Post by Scumhunter on May 8, 2021 1:39:42 GMT -5
(Above photo credit: York Daily Record website)
From the York Daily Record: (ydr.com)
Beneath his serious outward appearance, Jose Aponte was a goofball.
His sister, Miriam Baker, recalled that while some might’ve perceived him at first as unapproachable, he wouldn’t stop talking once he opened his mouth. He would crack jokes and try to lighten up the room when people were unhappy.
As a teen, Aponte would tie jump ropes to the back of his bicycle and pull two of their younger siblings on skateboards. He'd mimic the dance that Will Smith and Alfonso Ribeiro, who played Carlton Banks, performed on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” to “Apache" from the Sugarhill Gang.
“He was like the biggest kid,” said Baker, 23, a small business owner who now lives in Fort Hood, Texas, “even though he was older than all of us.”
Aponte cared about his family and possessed a variety of interests that ranged from anime to motorcycles. He was an empathetic person who listened to other people’s problems and tried to cheer them up, family members and friends said.
On Oct. 30, 2017, Aponte was fatally shot on East Market Street near Home Way in York while walking home from work. He was 21.
His murder, about 3 1/2 years later, remains unsolved.
‘He was a good soul’
Jose Angel Aponte was born on May 10, 1996, in Ponce, Puerto Rico, the oldest of six siblings. When he was 2, his family moved to Pleasantville, New Jersey, which is just outside Atlantic City.
His parents later divorced. Looking for a fresh start, his mother, Noemi, moved the children to York — she had family in Pennsylvania — when he was 13. They first lived on Madison Avenue, not far from the York Fairgrounds.
Aponte went to what’s now called the Edgar Fahs Smith STEAM Academy and attended William Penn Senior High School. He dropped out in 11th grade and started working at Syncreon, where he worked on motorcycles for Harley-Davidson.
Later, after moving to Delaware — he was in a relationship that didn’t work out — for one year, Aponte came back to York County. He took a job at the Hardee’s on North George Street near U.S. Route 30 in Manchester Township, where he mostly worked in the kitchen.
Baker said her brother cared about family and loved their mother.
Aponte, she said, enjoyed watching anime such as “Naruto” and “Bleach.” He listened to an eclectic mix of music. And he liked motorcycles — or, really, anything that could go fast — and drawing.
“He was an amazing frigging drawer,” Baker said. “This boy could draw anything and everything.”
He and his friends had pet names for each other. They’d sometimes call him the Pumpkin King, after the character Jack Skellington in Tim Burton’s 1993 movie “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” (“They were weirdos, OK?” Baker said. “We had questions.”)
Shea Craig worked with Aponte at Hardee’s and grew close to him.
Aponte, she said, was funny and sweet. He would constantly send and show her memes — they’d text every day — that he came across on Facebook and Instagram. He’d jokingly call his co-workers, if they were comfortable with it, “cheap floozy.” (In the fast food business, she explained, the jokes that people make are inappropriate “99.99% of the time.”)
Craig, 21, of Conewago Township, said Aponte was there for support. They were “kind of like each other’s therapy,” she said.
When she was accepted to West Chester University, Craig said she remembers Aponte’s excitement. He had assured her throughout that summer that she was going to get into college.
“It wasn’t his accomplishment, but it was almost as if it was because he was so thrilled,” she said. “He just wanted to see other people succeed.”
Aponte embodied every quality that someone would want in a friend, said Tara Wetzel, 32, a restaurant manager who lives in North York and worked with him for about one year at Hardee’s.
He was empathetic, she said, and wanted to listen to people’s problems. But if they didn’t want to talk, he’d instead try to make them laugh.
“He just was such a good person,” Wetzel said. “He was a good soul.”
Wetzel said she was the night manager and would often drive Aponte home so he didn’t have to walk through York.
On Oct. 30, 2017, Wetzel said, she was stuck at work and couldn’t give him a ride. Aponte, she said, told her, “No, I’ll just walk. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
He never made it.
‘It’s frustrating … when you don’t have a whole lot to go on’
The call came in at about 11:35 p.m.
Emergency medical services responded to East Market Street near Home Way in York for a report of a man who was in cardiac arrest. They found Aponte lying along the side of the road.
He had suffered several gunshot wounds.
Despite their efforts to revive him, he didn’t make it. Aponte was pronounced dead at 12:03 a.m. on Halloween.
He was 21.
Police are at an impasse with the investigation, said Lt. Daniel Lentz, public information officer for the York City Police Department.
Lentz said investigators do not have any witnesses. He said there is not a lot of information to go on right now.
Law enforcement has surveillance video of the man they suspect is the killer. It’s “not the greatest.” But the person was wearing a “pretty distinct” kind of jacket, Lentz said.
Lentz said police are asking anyone who has information — regardless of how minor it might seem — to contact them. Sometimes, he said, a tip ends up being the one piece that investigators needed to make a connection.
“People might think that, ‘Oh, that’s not an important detail,’” Lentz said. “But it might be super important to us.”
The lead investigator, Detective Timothy Shermeyer, he said, is pretty torn up about the case. Police have not forgotten about Aponte.
“It’s frustrating,” Lentz said, “especially when you don’t have a whole lot to go on.”
‘To take somebody's life … I can’t think about it’
Aponte’s father, Sebastian Gonzalez, described his son as ongoing, personable and responsible.
Family members all liked him. They would call him by a nickname, Chelo.
Gonzalez said his son wasn’t a troublemaker. He expressed frustration about the lack of answers and response from the police.
He said there are rules in society. People have to pay for their actions if they commit a crime.
“I knew that he wasn’t somebody that would have issues with anybody else,” said Gonzalez, 43, a truck driver from Pleasantville, New Jersey. “To take somebody’s life — just like that — I can’t think about it, you know?”
Do you have information about the murder of Jose Aponte?
Submit a tip on the CRIMEWATCH App, or at www.yorkcitypolice.com.
Call the York City Police Department at (717) 846-1234.
Contact York County Crime Stoppers at (717) 775-8477 (TIPS).
If people are afraid of the police, or they’re concerned that their identity will not be kept anonymous, York Mayor Michael Helfrich has stated that people can call him at (717) 817-7975.
www.ydr.com/story/news/watchdog/2021/05/06/unsolved-mysteries-york-county-pennsylvania-who-killed-yorks-jose-aponte/7345197002/
Thoughts? Unfortunately I couldn't figure out how to put the surveillance video into the thread but you can view it at the above York Daily Record link.
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