A memorial grows for Jonathan Joss

CNN

11 hours ago

A family who moved to a south-side San Antonio neighborhood roughly six years ago said that they were warned right away about an eccentric man who lived across the street.
They were told, they said, that Jonathan Joss would play drums on his roof at all hours of the night and would yell obscenities and racial slurs at people outside. They said that, when confronted, Joss would often say that he was rehearsing for a role. He really was an actor, though. He played the role of John Redcorn in the animated show 'King of the Hill' for more than a dozen seasons, including in the show's upcoming revival.
Another neighbor, Daniela Ruano, 19, said she lived next door to Joss her entire life. He would yell racist slurs at her family, she said, honk his horn in the middle of the night and threaten to hurt them. The behavior, she said, had accelerated.
'I'd say like the last two years have been the worst with him. He started breaking down my fence from the back,' she said. 'We would call the police on him a lot.'
Two years ago, she said, Joss threatened another neighbor's brother with a crossbow. Police reports confirm that officers responded to the incident, but did not find a crossbow on Joss when they arrived at the scene.
Earlier this year, Joss' family home was destroyed in a fire. But he still came by, neighbors said. In a video Ruano took of the actor on June 1, he is seen walking around the neighborhood and yelling; he is carrying a makeshift pitchfork. At one point, he said he is 'rehearsing a scene.'
That day she took the video, Joss, his husband Tristan Kern de Gonzales and another friend were there to pick up mail. The group had just returned from Austin, de Gonzales said, where Joss had participated in a fan meet-and-greet event.
Joss, 59, arrived in the usual manner that his neighbors said that they had grown unhappily accustomed to, makeshift pitchfork included. Then, Sigfredo Ceja Alvarez – the neighbor whose brother said he had been threatened by Joss with the crossbow two years ago – drove up behind Joss who was parked in his driveway. He got out, the two exchanged words, witnesses said, and seconds later, Joss was dead.
'I shot him,' Ceja told police, according to an incident report.
Ceja, 56, was arrested and charged with murder. His bond was set at $200,000, which he posted on Monday. He was released from jail with GPS monitoring on Wednesday afternoon and is due to appear in court on August 19, according to the Bexar County Sheriff's Office public information officer.
When most people think of an actor's life, they tend to imagine gleaming houses high in the Hollywood Hills. For years, Joss lived in the modest house his father built in the 1950s.
This week, a makeshift memorial for Joss began growing at the property's fence. A man pulled up in a truck with a royal blue memorial cross adorned with ribbons and flowers. He tied the cross to the fence above the growing memorial.
The man, Adrian Reyes, told CNN he had known Joss since high school; they were both in the class of 1984 at Dillard McCollum High School, which recently held its 40th year reunion.
'We're very, very close with him in that class. We track him everywhere,' said Reyes. 'We helped him financially. We helped him get to his events when he didn't have transportation.'
'It's a shame that people are learning about him now that he's gone rather than when he was alive and how talented he was and what a talent we lost,' Reyes said. 'He was a different kind of guy, but he was the life of the party.'
Neighbors said there were years, maybe even decades, of disputes, particularly between Joss and Ceja. San Antonio Police logs show numerous calls to both addresses over the past year.
'Me and Jonathan had all these fun little side projects where we were coming up with these little scripts, most of them just for fun to make ourselves laugh. And we would be acting them out in the yard and I guess to the outside world maybe it looked a little crazy,' de Gonzales told viewers on Instagram Live.
He did say that although they would sometimes walk around the neighborhood with things like a stick or pitchfork, they never 'threatened' or 'pointed any weapons at anybody.'
Police were called to Joss' residence nearly 50 times since January 2024. In some instances, officers were dispatched multiple times in a single day.
Neighbors said Joss' behavior turned more erratic and harassing as the years went on. Some said they saw him throw trash and wine bottles onto a nearby property under construction and damage that neighbor's mailbox.
'He went over there and yanked the mailbox off the top, and it was in a brick casing. So he yanked off the door and beat it up where our neighbor had to go replace it,' said one neighbor, who spoke to CNN but asked that their name not be used due to the attention the killing was bringing to their street.
'Jonathan and I had no weapons. We were not threatening anyone. We were grieving. We were standing side by side. When the man fired, Jonathan pushed me out of the way. He saved my life,' de Gonzales said after the shooting, about their trip back to the burned-down home site.
