiary and his father because his sisters were like her step children, so I don't know if they were in this life insurance. Maybe they got like something somewhere else kind of thing.

You would think because they were so close, right? That that would be part of the thing, but I don't know. I don't really know, but he did account for that, don't worry. So he wrote down $500,000 would be all mine with him missing or dead. I get the whole thing. Because the way the life insurance policy was split

was that he would get half and his dad would get half. Okay. And he knew that his mother had this life insurance policy through work, and he had to kill her before She retired in order to get that money Oh, and he knew he had to kill his father too or like I said he would only be entitled to half Wow, and I say only because I'm telling you like how he felt about it He would feel it but now 50,000 is a not only yeah not only at all

But he also also wrote down something about killing his siblings too to get more money. Oh, so he was gonna keep going with this? He definitely was gonna keep going. Yeah, it definitely makes sense to kill your entire family. No one will think it's me and I at that. Soul survivor. Yeah, you'll be held up.

Like what are you talking for? You're gonna be, oh my God, girl, I was just gonna say, what are you? You're gonna be, I'm a robber. That's so far. You're Jill from scream for. my God, girl. I was just going to say, what are you? You're going to be a robber? Yes, I'm going to say that so far. You're Jill from scream for. I knew I was going to be held up as a survivor.

Seriously. Yeah. So, Jill Jr. had not spent Thanksgiving night with his parents to get some extra quality time in, in case you were wondering. He did this so that he could find the perfect time to kill them in cash and on the life insurance policy. My God. So, the Friday after Thanksgiving, Lisa told Joel Senior and Junior

that she was gonna head to the grocery store and stock up on grocery food and groceries and that she also had to get pet food for the family dog, so she'd be back in a little bit. Now, there is literally footage of her walking out of, I believe it was a Walmart that she went to for groceries, walking out of the Walmart, it was a Walmart that she went to for groceries, walking out of the Walmart. Like, on the way home. And you're like, oh my God, you don't know it's waiting for you.

How many times do you just walk out of somewhere? And like, you never know that that's the last time you're going to be somewhere. And you're walking out of there to go home to your husband and your son. Right. Why would you ever expect for something? It's going to happen. It's just a normal day with groceries for the whole family, with pet food for your dog, just such like an innocuous situation. Very, yeah. So when she headed out, it seemed as though Joel Sr. headed up to the workout room on the second floor of the house to get in a workout while his wife was gone.

It was then that Joel Jr. attacked his father, stabbing him at least 42 times. All over his body. The stabs punctured Joel Sr's kidneys, lungs, and his liver during the attack, and he suffered multiple breaks to his ribs, as well as countless defensive injuries that were later seen on his hands, which were severed at some point. My God. He had been stabbed with such force that there was still a piece of the knife lodged into the muscle of one of his shoulders, the muscle. Oh, this must have been so brutal. Unreal.

So brutal. Unreal. So when Lisa returned home with the groceries, it was clear that she was attacked almost immediately. She was stabbed at least 31 times and suffered stab wounds to her heart. Her aorta, both lungs, her left kidney, her liver, and her third thoracic vertebrae. Oh my God.

Some of her wounds were six to seven inches deep. Oh, that was a huge wound. To your mother, with which she did this. Unreal. So over the course of the next couple of days, Joel Jr. got to work dismembering his parents' bodies as he had laid out in his notebook. So flash back to this crime scene. The forensic team is making their way inside of the home and they start gathering evidence and they are walking through a bizarre and absolutely shocking scene. Multiple officers and people working on the scene became physically ill,

and at one point they actually had to have hazmat come in. Oh, I believe it. Yeah. And these, everybody who worked on this case said that they will never, ever get this scene out of their heads. Like, I could see their heads. I remember hearing the details of this, and I can't, I don't know how you, I can't leave it.

This would never just leave you. It would never leave you. Because I watched the trial, actually, you can watch the full trial on YouTube, it's like two hours long. And part of it is that they show the video of, like everything is blurred out, obviously, but they show the crime scene video.

It is, I can see it in my head right now and it makes me like physically nauseous. It is the most disgusting, brutal, callous thing I've ever seen in my life. There were guns laid out on the dining room table and ammunition just laying about the room. Like in the dining room, there were just like boxes of ammunition

piled on the floors and guns just on the table. There were garbage bags strewn about the kitchen floor alongside multiple gallons of bleach and packages of baking soda, just like arm and hammer baking. So they're just chilling right out there. Lisa and Joel seniors wallets were laid on on the kitchen table. Next to some cash, a hammer, a set of pliers and Lisa's purse.

