My Uncle Joe Committed Suicide

 

My uncle Joe. 

Joseph Willard was well known in our family for many reasons, and none of them really good.

• He was in some type of bicycle accident, possibly hit by a car, as a young boy. My family members would constantly refer to this moment as "the moment that made him crazy". Stating that "he wasn't the same after that".
• He didn't want to be a part of normal society… meaning… he didn't want to get a job, work for a living, earn money from a job, pay bill, live in a house, etc.. He didn't want to be a productive member of our society… which leads into the next point…
• He lived in the woods, mostly in Henry County Georgia (Stockbridge). He was a survivalist, mountain man type. He created a tent / hut / fort inside the woods. He survived off of fish and stolen cans of food, that he would steal… usually from stores in Stockbridge Georgia.
• He was arrested several times for stealing cars
• He was a cross dresser and, more than likely, a prostitute in that garb.
• He murdered a man, in the woods… it was in the news (which I'm trying to find).
• He turned himself into Henry County Jail, confessing to the man's murder. However, police would let him out of jail due to lack of evidence… although he confessed to the murder.
• He hung himself (committed suicide). He was a self loathing alcoholic at the time, probably depressed about the trajectory of his life and his dirty deeds. He purposely hung himself in a place where (he knew) many people would see his body dangling there… from a street lamp post, in between a mall and the freeway.

Joseph Willard c/k/a Joe Willard was the son of Frank Willard and Patricia Willard (maiden name: Patricia Hanson). 

Joe Willard hung himself from a street lamp in Panama City Beach, Florida on the morning of Friday January11, 2013.