“My whole world has been ripped and turned upside down,” said Leighea Johnson, Joseph’s mother. “It is hard to breathe. It is hard to think. It is just so devastating.” - Leighea Johnson to The Selma Times-Journal in 2015.

According to Leighea, Joseph left her home in Autauga County on July 25, 2015, around 8:30 or 9:00 p.m. going to visit a friend. She stated that Joseph liked to walk when something was bothering him.

The only information Leighea has about the events leading up to her son's death is what she's been told by the friends he was with earlier. Joseph, his friend and the friend's girlfriend had been out drinking at Roger's Lounge in Selma. In the early morning hours of July 26, the group headed back to Joseph's friend's house. On the way home Joseph fell asleep in the car. While Joseph was asleep the friend and girlfriend got into an argument and the girlfriend exited the vehicle at Gabe's Store. Just before they arrived home, Joseph woke up and asked where the girlfriend was. He didn't like that she was walking alone, so he exited the vehicle and went to find her.

Around 2:30 a.m. on July 26th, Joseph's body was found by another motorist on Alabama Highway 14 West near the intersection of Dallas County Road 209, about half a mile from the friend's house.

"They did a very hurtful thing," she said. "They took a very blessed and loving person. Our lives will never be the same. I, as a mother, want to know what happened to my child that night." -Leighea to AL.com in 2016

Alabama State Troopers believed Joseph was under the influence of alcohol and maybe fell asleep on Alabama Highway 141. They stated a motorist who likely didn't see Joseph in the unlighted roadway ran over him and left the scene.

Today, the motorist responsible has never come forward and Alabama State Troopers have been unable to identify a suspect vehicle.