The Case of Joel Guy Jr.: The Tennessee Man Who Killed His Parents After Being Cut Off from Their Finances
He also boiled his mother's head on the stove.
In late November 2016, just like many Americans, Joel Michael Guy and his wife Lisa were getting ready for a holiday feast.
The couple from Knoxville, Tennessee, were happy to have their son, Joel Guy Jr., and his three half-sisters with them for Thanksgiving.
Sadly, their happiness would soon become a nightmare when Joel Guy Jr. murdered them both later that weekend.
He stabbed his father 42 times before stabbing his mother 31 times.
He dismembered them both, boiling his mother’s head in a pot — and flushing their flesh down the toilet.
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| Joel Michael Guy and his wife Lisa |
Joel Guy Jr. even wrote detailed notes about his plan for the murders.
“Douse killing rooms (kitchen?) with bleach,” one bullet point read. “Flush chunks down the toilet, not garbage disposal,” read another.
Although this horrific crime was shocking, the motive was quite clear: Joel Guy Jr. would get $500,000 in life insurance if his parents died or went missing.
However, he didn't get a dollar.
He is now serving consecutive life sentences in Tennessee.
How Joel Guy Jr. Planned to Murder His Parents
Joel Guy Jr., born on March 13, 1988, was often called Joel Michael by relatives to differentiate him from his father.
His half-sisters said that he was shy and rarely left his room, but he was very smart.
He graduated from the Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts in 2006.
Despite this, Joel lived with his parents for most of his life at 11434 Goldenview Lane in West Knox, Tennessee.
He attended George Washington University for one semester but left before finishing.
Later, he enrolled at Louisiana State University to study plastic surgery but dropped out in 2015.
He spent nine years in college without graduating, with all the expenses were covered by his parents.
By the time he was 28, he didn't have a job.
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| The home where the crime happened |
When his father Joel Guy Sr. lost his job, he knew it was time to stop giving his son money.
She earned a small salary working in human resources and they were both preparing for retirement.
The 61-year-old father and his 55-year-old wife happily hosted one final celebration for Thanksgiving 2016.
They invited all their children and planned to return to their hometown of Kingsport, Tennessee, two weeks later.
However, they never got the chance to enjoy their retirement.
Joel Guy Jr., who was familiar with his parents' finances, wanted their money for himself.
The celebratory feast on Nov. 26 went smoothly, and afterward, all three daughters left for their homes.
Meanwhile, Joel Guy Jr. had already planned his crimes in a notebook.
He also purchased plastic containers and bleach and started his evil plans when his mother went shopping on Nov. 24.
Immediately his mother left that day, Guy Jr. walked upstairs and stabbed his father to death in the exercise room.
The blade penetrated the lungs, liver, and kidneys, and fractured several ribs.
Unaware that she had become a widow, Lisa returned and was similarly attacked.
An autopsy later revealed that Joel had severed nine of her ribs.
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| Joel Guy Jr. |
Inside The Grisly Crime Scene Of Joel Guy Jr.
Before returning to his apartment on Nov. 27, 2016, Joel Guy Jr. cut his father’s hands off at the wrist and severed his arms at the shoulder blades.
He then cut his legs at the hip with a saw and severed his right foot at the ankle, leaving it in the exercise room.
The body had so many defensive wounds.
Joel then dismembered his mother’s body the same way he did to his father.
He placed his parents’ torsos and limbs into two 45-gallon plastic containers and turned the thermostat to 90 degrees.
His notebook stated that this “speeds up decomposition” and could “melt fingerprints.”
Their bodies were discovered after Lisa Guy missed work on Monday and her boss contacted the police.
Detective Jeremy McCord from the Knox County Sheriff’s Office was sent to conduct a welfare check.
He said he was shocked by what he saw.
“Walking through the downstairs of the house, nothing made sense to me,” he said.
“You can see straight down the hall and I saw hands… not connected to a body. At that point, the other officers held the hallway and we started doing standard building clearing. I will never get those smells out of my head or my dreams.”
Police arrested Joel Guy Jr. on Nov. 29 while he attempted to flee his apartment in his 2006 Hyundai Sonata.
The Trial of Joel Guy Jr. and What Happened to Him Afterwards
His notebook, found at the crime scene, had details about plans to flood the house in order to “hide forensic evidence”
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| Joel Guy Jr. crime book |
His crime book also said that he planned to set up an automated text from his mother to “show that he was in Baton Rouge and she was still alive.”
The book also mentioned the life insurance policy, which was the prosecution's motive.
“$500,000 would be all mine,” it read. “With him missing/dead, I get the whole thing.”
On October 2, 2020, Joel Guy Jr. was convicted of two counts of premeditated first-degree murder, three counts of felony murder, and two counts of abuse of a corpse. He was sentenced to life in prison.
In April 2023, the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals denied Guy’s appeal of his murder conviction.
The appeal argued that the police lacked legal grounds to search the property and find his parents' remains without a warrant.
However, the court disagreed, and Joel Guy Jr. will continue to serve his two life sentences at the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville, Tennessee.
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