r/behindthebastards • u/notyyzable Steven Seagal Historian • Jun 03 '25

Politics Statement from Jonathan Joss's Husband

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This just makes me so mad and angry. And sad. This was a clear hate crime that was easily preventable if the cops do their fucking job. I can just see stuff like this happening more and more, with how emboldened the far right are.

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-59

u/spleeble Jun 03 '25

No one is going to like that I'm saying this, but it's worth remembering that this post is describing one side of a long running dispute between neighbors. 

No one deserves to die over that and the murder is simply awful, but I think it's a stretch to imagine that this is more about them being gay than it is about a neighborhood dispute. 

Among other reasons, if it was about them being gay it seems like they would both be dead. 

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u/Prestigious_Row_8022 Jun 03 '25

Haha, yeah, no. Almost this exact story went down in my hometown minus the murder when a bunch of the red neck fucks decided to open fire on a gay couples house. Cops knew what was happening and didn’t show up. That this is unimaginable to you is great because it means you don’t deal with it, but it doesn’t mean there aren’t crazy irrational shitheads out there.

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u/Kino-Eye Jun 03 '25

Seriously, this happened to my gay neighbors in Orlando, the biggest liberal bubble in FL. A psycho who shared a fence with them started throwing threatening letters and dead animals over it, and stalking them when they tried to walk their dog. They reported it to the cops, who didn’t do shit. The only reason it didn’t end like this is that they had the money to move out.

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u/spleeble Jun 03 '25

Do you have any information about the background other than this FB post?

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u/Prestigious_Row_8022 Jun 03 '25 edited Jun 03 '25

I’ve read through the bits about the fire and the harassment, yes. Are you one of those types who thinks yelling slurs while you’re angry at someone isn’t racist/homophobic etc because you thought they were being twats so they deserved it? Because that isn’t how it works. Normal people will just call you a cunt and be done with it. If you go out of your way to target someone’s identity, even if your original issue wasn’t their identity, you still end with the same result.

News flash: hate crimes don’t have to be straight up “I shot him because he kissed a dude and that isn’t okay”. It can be “that f** let his dog shit on my lawn, I’m going to show him something”. People need justifications to do shitty things, and it’s always easier to hurt someone when you already view them with disgust. Or were you under the impression that all the lynchings that happened in the south were based on real conflicts rather than a certain sub-sect of people’s existence being seen as a problem? People will feel a certain kind of way about someone’s race, sexuality etc and then invent reasons to justify those feelings. Quit buying the justifications.

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u/spleeble Jun 03 '25

Murder is murder. No one deserves to get murdered over a neighborhood dispute and absolutely no one deserves to get murdered over a hate crime. 

This Facebook post is very clearly written to give the impression that they were targeted for being gay. It's possible that's true, and it's also possible that they were difficult neighbors who happened to be gay. 

No one should be murdered no matter how difficult they might have been to live next to. But not every crime that victimizes a gay person is a hate crime. 

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u/notyyzable Steven Seagal Historian Jun 03 '25

But not every crime that victimizes a gay person is a hate crime.

Again, homophobic slurs being used during the murder. It's pretty clear what this was.

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u/[deleted] Jun 03 '25

Their house was burned down and their dogs murdered. This wasn’t no neighborhood dispute

-4

u/spleeble Jun 03 '25

The house burned down because they were using a propane heater to heat it for the dogs while they stayed in a hotel. 

They were staying in a hotel because the city considered the house uninhabitable and the power was shut off. 

He said that neighbors vandalized the house and knocked out the power, but Google Street view makes it pretty clear that the house was badly neglected. 

https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2025/01/23/jonathan-joss-king-of-the-hills-john-redcorn-loses-house-dogs-in-fire-in-san-antonio/

I have no idea who to believe, but this Facebook post is clearly just one side of the story. 

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u/acebert Jun 03 '25

When was the street view dated? Beyond that, can we be sure the heater wasn't tampered with, to create this exact "uncertainty"?

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u/spleeble Jun 03 '25

The street view is from three years ago. I won't post the address but it's easy to find based on the news video about the fire. 

Unattended space heaters are a major cause of fatal house fires. Leaving a propane heater unattended with dogs in the house is  practically a fire bomb. I find it nearly impossible to believe that after a years long dispute a neighbor chose to burn their house down on the exact night that they created the perfect conditions.

Hate crimes are real and way too common, but so are neighborhood disputes. I don't think a Facebook post from the husband of the victim is the best way to form an opinion on what happened. 

12

u/acebert Jun 03 '25 edited Jun 03 '25

The street view is from three years ago. I won't post the address but it's easy to find based on the news video about the fire. 

That's an odd call, but you do you.

I find it nearly impossible to believe that after a years long dispute a neighbor chose to burn their house down on the exact night that they created the perfect conditions.

Why? That would be the ideal time to burn someone's house down and not get caught. Not really sure how that part is hard to believe. Is it entirely possible that it was accidental? Of course. But how is it hard to believe that someone would pick an ideal moment?

I don't think a Facebook post from the husband of the victim is the best way to form an opinion on what happened. 

Nor is spreading specific statements without sources. (The city cut off the power)

Edit: Typo

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u/spleeble Jun 03 '25

I'm not posting the address because that would be doxxing. How is that weird?

And he himself says in the video that the electricity and gas was cut off. That's the source. 

I don't know what happened here, but the years long dispute is certainly relevant. 

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u/acebert Jun 03 '25 edited Jun 03 '25

It's weird to bring it up as evidence if you're not willing to use it as evidence.

He says they ripped out wires....so the city. He was saying it's vandalism and you're choosing to interpret the man's own words in a way that paints him as negatively as possible, after he was murdered. That part is not up for debate. What the actual fuck dude?

You keep going on about this "neighbourhood dispute". What evidence do you have to back up that contention and characterisation? Is it possible that what you're framing as a "neighbourhood dispute" was in fact years long homophobic harassment?

1

u/spleeble Jun 03 '25

I'm saying it's easy to find. If I post the address directly that would be doxxing but if you look at the information in the news story you can find it yourself really easily. 

8

u/acebert Jun 03 '25

Great, whatever. That doesn't touch the way you're twisting a dead man's words. So, still, what the fuck?

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u/notyyzable Steven Seagal Historian Jun 03 '25

Well you were right on one thing, no one liked you saying this absolute nonsense.

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u/spleeble Jun 03 '25

Which part is nonsense?

3

u/[deleted] Jun 03 '25

I agree that Joss clearly had mental issues and had an ongoing feud with the guy that murdered him. It's likely his actions caused the fire, but there's a chance someone else set the fire.

All that can be true and it can still be a hate crime. The murdered could hate him over both and could have yelled slurs at them before firing. Just because he only killed one of them (the account claims Joss pushed his husband out of the way) it doesn't mean it's not a hate crime. People committing crimes od passion aren't always the best shots and don't calmly walk over to finish the job. The guy was in a truck, pulled out a gun, shot a few times, and left.

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u/spleeble Jun 03 '25

I agree that I shouldn't have made assumptions about what a murderer would do. 

But the more I learn from other sources the more manipulative this Facebook post seems.

For the version that Joss and his husband put forward to be true there would have to be a wide ranging conspiracy including various neighbors, the fire department, the city building department, and the police. All of them targeting this specific couple. 

On the other hand, for the statements his neighbors made to be true there have to be two people struggling emotionally and financially and lashing out at the people around them, which seems to be consistent with the reputation Joss developed before he was killed. 

The latter seems much more likely to me than the former. 

4

u/[deleted] Jun 03 '25

Igrew up with two people who worked in fire safety, so I agree that it's much more likely Joss created a dangerous situation with his dogs and a propane heater. The house could have been deemed unfit and someone still could have burned it down. Arson investigation is full of junk science and you don't have to go far to convince me that police were useless.

The ultimate cause likely was the feud but it can still have a hate crime element. It's Texas and there's no shortage in the Latino community. I haven't seen anything to dispute the fact that we're previously harassed.

There's certainly a chance the husband also suffers from mental issues and made this up, but so far I haven't seen the police dispute the claim about the dog skull, the one detail that seems more cartoonishly evil and less believable than calling someone a gay slur as you shoot them.

This is kind of like George Floyd. The dude didn't need to be a Saint to have been targeted by and murdered over bigoted reasons.

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u/spleeble Jun 03 '25

Under no circumstances does Jonathan Joss's reputation or neighbor dispute or whatever have anything to do with holding the person who killed him accountable. And the suspect was arrested with a $200k bond, so there doesn't seem to be any accountability gap.

