Police in Oklahoma got more than they bargained for on a welfare check last week when an agitated man found sitting on a highway admitted to a years-long cold case.
Joseph Tyler Beck allegedly confessed to strangling 19-year-old Jennifer Kairi Molloy inside her apartment near the University of Central Oklahoma on October 5, 2016.
Police said Beck divulged the seven-and-a-half-year-old secret to a state trooper who responded to a call about a man sitting on the side of a highway around 10:30 a.m. Thursday.
The 28-year-old man, wearing a Super Mario T-shirt, “began to speak spontaneously about his involvement in Mr. Edmund’s death in 2016.” the department said.
Based on the disturbing details he was sharing, officers knew they had a man.
“What he was saying added to our investigation,” Edmond Police spokeswoman Emily Ward said. he told News9.
In an interview with investigators, Beck allegedly stated that he had worked with Molloy and was attracted to her.
He allegedly confessed that he returned to her apartment in downtown Oklahoma City that fateful night with the intention of raping her, but became enraged when she asked him to leave.
From then on, he began strangling her until she died, according to police reports.
Although Molloy’s family was happy to put the case behind them, they were devastated to discover that their loved one’s suspected murderer was someone they had known for decades and had recently been in contact with.
“I grew up with Joseph and he was a very nice person. He was a very sweet person,” Molloy’s sister Christina Stanfield told the magazine.
“You would never suspect anything disrespectful from him, and you would never know that something like this happened and he did this for something so stupid.”
Stanfield said Beck began contacting her to try to make plans to get together in the months after his sister’s death.
He kept trying until last month, but luckily she didn’t respond.
Molloy’s father described his feelings over the confession as shock and anger.
“I’ve been thinking about this every second of every day since it happened,” Johnny Molloy said.
“I’m glad this man came forward and I want to see justice done.”
Beck was subsequently charged with first-degree murder.