And her like she had like a windbreaker coat some cash, a hammer, a set of pliers and Lisa's purse. And her like she had like a windbreaker coat just draped over a chair. So it's like, it's this cute little like almost like country looking kitchen. Yeah. But with pliers and pliers and chemicals lying about everywhere. So they walked past the pot on the stove again

and they would later realize that Lisa had been decapitated because they found her head inside of this pot, which was full of a boiling chemical mixed with water. Oh, they found her head in a pot. His mother's head on the stove. Yeah, there were also multiple space heaters throughout the house. So not only is the thermostat set to 90, there are multiple space heaters laying about the house, all turned on.

And as they made their way upstairs past the blood spatter and heaps of leases torn up clothing, they saw multiple jugs of corrosive chemicals. Oh, so he was really trying to speed up this decom profits. Oh, yeah. And that was laid out in his notes. He thought exactly like how long it would take. We'll get to it. It's so, so disgusting. So making their way into the master bedroom, they saw that the bed was covered with plastic

sheeding, and so was the floor leading into the master bathroom. There was also a note found on a yellow post it that was left on the dresser in the master bedroom and it was dated 12 1913 and signed by Joel Sr. It read 401k with a bank account or excuse me I'm on a money amount next to it bank money amount insurance money amount I just don't really want to sit here and tell you what the number said because I feel weird telling you about these people's money. And then it said hold hold my old dead ashes, LOL, and sprinkle us both as, excuse me,

sprinkle us both after you pass at buzzards roost by Angela. Tell all my children, I love them, and as you should know, I do love you truly. I have had a blast. And it was signed by Joel Senior. What? That's the really only mention

that was made of this note. So I don't know if this was like supposed to be, yeah, like was a plan for when he did die. Like was that supposed to be in with his will and stuff, you know, like just a, because I know like people will do that. They'll just like when they have a, you know, a moment where they're thinking about what they want to do.

To happen, especially when you're retiring, I'm sure that's like one of the things you're thinking about. Yeah, and if you're like working with a lawyer or like in a state planner or something like that, they tell you you write it down. Just set these things up so people know what you want. And it's like, just write it down and like, you know, people will do that and they'll just write it on like a post

at note or like an appkin or something. And then they can bring it to their lawyer later and it can get like actually entered into the will. So in my head, I'm thinking exactly what your thinking. I think that's exactly what this note was and I think maybe Joel Jr. found it somewhere. That's what I was thinking. And he thinks it could also read as a suicide note. A suicide note.

But it really doesn't read like a suicide note. It doesn't. It holds my old dead ashes LOL. And like I love you. So it's like, why would he leave that note for Lisa when he's going to kill her? Doesn't make sense. No, that doesn't make any sense.

Exactly. So I think he's saying like I want you to continue on and like sprinkle my ashes. Yeah. Because I want to be cremated. Yeah, no. That's just that that's a that's like a very. It's a plant light-hearted like when I die.

Exactly. This is what I want. Literally wrote like LOL and told her, like the amounts that were left at the back of the point. Yeah, no, that, none of that make, that definitely was to me. He found that and he thought it sounded worse. It would somewhat like it or that he could at least argue it.

Yeah, that's what I didn't do. It doesn't work. You're dumb. So we're still making our way through this house. They're in the master bedroom. They see that plastic sheeting that's leading into the bathroom. They're like, we have to go in there. Like that's not great. This is gruesome. I just want to let you know if you want to skip forward a little bit. Now's the time to do so. Inside the master bathroom, they saw that there were two, excuse me, there was a large garden hose attached to the shower.

Like instead of a shower head, the shower head was removed, and a garden hose was attached to it. That's different. Yeah. And it was at this point that they discovered two 45-gallon blue bins, which were full of different dismembered body parts. What the fuck? So the investigators believed that the bins were filled with a mixture of water and those corrosive chemicals, because some of the body parts inside were nearly broken down to just bone. Holy shit, they would later find out that Joel Jr. had been dumping the solution down the toilet as the body parts were deteriorating and the flesh was separating from the bones. He had written in his notebook which they hadn't found quite yet, but they later would, quote, use sodium hydroxide to destroy soft tissue and soften bones for transport. And he also made

note to quote, based once every hour to accelerate, this fucked up individual was talking about basting his parents' remains in corrosive chemicals in order to break down their body parts as fast as possible. His mother and father, wow, basting them. Like he's talking about cooking Thanksgiving fucking dinner, which he obviously didn't do because he's a piece of shit who doesn't do anything. Because he's a loser. a grade A loser, wow, based once every hour to accelerate. I got nauseous reading out. Just the amount, like the grotesque nature of this. And just so cold-hearted.

