In August of 2019, 27-year-old Joel Stephany was living in Lima, New York, just 30 minutes south of Rochester.
Joel is known as a sweet guy, friendly and easy-going.
On August 24, Joel spent the night at his mom’s house. On August 25, Joel’s mom, Wendy, got up to leave for work and said goodbye to her son. Joel had always been pretty close to both of his parents. He had in fact been an only child until he was 6 years old.
For the next couple of days, Wendy did try to call and text Joel, but she never heard back from him. Even though he was an adult, she was starting to worry.
On August 27, Wendy received a text from a friend of Joel’s, who said they stopped by Joel’s place, and they didn’t think anyone had been there and his animals weren’t being taken care of.
Joel had two dogs that he loved more than anything.
By August 29, he was officially reported as a missing person.
Joel hasn’t been seen or heard from since.
Where is Joel Stephany?
Joel was born to parents Trey and Wendy, and for six years was an only child. Trey and Wendy were young when Joel was born, and they have stated that Joel was the type of kid they could take everywhere with them- and they did. Joel remained close to his parents, and his younger siblings that would be born later.
While growing up, Joel was a proud cub scout, played little league baseball, and was even involved in the annual musical theatre productions.
It’s not exactly clear when or how it really began, but at some point, Joel found himself involved in the drug scene. As a young adult, he also found himself in trouble with the law, regarding his drugs. In March of 2019, just months before he would vanish, Joel was pulled over for a traffic stop and police found pills in his car- specifically Xanax, along with some marijuana.
Joel was also a big fan of the rock band Phish. Big fan. In June, he traveled to Cleveland, Ohio for a concert, and had also purchased tickets for a Phish concert in Denver, Colorado for the end of August. Not only did he purchase those tickets, but he also had to purchase a round-trip ticket to fly to Denver.
On August 24, 2019, Joel went to go visit his mother and ended up spending the night at her house. The next morning when Wendy was leaving for work, she said goodbye to her oldest son and told him she loved him. She walked out the door that morning as she always did.
For the next couple of days, Wendy tried to call and text her son but received no response. Her calls went straight to voicemail. She was starting to worry, but Joel after all was a 27-year-old adult.
THE DISAPPEARANCE
On August 27, 2019, Wendy received a call from one of Joel’s friends. They said they had stopped over at Joel’s place because they hadn’t been able to reach him, and he wasn’t there. They also said it appeared as if the animals weren’t being cared for and that was concerning. Joel had two dogs that he loved so much.
Of course, now Wendy was freaking out too. She also hadn’t been able to reach Joel and she knew he would never leave his animals without caring for them or having someone take care of them.
On August 29, Joel was officially reported missing.
THE SEARCH
There are contradictory opinions on how well the authorities investigated in the beginning. What they did learn, is that a friend of Joel’s picked him up at his home on the evening of August 25, and took him to Rochester, New York, about 25–30 minutes away- Specifically an area of the city known as North Clinton Street.
This friend of Joel’s said that he couldn’t remember exactly where he had dropped him off, and he had no idea where Joel was going from there.
The family has stated they don’t believe this friend was reliable in their story, but authorities roll with this as the last sighting of Joel.
In addition to law enforcement, the family also hits the streets with missing person flyers and posters and starts their own search for Joel. Joel had a bunch of friends also coming out looking for him.
Homeless shelters were searched, people were talked to, and all of his accounts were monitored for activity. But nothing was found.
It was confirmed to be a crisis when Joel’s flight to Denver left without him.
Some believe that Joel’s history of substance abuse played a role in not everyone taking the case as seriously as they should. Or, that it also might have played a role in people being scared to come forward with information.
Searches continued to turn up no clues as to Joel’s whereabouts. No one could find him or any sign of him anywhere.
The family was able to get the help of some area non-profits- Hope Dealers and S.O.A.R.S -and they put up a billboard and offered a $5,000 reward. Some leads would come in, and authorities would follow up on all of them, but still…no Joel.
ROCHESTER, NEW YORK.
So, law enforcement does list Rochester, as being the last confirmed place he was seen. However, some question whether he was ever in Rochester, to begin with.
The friend that claimed to have taken him there, did not cooperate with law enforcement. He (She?)would not let officers look at their phone, or search their car and ultimately hired an attorney and refused to speak.
Yes, that does seem suspicious to me. But, I also have to say, I think in many cases, it can be a very good idea to obtain a lawyer before sitting down with law enforcement. I’ve seen well-intentioned folks be really taken advantage of and had their words twisted in the process.
We’ll start by looking at that area of Rochester and then we’ll backtrack a little further south to Lima, New York.
North Clinton Avenue in Rochester runs north and south. In the very populated city of Rocester, New York.
Two miles to the west is the Gennessee River. A very good-sized river that can be fast moving. There are some parks/wooded areas surrounding the river.
Could he have walked to the river and fell in, if he had indeed taken some drugs or alcohol that day? Could he have ad an accident?
And then, Rochester sits on the shores of Lake Ontario. North Clinton Street is also only a few miles from the lake.
But then we have to wonder, did Joel even make it to Rochester?
He was from the Lima / Hoeneye Falls area, just south of Rochester. The area has a bunch of little lakes, ponds, and another large creek running through it. It looks pretty suburban and rural in those areas
Some rumors have circulated that maybe he is living as a homeless person in Rochester. This would make sense, especially if he had fallen back into his drug habits, I think what I keep thinking about, is him abandoning his dogs. For a dog lover, even one on drugs, this doesn’t make sense to me.
Others have said maybe he was trying to get away from some of his legal issues regarding his traffic stop back in March. He certainly could have hopped on a bus or caught a flight out of Rochester — right? But how did he do that without using his ID and his bank accounts?
To me, that doesn’t seem likely either.
Joel Stephany is described as a caucasian male, standing about 6 feet tall and weighing around 200 pounds when he was last seen in August of 2019.
He has long brown hair, and blue eyes and generally is seen with light facial hair.
His ears are pierced and he has a Roman numeral tattoo on his arm.
He might have been seen last in Rochester wearing green pants and a blue flannel shirt.
Anyone with any information on the whereabouts of Joel Stephany is asked to call the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office at (585) 753–4178 or The Crime Stoppers hotline at 585–423–9300.
What do you think could have happened to Joel Stephany?
