A woman is murder at the Days Inn in Chester, PA
In the early morning hours of February 12, 2004, a series of events unfolded that would end in the tragic death of 28-year-old Joy Patricia Hayward. A Caucasian woman from Annapolis, Maryland, Joy had driven to Pennsylvania to visit her boyfriend who was on a temporary work assignment. Following a heated argument with him on the evening of February 11th, she left the residence where they were staying and, at approximately 1:38 a.m., checked into a room on the sixth floor of the Days Inn in Chester.
After checking in, for reasons that remain unknown, Joy left the hotel for about 90 minutes. She returned around 3:00 a.m. and was seen by the front desk clerk speaking briefly with him before heading to the elevator. The clerk later reported that a Black male in his early thirties followed her into the elevator. Shortly after reaching her room, Joy made a desperate phone call to the front desk, stating she had a 'situation' and needed help before the line went dead. Tragically, no assistance was dispatched to her room.
It wasn't until around 4:00 p.m. that day that the grim discovery was made. A member of the hotel's cleaning staff found Joy's body in the bathtub of her room. Investigators determined she had been dead for approximately 12 hours. The cause of death was later determined to be asphyxiation. The scene in the hotel room was unsettlingly calm; the beds were made and her clothes were found neatly folded on one of them. An ice bucket containing water and two different brands of cigarette butts was also found. Both her cell phone and her boyfriend's phone, which she had taken with her, were missing.
The investigation into Joy Hayward's murder has continued for years, yet her killer has never been brought to justice. DNA evidence collected from the scene indicated the presence of an unknown Black male, which seemed to corroborate the desk clerk's account of the man who followed her into the elevator. A composite sketch of the suspect was created and circulated. At one point, her sister called Joy's missing cell phone and a male voice answered before quickly hanging up. Despite these leads, and a reward offered by her family for information leading to an arrest and conviction, the case remains unsolved. Her family continues to hope that one day the person responsible for her death will be identified.