And so over the top. And so, he enjoyed every second of this. And you do not go, this gruesome, this grotesque, this intricate complex, unless you are getting enjoyed. Are getting some kind of enjoyment out of this. You do not go this gruesome, this grotesque, this intricate and complex, unless you are getting injured to some kind of enjoyment out of this. You sick fuck. Now, in another bathroom upstairs, they found multiple sets of bandages in the shower and strewn about the vanity on this bathroom along multiple sets of seemingly used surgical

gloves. And there was another set of men's clothing on that bathroom floor, but this set was not torn up, and it was noted that there was blood all over the place. So it seemed like somebody was trying to tend to their wounds in this specific bathroom, and these were the killer's clothes. Now they don't know who it is yet, but they're going to find out. So the investigators then made their way into the exercise room, where it was clear that Joel Senior had been attacked. His clothes were cut up and laying in a pile on the floor. There was an overturned Bowflex machine. Holy shit.

And that's where his hands were found next to the Bowflex. And in the corner of the room, there was a massive amount of blood covering the wall on the floor. It was obvious that that's where he had been killed. There was also a daybed in the room which had been stabbed in multiple areas. So this attack, like clearly Joel Senior put up

some kind of crazy fight because it went all around the world. I was gonna say it seems like it was in multiple areas. It was definitely. Finally inside of a spare bedroom, they found a box of ammunition sitting on a dresser, alongside a gallon of chemicals which was stained and covered in like coagulated blood. They saw a laptop sitting open on the bed connected to an external hard drive, and in the corner next to the bed was a red backpack.

So they were like, what's in here? Inside of that backpack, there were multiple books that had Joel Guy Jr. written on the inside cover. There was a printed out paper about the mechanics of a water heater. And of course, that notebook that I mentioned, which had five detailed pages about why and how Joel Guy Jr. wanted to murder his parents. Wow. Now, it was never confirmed by that page laying out the mechanics of the water heater was in the backpack.

Yeah. But it was the same water heater that his parents had. And it investigators assumed that maybe he was planning on starting the fire that way, with the water heater. I was gonna say that must, I was thinking it could have had something to do with that. Yeah.

I didn't get like super into the mechanics of wanting to break down the body's faster. So maybe you're trying to set it really high so that everything would be like hotter. Exactly. So at this point, I think at this point, there was like, we know what you did. And we have like that evidence. So we don't even need to touch that. Yeah. But they did obviously say that it was there. Yeah. So by this point, the investigators working this case had actually already spoken to one of Joel senior's daughters who was worried because she and her sisters hadn't heard from their father.

The Sunday before Joel and Joel senior and Lisa were found was actually one of his daughters' birthdays. And she hadn't heard from her father, which was obviously heartbreaking, but also extremely out of character. Yeah. So the daughter that they were able to speak with told them the last person who had been in the house with her parents

was their son and her step-brother, Joel Guy Jr. Now once they realized that this notebook belonged to one Joel Guy Jr. and contained pretty much every answer to their questions, now they were ready to track this motherfucker down. So during their search, the detectives on the case actually linked up with the FBI to see what they could uncover. Wow. About the days leading up to the murder and then the days following.

And they were able to pull surveillance footage from multiple stores in the area, knowing full well that there were a lot of items laid out around this house. And obviously they had been bought locally or like somewhat locally. And so they assumed that they had been bought in the area and they were correct. Joel Guijunior was caught on surveillance at a Walmart buying multiple boxes of band-aids, rubbing alcohols, and treatments for some pretty gnarly cuts that he got on his hand during these murders. He was caught again at a Walmart before the murders, buying those two 45-gallon blue bins,

which one of his sisters saw in the back seat of his car. Ah! At Thanksgiving. Oh my God. And just probably assumed like, oh, maybe he's like moving or, I don't know, like people. Oh my God, one of his sisters saw it. Saw the bins.

And had no idea. No idea. Because why the fuck would you think that? Why would you think that? Why would you think that your step brother bought that and came to Thanksgiving so that when you guys leave, he can kill your parents and dissolve their bodies in that. Why would you ever think that?

But looking back on it, he's probably like holy shit. That was right there. He was right in front of me. And looking back, one of them also was like, was that why he was giving all his stuff to animals to my kids? Of course it was. Like, he didn't want his shit to be burned down,

so that's like, it was another way to be selfish, honestly. Oh, these poor sisters, it's so bad. Watching the trial was absolutely heartbreaking. So he was seen buying those bins. He was also caught at a different sports store buying a Marine K bar knife. Oh my god. And then at a home depot buying a bleach sprayer,

I need to know like what goes through an employee's mind when someone at their store purchases a bleach sprayer. Like, you gotta be thinking. You're never gonna think that's fur cleaning. Yeah, it's like you need something in that. It's got a ding in your head a little like. If I were, What'd you do in with this?

If I worked at home-deep-over-lose, I would work at lows. But in somebody came through my line buying a bleach sprayer, I would be like, what's this for? I'd be like, are you okay? You know we have cameras everywhere. Yeah, I'd be like, you're on camera by myself.

Just so you know. Like stop your plan right now. Time stamp, like boom. I would just, no, you know what I would say? I would just go, you're on camera by myself. Just so you know, stop your plan right now. Time stamp, boom. I would just, you know what I would say? I would just go, don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. Have a good one.

Whatever you're doing, don't do it. Don't do it. And they'd be like, well, I'm just cleaning my bathroom. And they'd be like, don't, like nine times. 10 to 10. They'd be like, I'm literally just cleaning the side of my house. Oh, God.

Creepy, creepy though. I hear them. So yeah, buying all that stuff, he clearly thought that he was smart though by exclusively going to self-check out. So he avoided any suspicion that may have landed on him from cashiers. Oh yeah, no one sees you at self-check out. That's a good thing. He forgot about this nifty new thing called surveillance.

Yeah, everybody raise your hand. If you go to the self-check out and you immediately look at yourself in that camera that shows you yourself and you go, oh, that's what we're working with today. You get humbled. All right. Yeah, it humbles you immediately. So he was humbled by that camera. He knew that was happening.

Oh. That camera does not discriminate. I'm like, I know he's the killer and he's discussing and he dismembered his parents. Oh, so I'm just going to go ahead and say this. He's a troll. He looked in the mirror every day and should have been humbled. Yeah. He's a troll. An actual troll the mirror every day and should have been humbled. He's a troll. An actual troll. His disgusting on the inside was on the outside.

He looks like the guy from Harry Potter that turns into a rat and like fucks everybody over. That's exactly like fucks everyone over. I haven't finished Harry Potter the whole way through so I don't know if that guy gets nice but like he kind of sucks. But there you go. So by that point, the investigators were ready to move. But at this point Joel is already back in Baton Rouge.

So they're able to find that out. And they also found out that he went back to Baton Rouge to have his cuts on his hands treated at a student center and had also made his way back to his parents' house after that. But like I said, turned around once he realized that the police got to the scene before he could finish his plan. Of course. So detectives were immediately sent to Baton Rouge with instructions to arrest him

for murder as soon as they fucking found him. So when they pulled up to his apartment, he was getting into his Hyundai Sonata, which I'm just like, what? It's all against Hyundai Sonata. I am. I used to have a Hyundai, and I'll never have one again, because of you, Joel. No, they're actually like really great cars, but anyway, he was immediately apprehended. and tell him against Sunday Sonata. I am. I used to have a Hyundai and I'll never have one again because of you, Joel. No, they're actually like really great cars, but anyway, he was immediately apprehended.

And when his car was searched, there was a kitchen eight in the trunk alongside a meat grinder attachment and a gas canister. Now investigators knew exactly why this grinding attachment was there because at one point in his notes, Joel had written, quote, bring blender and food grinder, grind meat. What the fuck?

Grind meat of your parents' bodies. Why you grinding meat? Oh no, grinding as parents. No, I know, I'm saying why. That's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a question. I was like, why? No, no, not, not meat, like his parents.

