The last time York County had more than 20 homicides was in 2012.


It was a brief story, five paragraphs long, describing the death of a 73-year-old man, found in his home in the first block of East Princess Street in York. 

The story said the man had been found by police dispatched to his rowhouse to conduct what's called a welfare check. They found the man in the worst possible state of welfare. The coroner described the death as "possibly suspicious" and added that the manner of death, whether by his own hand or by that of another, had yet to be determined. (As of a couple of days ago, the coroner said the death was still being investigated and that it appeared not to be by a self-inflicted gunshot wound.) 

The man was identified as Joel Michael. 

A few days later, his obituary appeared in the paper. It was brief. It contained no biographical information. Nothing. 


I knew Joel.  

He was working at the Daily Record when I arrived here in the early '80s. He had been at the paper for some years by then. I'm not sure whether his tenure extended back to the paper's predecessor, The Gazette and Daily.  

He was a quiet guy and seemed kind of reserved. He had an owl-like appearance, or maybe I just think that because he wore rounded horn-rimmed glasses. He sat off in a corner of the newsroom, a cigarette almost always smoldering in the ashtray next to his computer. He always impressed us younger reporters by his incredible talent to write stories at what seemed like warp speed. And he was a graceful writer. His prose, whether he was writing about local government shenanigans or a feature about someone who made news via bad luck and worse breaks, always flowed, reading as if it were effortless. (Those of us who do this for a living know that the more effortless writing appears, the more effort went into producing it.) 

He was a smart guy with a quick mind that had a stunning grasp on a wide variety of subjects. He was obviously well read and had the ability to absorb knowledge and information and synthesize it into original thought at lightning speed.  

I didn’t know Joel well. He left the paper just a few years after my arrival, the terms of his departure kind of murky at the time. I didn't hang out with him. He had a life outside the newspaper. The times I would speak to him, it was obvious that he was a sensitive, caring person. He offered advice when, as the former Guild chairman, I had to deal with some vexing personnel problems involving another former reporter who had developed some personal addiction issues that had infected his professional life. 

Joel knew about addiction. He was a member of the club, having struggled with a drinking problem for some years, a means of self-medicating the depression he suffered at times. 

On the surface, though, he appeared to be placid. 

And his friends say he was. Dave Daugherty, his partner for 13 years, said Joel was a kind soul.  

Joel was a Red Lion native and taught English in schools after graduating from Millersville University. He gravitated to the newspaper business. Dave wasn't sure why. Those of us in the business can guess; it's something you can't explain. It's a tough business, and for a sensitive person, like Joel, it can be hard on the psyche now and then, news often being terrible things happening to decent people – or seemingly decent people behaving badly. 

More: She's raising her daughter's sons, after losing her to heroin

Joel had a knack for the work. In addition to being a fine writer, he was also a talented artist and would sometimes illustrate his stories with sketches. Once, the coroner summoned him to the hospital to draw a sketch of a hit-and-run victim. The victim, a woman, was not carrying identification when she was struck by a car on Route 30, and police were having a hard time determining her identity. They were able to find out who the woman was, and notify her next of kin, after Joel's sketch had been published. 

He loved animals and doted after his dogs. He was a gentle person. His partner said he would never kill anything. If he found a spider or a mouse in his house, he would capture it and release it to the wild. He loved to read and had a massive collection of books. He liked antique furniture. Dave said Joel did suffer from a drinking problem, and that led to him leaving the news business. A friend paid for rehab, and Joel went into recovery –successful recovery. 

He became interested in Buddhism. At one point, Dave said, he was working on a book about the religion, writing by hand in his neat penmanship on legal-size tablets.  

Joel had friends, but for the most part, he was kind of a loner. He valued his privacy and his alone time, friends said. He seemed kind of eccentric. Dave said it seemed that he subsisted on bologna sandwiches. Another friend, Roy Flinchbaugh, said his favorite meal was a plate of hamburger and that he couldn't recall Joel eating anything else.  

Joel could seem kind of standoffish, Roy said. It was just that he was shy, that he wasn't a very outgoing person. There were just times, Roy said, that he didn't want to be around people. 

After he left the newspaper, he got a job teaching through the Community Progress Council. Later, he managed a liquor store.  


In recent years, his eyesight gave him trouble. He didn't socialize much. He had a friend who would drive him places, but he kind of lost contact with a lot of his old friends. He rarely answered his phone, and he didn't have an answering machine or voice mail.  

When his body was found in his home Jan. 25, friends assumed the worst, that he had perhaps taken his own life. They speculated that perhaps he had developed some health problems and couldn't go on. It isn't that simple. The coroner's office said, while the investigation is continuing, his fatal wound does not appear to have been self-inflicted. 

Support local journalism: Get a full year of digital access for $9.99 for a limited time

That was shocking to his friends. Joel, they all said, wouldn't hurt a fly, and for his death to have been the result of such violence was terrible.  

His estate is being handled by an attorney. His funeral service was private. 


Dave Daugherty is thinking about organizing a memorial gathering for Joel. If any of his friends are interested, they can contact Dave at 

Reach Mike Argento at 717-771-2046 or at 

Also of interest, a gallery of photos below:

Show Thumbnails
Show Captions


Read or Share this story: