Witness: Double-murder suspect researched money laundering day before shootings

The day before his wife and 18-year-old son were found shot to death in their beds, George Joseph was researching money laundering, his brother-in-law testified Wednesday.

Joseph, 48, is accused of killing his wife, Mary, and son, Matthew, before shooting himself in the head May 30 at his home on West Cape Rock Drive.

At a preliminary hearing Wednesday at the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse, Associate Circuit Judge Gary Kamp ordered George Joseph bound over for trial on two counts of first-degree murder and one count of armed criminal action.

Defense attorney Brian Greaser speaks with his client George Joseph, Wednesday morning, July 24, 2013, during Joseph's preliminary hearing at the Cape Girardeau Courthouse in Jackson. Joseph faces two counts of first-degree murder and one count of armed criminal action in connection with the May 30 shooting deaths of his wife, Mary, and 18-year-old son, Matthew. (Laura Simon)

Arraignment is set for 9 a.m. Aug. 5 before Circuit Judge William Syler.

During the hearing, George Joseph's brother-in-law David Snell testified that during a visit to Joseph's home May 29, he found Joseph researching money laundering online.

"He said he didn't have any clue what it was," Snell said.

He said Joseph was concerned because he was under investigation by the federal government.

In their testimony Wednesday, Snell and another brother-in-law, Robert Griffith, portrayed George Joseph as a troubled man who was facing both health problems and serious financial issues in the weeks leading up to the shooting.

Griffith said his sister's husband had undergone a pair of intestinal surgeries earlier this year and was dealing with depression and anxiety as a result of his health problems and the medications he was taking for them.

"Being depressed is a very common side effect of this type of surgery," said Griffith, who works for Saint Francis Medical Center. "It's almost expected."

Griffith said Joseph's health problems had drained the family's savings, and they were worried about their finances.

Griffith said he was aware the FBI had been investigating Joseph, but he thought the issue was behind him.

"There was possible involvement with the fraud, insurance thing that the FBI was investigating," Griffith said. "I was under the impression that had all been settled. I didn't have any further information that it was going on."

The testimony Wednesday marked the first public acknowledgment of a federal investigation into Joseph's finances.

Earlier this year, Joseph's name was connected to an insurance fraud case in Scott County.

In that case, Keith Monia faces charges of forgery and financial exploitation of the elderly. He is accused of taking $220,000 from a Scott City couple, telling them he would invest the money in annuities.

Instead, most of the money ended up going to Joseph, a Scott County detective has said.

Joseph told Detective Sgt. Branden Caid of the Scott County Sheriff's Department that Monia had given him about $190,000 to invest through an "investment club" he was running, Caid said last month.

Monia is scheduled to appear in Scott County Circuit Court today to set a date for his trial.

After the shooting, several people contacted police and media outlets to report they had invested money with Joseph and needed to know how to get it back.

Snell, who said he was close to his brother-in-law and visited him often, told prosecutors Wednesday he was one of George Joseph's investors.

Snell and Griffith both testified that the morning of the shooting, Mary Joseph's mother had called to ask them to check on the family.

Griffith said she told him she was concerned because no one was answering the phone at her daughter's house, and the Josephs' dog was "acting crazy."

Griffith drove to the house where he found a sunroom door unlocked and went inside, calling for his sister, he said.

"It was just perfectly quiet," he said. "Everything was perfectly straightened up. It just looked like they went to bed."

Griffith went into a bedroom, where he saw a body lying on the bed, covered with a blanket and a pillow, a rosary on top, he said.

"I thought, 'George has killed himself. Mary found him and put the rosary on him,'" he said.

At that point, Griffith began looking for his sister, he said.

Less than five minutes later, Snell came in and said he had found George Joseph in the pool house, Griffith said.

"I immediately thought of Matthew. He was home from college," Griffith said.

Griffith testified he then went to Matthew Joseph's room, where he found his body on the bed, also covered with a blanket, pillow and rosary.

George Joseph's attorney, Bryan Greaser, asked Griffith whether he had harbored any concerns that the Josephs might have been killed by an intruder who could still be in the house.

"I didn't think of anybody else around," Griffith said. "Didn't cross my mind."

Snell said when he arrived at the Josephs' home, he heard music coming from the pool house.

"I opened the door up, and there was George," he said. "I thought he was dead."

George Joseph was bleeding so heavily that Snell initially thought he had been shot in the chest, he said.

Snell said he has spoken to George Joseph twice since the shootings.

He said he visited Joseph at Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis a few days after the shootings because he needed Joseph's permission before the funeral home would embalm the victims' bodies. During that visit, Joseph repeatedly apologized and said, "I had to put them in a better place," Snell said.

Responding to questions from assistant prosecuting attorney Angel Woodruff, Snell said Joseph, a day trader, apparently wanted to spare his family the embarrassment of the financial problems he was facing, including the loss of money he had been investing for 62 people.

Joseph said, "'I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry,'" Snell testified, "and then he put his hand on my forehead and said, 'I love you.'"

Snell said later in June, he spent about 30 minutes visiting with Joseph at the Cape Girardeau County Jail, where Joseph told him he was not the one who shot his family.

Snell said during that visit, Joseph told him when he said he "had to put them in a better place," he was referring to the placement of the rosaries on the bodies, not the shootings.

Joseph sat quietly during the hearing Wednesday, dressed in an orange jumpsuit, his hands and feet shackled.

The diminutive man sniffled softly, his expression somber and wide-eyed as officers escorted him out of the courtroom at the conclusion of the hearing.

Dr. Russell Deidiker, a forensic pathologist who performed the autopsies on Mary and Matthew Joseph, also testified during the hearing.

He confirmed the victims' wounds were consistent with having been shot while lying on their beds.

Snell's testimony raised questions about record-keeping practices at the jail.

On July 8, the Southeast Missourian sent an open records request to the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department, requesting the names of any visitors who had come to see George Joseph since June 1, but was told no visitors were listed for Joseph during that time.

In court Wednesday, Snell testified he had to make special arrangements with the jail to see Joseph.

epriddy@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

1220 W. Cape Rock Drive, Cape Girardeau, Mo.