Yeah, like why you grinding their meat? To get's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's enjoying it. You don't go through this. Me cry under on a kitchen aid. What the fuck? Don't defile a kitchen aid like that. Thank you. My kitchen aid is my favorite thing in my entire kitchen. Elena and John got me a kitchen aid for Christmas two years ago, and I cried when I literally cried. I can confirm.

I cried. I was so overwhelmed with joy that my tear ducts just flooded the world. My mother-in-law, who I love, she got me, my kitchen aid mixer. It must be like, what, like, 10 years ago now? For my birthday? That thing still works like it, and it was my eye was so excited when she gave me. That's amazing appliance. How dare you? Agreed. Thank you. Now, when they searched his apartment, they found that his bathtub was filled with a blue chemical liquid, and there was a bone inside of it. Oh, fuck you, man. Yeah, but came evident that he was gonna try to do some kind of experiment to see how this bone

would deteriorate, and obviously was gonna apply his findings when it came to disposing his parents' bodies. Such a scientist. In addition to that, investigators also found a 12-gauge shotgun and multiple receipts that were all for the nefarious things found at the crime scene, like chemicals, cleaners, bins, etc.

Literally everything they need. Literally everything they need to build. Unfortunately, whatever they found in his apartment, they actually couldn't use that trial, because I think it was something about search warrants and they didn't have them and blah, blah, blah. But I think they literally were like, okay, cool, we don't need to use that. Yeah, we honestly don't even need all that smoking gun evidence because we have a literal notebook full of plans. We have a manifesto of him explaining exactly what he was

going to do and why he was going to do it. Yeah. It's an order. So Joel's trial would actually take four years to start. And it began in September of 2020. There were 27 witnesses and 700 pieces of evidence to go over. The trial only lasted four days. Wow, right?

Joel Guy Jr. was an annoying piece of shit garbage from the start. Two days before the court was going to start the process of jury selection, he filed a request to represent himself in court. Shut up. The reason he did that was because he wanted to be put to death if he was convicted. He was like, like, requesting it. Now, the problem with that, though, was that the prosecution was not seeking the death penalty in the case.

So try as he might, Joel was just not going to win that one. No, of course not. He actually even wrote a note to the judge overseeing the case, Judge Steve Sord, telling him he had his permission to sentence him to execution if he were to be convicted. You have my permission. Oh, I need your permission. Dude, you ameba.

Dude, I need your permission. What? Apparently he doesn't know how this process works. It's up to the prosecution on the case, whether or not they want to implement the death penalty. And if they do, it's up to the jury to implement it. The judge literally looked at him at one point and said, is this really what you're concerned with?

Like literally said that. But don't worry, that wasn't Joel's only concern. While the trial was getting ready to start, his actual main concern was whether or not he was still entitled to receive that payout from his mom's life insurance. Oh my God. We're worried about that payout from his mom's life insurance. Oh my god. You're worried about that.

Where are you going to spend it, bro? The conversation. What are you going to do? Kitting me. He was told that he did not have the right to any of the money due to the slayer rule. But he went back at the reps of the policy. I'll go into it. I'll go into it.

Like cool band name, I call it. He went back to the reps of the policy saying that the slayer rule didn't apply to him at the time because he had not yet been convicted and had not yet exhausted all of his appeals. Now in case you're wondering what the hell a slayer rule even is, essentially it says that the beneficiary of any estate planning will not receive whatever money or property was left to them if they were the one who intentionally murdered the person who left them said property or cash. Now it also applies if the person kills someone who would have to die before they got their money. So in Joel's case, if his mother had died in a different manner, he would have to split

that payout from his mother's life insurance policy with his father, like I was saying earlier. Yeah. So if he hadn't killed her and she died like from natural causes or something, but he had killed his father to get that money, he still wouldn't be entitled to it. Like the Slayer Rule also has that. Now in this case, he's obviously not entitled to any of the money. But the life insurance firm that leases policy was held with, they didn't want to decide who the money went to, and they asked that the court be in charge of that. Honestly, I probably went to. I'd be like, I don't know what to do here.

So while Joel's seniors' daughters who were trying to grieve the loss of their father and a woman who had literally been a second mother to them, they were not only dragged through a murder trial, but also, yeah, dragged through a murder trial, but also had to work with their own lawyer to make sure that Joel didn't see a dime from parents that he had quite literally slaughtered.