De Gonzalez said that the person who killed Joss yelled 'violent homophobic slurs' before opening fire. 'He was murdered by someone who could not stand the sight of two men loving each other,' de Gonzales said. (CNN has attempted multiple times to contact Ceja and also reached out to his lawyer.)
The San Antonio Police Department issued a statement on Monday rebutting this. 'Despite online claims of this being a hate crime, currently the investigation has found no evidence to indicate that Mr. Joss's murder was related to his sexual orientation,' the department posted online.
But, on Wednesday, as the police department was sharing a Pride Month community forum event, they also released a new statement saying they were continuing the investigation.
'Although we arrested a suspect, our homicide detectives continue to follow every lead to fully understand what led to this senseless act.'
On Thursday, San Antonio police expressed more regret.
'We issued a statement the day after Jonathan Joss's murder that was way, way, way premature,' SAPD Chief William McManus told CNN affiliate KENS on Thursday. 'We shouldn't have done it. It was way too soon before we had any real information and I will own that.'
He echoed similar sentiments at a forum hosted by San Antonio Pride and the SAPD on Thursday evening, explaining that a judge can attach a hate crime to charges later on.
He said they will gather all of the facts leading up to Jonathan Joss' death and will present the case to the District Attorney's office to make that call.
He added that police are also investigating the January fire at Joss' home.
Joss had told everyone that he was going through a lot. Online, he said he was fighting an uphill battle with financial difficulties.
In November, Joss spoke about the difficult living conditions he and his then-fiancé were facing. He said that their home lacked basic utilities such as gas and electricity and described using a fire pit to heat coffee. Despite the challenges, he expressed hope about 'getting through some rough times.'
There was one bright spot: his marriage to de Gonzales.
Still, Joss also talked about using a stove to heat up water for a hot shower. On Instagram, he showed the poor condition of his house, revealing several holes in the walls and ceiling.
In January, Joss experienced two house fires. The second destroyed the house and his car and killed his three dogs, according to social media posts from Joss and his partner.
'Everything I owned… gone. My memories, my keepsakes, my family, my comfort in this world lost in the flames,' he wrote on Facebook.
In the months that followed, Joss frequently took to social media to ask fans for financial support. He regularly shared a GoFundMe link started by a fan, which has now raised over $20,000. He sold autographed photos, personalized video messages, t-shirts and '$1 wisdom sayings.'
He also posted about marrying his partner on Valentine's Day. In one post with de Gonzales, Joss wrote: 'We shall endeavor to persevere together.'
He frequently tried to secure transportation and financial support on Facebook to be able to make celebrity appearances at conventions.
Just two days before he was killed, Joss showed up at a 'King of the Hill' Revival Sneak Peek event at the Paramount Theater in Austin, Texas – although he had already written on Facebook that he was not invited to attend.
Attendee Brandon Robinson said Joss walked up to the Q&A mic and started 'ranting.' Robinson originally thought Joss' speech was planned but said he soon realized it wasn't.
After making some references to his character in 'King of the Hill,' Joss said: 'My house burned down three months ago because I'm gay.' The panelists then announced Joss as the voice of the show's character John Redcorn, prompting applause from the audience.
Joss spoke about feeling ignored at the event in one of his final interviews, which took place on 'Bwaaa! A King of the Hill podcast.' But he also said he'd loved his life as an actor. 'I've just been really lucky to have really decent parts. I mean, I never had a – I've never done a bad thing when it comes to acting,' Joss said.
Another family showed up this week to remember Joss at the site of the shooting. Paul Gonzalez and Tiffany Zurita said that they lived nearby, but never knew Joss lived in the area.
'We grew up watching the cartoon, you know, me and my wife when we were kids – so just shocked by it,' Gonzalez said of the killing.
They brought a pinwheel to place at the memorial, explaining that it helped their own family when experiencing loss.
It was something 'to kind of bring that little life back in,' Zurita said.
'You know, the wind's blowing, you see it blowing in the wind, and it just, you know, kind of reminds you that that person's still here,' she said. 'It's a symbol of peace and serene surroundings.'
They both said prayers for everyone involved in the tragic incident – and for the neighbors as well. 'I hope they all find peace in time,' said Gonzalez.
CNN's Lisa Respers France, Dianne Gallagher, Devon Sayers, Andy Buck, Jeremy Grisham, and Leah Thomeer contributed to this report.