John Joyce, 90, former Stratford, NJ, police chief whose sharp memory helped solve crimes
Mr. Joyce remains a legend in the Department, with younger officers still hearing stories about his time as police chief.
John J. Joyce, 90, a former Stratford, N.J., police chief who used his photographic memory to help solve countless crimes, died on Oct. 13 in his Stratford home.
Mr. Joyce was born Feb. 10, 1927, in Philadelphia and attended Furness High School. He served in the Army from 1951 to 1954 in Heidelberg, Germany, as a military police officer. He studied at Heidelberg University in Germany while there.
After leaving the Army, Mr. Joyce returned to Philadelphia. In 1956, he married his wife, Patricia, who died eight years ago. The two moved to Stratford in 1960 and helped found Saint Luke Catholic Church, according to family. Mr. Joyce and his brother constructed the church's entryway and donated a statue of the saint that still stands outside the building.
"It bothered [my grandmother] that they didn't have a church in town," said Maggie Kenney, one of Mr. Joyce's granddaughters.
Mr. Joyce joined the Stratford police department in 1962 and helped solve hundreds of cases until retiring 30 years later. He began as a patrolman, but held multiple other jobs to support his family, including as a bus driver and bread deliveryman. He eventually became a detective, then captain, and finally police chief in 1987.
Mr. Joyce's work as an officer sometimes hit too close to home. In 1970, he was investigating a drug ring being run out of a Stratford diner and arrested several men, Kenney said. One suspect's siblings retaliated by firebombing a local library, the police headquarters, and Mr. Joyce's house, where his wife and six children were sleeping.
While Mrs. Joyce called the police, Mr. Joyce raced after the firebombers in his car, Kenney said. It was a moment Kenney described as emblematic of the protective person he was.
Mr. Joyce earned dozens of commendations from the department, including for arresting men involved in an armed robbery at a local supermarket filled with shoppers in the mid-1970s. His wife worked at the store at the time.
He was gifted with a photographic memory, which he used to share information with the FBI and U.S. Marshals Service. He helped identify numerous subjects in the agency's cases by relating old crime scenes to new ones.
But one unsolved case stuck in his mind for years: The murder of Linda LePordo in 1973.
Mr. Joyce found 20-year-old secretary LePordo's body in her Stratford apartment. She was strangled. He gathered evidence and interviewed family members and suspects, but the case went cold.
Stratford police reopened it three years ago with new DNA evidence, and Mr. Joyce met with detectives to offer insight on the case, said current Chief of Police Ron Morello. At 87 years old, Mr. Joyce "recalled all the nuances important for an investigation," down to the temperature on the day of the murder.
"I hope they can finally give the young girl's family the closure they are looking for," Mr. Joyce told Fox29 in a 2014 interview. The case remains unsolved.
Mr. Joyce remains a legend in the department, Morello said, with younger officers "still hearing stories" about his time as police chief.
In 2016, Mr. Joyce was the Grand Marshal of Stratford's July 4th parade, his oldest granddaughter, Stephanie Nelson, said.
Mr. Joyce often drove past family members' homes while running errands to keep an eye on his loved ones, Nelson said.
He was "always the police officer," Nelson said.
Mr. Joyce is survived by his brother Bill Joyce, sister-in-law Cas Joyce, children Jack Joyce Jr., Patti Ori, Clare Kenney, Dan Joyce, Colleen Marchinek, and Maureen Joyce, 15 grandchildren, and 10 great-grandchildren.
Visitation for relatives and friends is set from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday. Oct. 19, and from 8 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 20, at Eugene J. Zale Funeral Home at 712 N. White Horse Pike, Stratford, N.J. 08084. Funeral Mass is at 11 a.m. Friday, Oct. 20, at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish-Saint Luke Church, 55 Warwick Rd., Stratford, followed by interment in Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Berlin.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial contributions be made to the Kathleen Anne Joyce Education Foundation, a charity set up in the name of Mr. Joyce's daughter-in-law, who was a teacher and died from cancer in April. Donations may be sent to Box 3871, Cherry Hill, N.J. 08034.