Yeah, see, I didn't even, I completely forgot that there's a whole another side to this. And it's like, now it's like, yeah, the insurance company should have just been like, it goes to them. Now that I think about it, it took me a second, but I'm like, yeah, they shouldn't have to go

through all fucking trials just to get that. Exactly, it definitely, like, it's horrible. Cause they're going through a fucking murder in like a murder trial that nobody should ever have to go through. No. At all. No. So when the trial did begin, Joel sat there completely unfazed by any of the testimony or recounting of the events that happened the day he murdered the two people who not only gave him life, but the money to live and pay for literally every earthly possession that he had. He even laughed and smiled with his lawyers at different times throughout the trial.

Wow. He barely flinched when the medical examiner took the stand and testified, this is very gruesome, if you wanna skip forward. That medical examiner had a job cut out for them. Oh yeah, and they testified that it was very hard to do this. If you want to skip forward, like I said, this is gruesome. Joel guy seniors arms were removed at the shoulders, his legs at the hip joints,

his hands at the wrists, his head was completely skeletal at this point. And there was a part of his forehead that was so damaged, the medical examiner wasn't sure if blunt force trauma was used or if it was from the chemicals. Wow. The medical examiner testified how difficult this case was to deal with. She said, quote, in documenting the wounds, I have to give a number of wounds as an at least because there was so much loss of tissue. You know, even some of Mr. Guy's arms were down to the bone and some of the bone had begun to dissolve. There could have been more wounds. So she couldn't even get an actual complete estimate. She was

like, it's an at least. Yeah, because at some points, the wounds are going to hit the bone every time. So you're not going to get those little markings. Exactly. And even if they did, even the bone is starting to dissolve at this point because what he did. So she went on to say that it was impossible for her to give an exact count. But that, she said, but that on what was left of the skin on Joel senior's back, there were 34 quote-unquote sharp force injuries, which means stabs or cuts. And that some of them went as deep as six inches. Wow. And Joel didn't let out a single tear when the medical examiner went on to describe his mother's injuries, and explained to the court that Lisa's legs

were cut off at her knees. Her arms were cut off at the shoulders, and that her head had been removed and placed into a pot to cook on the stove. Lisa's body had 25 sharp force injuries, and a forensic anthropologist from the University of Tennessee testified it would have taken quote substantial effort and time to dismember these bodies in this way and it went on to say how much work it was to disarticulate a body at the joints. Yeah. It's not like they just pull apart like a Barbie. No, it's like that's a lot of work. When you're doing that, you have reached a level

that is so beyond anything anybody can comprehend. And these are your fucking parents. Yeah, never mind if this was a stranger or like a friend or something like that. That's like unfathomable. But like that's the thing, like even if it was a stranger, this is like a level of depravity

that you can't even comprehend. Right. When you take it into the fact that this is his parents, it's like you grew up with these people. Your brain just doesn't even comprehend it. It doesn't. Now there was evidence presented that Joel Guy Jr. had actually been planning these murders long before Thanksgiving and the planning started at least as early as November 7th. My God. Now Joel's lawyers tried to argue against the prosecution's evidence saying that there was still room for reasonable doubt. No, there isn't. My friends. Where is it? Good try. I know it's your job, but it's throwing the towel on this one. Is it wearing an invisibility cloak like the house was going to elevate you exactly?

He wrote it down, my friends. Look, I'm not even kidding you. They wrote it down. They wrote it down. They argued that Joel's attitude leading up to the murders was described by many as happy, friendly, outgoing. Oh, forget it then. Yeah, that quarter-journed.

He was happy. He was jovial. Dude, Ted Bundy was like really happy when he picked up ladies and then absolutely brutally murdered them. John Ted Bundy was like really happy when he picked up ladies and then absolutely brutally murdered them. John Wayne Gacy was like a clown. Oh, like he's a clown.

So one might argue happy, friendly, like going, let's not just be like, wow, they were jovial. No, they definitely couldn't have done this. His lawyer said happy, friendly, outgoing people, no, kill their families. No, they do, they do. They do. That's quite frequently. We have a lot of history saying they do.

Have you ever heard more of it? True crime by the way? Yes. They also argued that the family hadn't cut him off yet. They weren't going to tell him until Christmas. So what would his motive even be? Yeah. Gee, I don't know, guys.

Maybe you could reference the notebook page that lays out his mother's life insurance policy and literally states $500,000 would be all mine. Yeah. Oh. Oh, no, no. they didn't want to look at that notebook. That notebook maybe didn't even belong to Joel, they said, because they argued that there was no handwriting analysis done and that the detectives didn't test for DNA on the pages inside the notebook, only on the outside. Wow. Which, by the way, was covered with Joel's DNA.