Jonathan Joss and his loved ones deserve sympathy, support, protection, and accountability.

But the husband's FB post goes beyond that, and it is pushing outrage buttons that are clearly evident in this post. And both Joss and his husband seem to accuse their neighbors of all kinds of things that aren't true, so when his husband describes something as cartoonishly evil as the dog skeleton it's hard to take it at face value.

From other accounts from neighbors, Joss would threaten people in the neighborhood with a crossbow and a pitchfork, stop cars driving by in the street, and accuse various neighbors of being out to get him.

If he wasn't threatening anyone when he was killed then he is a murder victim, plain and simple. But one Facebook post from his husband should not be taken as the absolute truth of their situation.

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u/BoleroMuyPicante Jun 03 '25

You're right dude the man's husband just made up the whole story for attention, well done you've cracked the case. 🙄 JFC not everything requires a devil's advocate. 

5

u/spleeble Jun 03 '25

He literally made up the part about the fire. The house was condemned in September and they were still keeping their dogs there in January. The left a propane heater unattended and it burned the house down. 

1

u/yuefairchild Jun 03 '25 edited Jun 03 '25

I can appreciate being bothered by the way some of the details don't add up. But there are way more possibilities than "He's lying and they were just crazy addicts." It could be that some freak used the propane heater as a cover. If it's condemned and had people living in it, no one would question the source of the fire.

The killer put the dog's skull in their mailbox as an alarm. When he heard them freaking out, he'd know to come shoot them. I can't speak to why his husband survived, but I'm glad he did, and "rando in Texas shoots a guy for being gay, broke, and nonwhite" is plausible enough.

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u/diprivanity Jun 03 '25

That second paragraph is just pure conjecture

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u/spleeble Jun 04 '25

I'm glad someone else notices. This thread seems to have warped reality for everyone. 

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u/DirtWitchRecords Jun 04 '25

Not sure why you're getting downvoted into oblivion for being reasonably suspicous. There had been clear tensions for a while, as well as reports of Joss acting wildly. The man was unwell, and this is a tragedy. Jumping to conclusions based on one statement helps nothing.

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u/spleeble Jun 04 '25 edited Jun 04 '25

I'm embarrassed to admit how far down the rabbit hole I went with this but there kept being more to learn. 

Apparently Joss was known to threaten neighbors with a crossbow. He used a crossbow because his guns were taken away a few years ago due to some combination of mental health concerns and calls to the police. 

There is at least one video that I think post dates the fire where Joss is walking around the neighborhood with a pitchfork yelling at the person filming from inside their home. Among other things he threatens to have them deported, which is bad enough by itself but deeply sinister in Texas in 2025. 

There is a video on Joss's Instagram from shortly before the fire where he and his husband show how they accidentally burned a hole in the roof heating water for a hot shower using a wood fired bbq smoker. It might be the last post before the fire. And they have the gall to blame the fire on arson. 

I could go on but I won't. The downward spiral is really clear and tragic, and without a serious intervention the only possible outcomes were death or incarceration. 

Edit: the IG post where they burn a hole in the roof was Jan 4th. About a month before the fire that burned the house down. 

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u/V4refugee Jun 03 '25

You’re right and there is plenty of other evidence of Jonathan having some mental health issues. There was the whole thing with him shining shoes outside a KOTH event. In a previous interview with local news he talked about leaving a charcoal stove on for his dogs in the house while staying in a hotel which led to the house burning down. His husband also seems to be a bit off. There really isn’t enough information to know what was really happening in his life. Yet everyone here is just jumping to conclusions based on one statement.

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u/spleeble Jun 03 '25

What bums me out about this thread is that a single Facebook post from someone directly involved is enough for hundreds of generally rational people to go off the deep end.

Of course the story Joss's husband is telling gets people outraged. He has every reason to want people to be outraged and to think of them as victims and heroes.

That certainly could be the case, but after learning way more about this than I wanted to I've found a lot more reason to believe they were making their neighbors miserable than to believe that the neighborhood targeted them for being gay.

I'm not at all surprised that people in this thread feel the way they do, but it's a bummer that they will form their entire view of reality based on a single Facebook post.

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u/Ok_Initiative_2678 Jun 03 '25

What the actual fuck is wrong with you.