Obviously. These defense attorneys are doing work, work, work, work. Like I know you have a job to do. I understand that that's your role, but I hope they got deep tissue massages after all of this bending over backwards. My goodness. Un. Talk about a stretch. And the prosecutor, the other prosecutor,

I was gonna say the prosecutor attorney. You know. She was like, even if we had done a handwriting analysis, you literally would have just said that's junk science and thrown it out. I was literally just gonna say how many times do you do a handwriting analysis and people are like, well, that's junk science. Really, that's a count? And people are like, well, that's the giant science.

Really, that's the count. And they did have the DNA, the notebook tested for DNA. They just didn't test the inside pages because they were like, oh, cool. The outside is covered in his DNA and so is this entire crime scene. And it's all in his handwriting. And it literally says like, my mom's life insurance policy, my dad, like, it also says like, this journal belongs to Joel Guy Jr. Like, it literally is a pack with a bunch of books

that literally have his name on the inside. Are you in? And also they're doing a job, I suppose. Not for nothing. Everything in this notebook is like happened. Like it literally says bring meat grinder to grind meat. And he was arrested with a meat grinder attachment in his trunk.

They found a blender plugged in in the master bedroom, which it's like what did you do in there? You bring these in the master bedroom? Right, you're not. No, I understand that defense attorneys have a job to do. Totally, but wow. But I don't know how they do it either. You do it because I don't know how,

I don't know how they were able to do that stuff with a straight face. Straight face. I would honestly start laughing, I think, just at the absurdity of my story that I was trying to concoct. Honestly, I don't think I could do it. I'm also like, why didn't you go for insanity? Like, in a case like this, I would think you would at least try. But it's hard.

I'm sure. And the other thing was, I was trying to look and see if there was any kind of psych evaluation done Yeah, because I was like what is going on here? I couldn't find anything about that Yeah, everything I looked at like and other people were asking to and it was like it's a tough one to go Yeah, if you're not gonna go Holy into it and you don't have a History right to to gather from. That's, it's a tough one to get. Yeah, it makes no real tangible history of like

psychological issues or anything like that. And I think they thought it maybe too risky. But I was like, damn, even that makes more sense than like that might not be his handwriting. I did, it's, what a way to go. What a choice they made. Seriously. It's a bold move. Let's see if it works out for them. It doesn't the jury was not impressed on October 2nd

2020 Joel was found guilty on two counts of premeditated first-degree murder three counts of felony murder and two counts of abuse of a corpse Oh, I was gonna ask you and that's I was gonna ask you to get yes He certainly yeah, he went back to his cell to a weight sentencing, but while he was waiting, he had one more trick up his sleeve. He really didn't want to share a cell with another inmate. Nobody gives a shit. And he was like, I'd actually be a lot happier in solitary confinement because, you know, like people sentenced to spend time in prison for murder.

It's all about their comfort. Yeah, all about making sure it's like a hilton in. Like you butchered your parents and dismembered them. Can we get you an extra pillow? We definitely want you to be comfortable. No. So Joel decided to cause a scene. Four days after he was found guilty,

he wrote a letter to the Tennessee Department of Corrections asking to be moved to solitary confinement. And the letter read, this is a direct excerpt of the letter. This was a bad idea. I'm psychologically unstable. I'm having fantasies of using my fingers to gouge this gentleman's eyes out of his head while he's unconscious, and therefore wouldn't be able to defend himself. Given that in these fantasies, it is essential that I use my finger. Fingers and no sharps restriction will accomplish nothing

in deterring these actualization. I'm writing this letter because I don't want to end up with a disciplinarian infraction or worse, more criminal charges, nor do I logically believe that this gentleman deserves to be blind. I don't know what to do. I shouldn't be allowed to access to another person while they're unconscious. This was a bad idea. Please stop me from acting on these fantasies. Thanks, Joel Guy.

What an insufferable piece of shit. You don't get special treatment in prison after murdering, dismembering, and defiling these corpses. And you think that you're gonna get your every last motherf fucking wish out here? Also, just the whole like this gentleman's eyes shut the fuck up. You don't talk like that.

I get out of here. I don't believe he deserves to be blind. Trying to sound so above it. Yeah. So cunning. Oh yeah. Oh, like good fuck, dude. Like that is in sufferable.

In sufferable. And when you look at him, you're like, yeah. You do try to talk like that. Like that's it. You're an insufferable motherfucker. You're an insufferable loser. Is what you're doing. You know, we're doing logically believe.

You know, we're doing logically believe. We're going to talk about logical beliefs here. Gross. And that's what you did to your parents. You're going to talk about logic. Yeah. Okay. I'm good.

So the letter did nothing beneficial for Joel. It didn't. And instead instead the prosecution actually just cited it When they asked that Joel served consecutive sentences. Yeah, cuz they're like they're like cool. Thanks for another piece of evidence You you're really a good one here. You're saying you want to gouge someone's eyes, but eyeballs out Yeah, so it's sentencing judge Steven Sward said that Joel seemed like he was proud of his actions and that he doubted Joel's Quoting quote depraved mind would change over any period of time. No. And he said he was like, you're pleased with yourself

and you said something like, you're not as smart as you think you are. He exactly. He was like, get fucked. Yeah, he was like, you're actually a bumbling idiot. Yeah. So he was sentenced to life in prison and will not be eligible for release

until he serves 130 years. Yeah, so we'll see. I get to be continued. I suppose. But, you know, I like to end this victim focus. So just to end on a note about Lisa and Joel Guy Jr. I did want to share a quote from their joint obituary. And I also wanted to let you know about a donation

that you could make in their name if you're able to and if you'd like to. So their obituary said, quote, they both had a great sense of humor. We're loving and kindhearted and the most compassionate people. They were the loves of each other's lives. They enjoyed anything that involved being together,

which included being in nature or on the water. They loved their kids and adored their grandchildren. Oh, no. You know, their grandparents. I know. And the place that you can donate to in their memory is Young Williams Animal Shelter. Because the obituary asked that in lieu of flowers

to please make a donation to this animal shelter in Lisa and Joel's senior's memory, because I mentioned that the dog was locked in the laundry room. Joel's original plan was to kill the dog. He had written in the notebook, like, kill the dog and then scratched it out. I can't hate him anymore. So young Williams animal shelter took care of the family dog until he was able, like other family members were able to pick him up. So I donated and...

Oh, I'm gonna donate immediately. I'm donating immediately. Or I did. And you donate immediately. And do it in Lisa and Joel, senior, or you could do Lisa and Joel guy. And I have the link where you can donate. And I'm gonna put it in there's, and there's, and I'm gonna do it in Bubba's name. Two donations. Two donations. They deserve it. The animal shelter seems like amazing.

So I'm gonna put it in the show notes, and I'm gonna put it on our socials. I love it. So that is the absolutely horrific gut-wrenching, devastating tale of the murders of Lisa and Joel Guy Sr. and it's just I can't imagine what their family asked to deal with. I feel so much for their family and for their grandchildren. Yeah. We're going to grow up without these amazing grandparents for their children that are left that are going to grow up without these amazing

parents like and and for their daughters that just had to deal with the aftermath of like losing both their father a woman who helped raise them and like weirdly enough a brother in a deal because it's not that they ever really had him to lose them in that way I just feel really bad for them. So I mean, oh, a rest in peace, Joel and Lisa. Yeah, and if you're able to definitely make a donation, and if you're able to make sure, for sure. So, yeah. It would be nice to like bombard that animal shelter

with some donations, suddenly. That's what I felt. Nothing but good can come out of it. Exactly, and especially just to do it like in their names. I think it's really special. Yeah, for sure. So, yeah. Wow.

That was really well told. Thanks. It's really gruesome, really horrible story, but it was really well told. It was really hard to get through. Ooh, can't imagine. Look, I think that was one of the narliest ones I've done. Yeah, for sure.

So yeah, Leah, we hope you keep listening. Yeah, we hope you keep it weird. You know not to keep it up. That weird, I don't have to tell you that. But you know what, listen know not to keep it that weird. I don't have to tell you that. But you know what? Listen to ghost. Keep it that weird. Keep it so weird that you listen to ghost and become a cult follower.

Yes. And also keep it so weird that you need a tuna fish sandwich before bed. Thank you. Hey, Prime Members! You can listen to Morvid, Early, and Add Free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen Add Free with Wondery Plus and Apple Podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey. There you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wundery.com slash survey.