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COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Eight years after Joey LaBute vanished from a Columbus bar and was later found dead, his father is revealing new information surrounding the case in hopes of finding answers.
Joseph Labute Jr., who mostly went by Joey, was 26 when he disappeared on March 5, 2016. At the time, he was working at Morgan Stanley and lived in a Gahanna apartment. Joey was from Cincinnati but had moved to Columbus to go to Ohio State University, graduating in 2011, and had stayed in the area ever since.
Unsolved Ohio: Loved ones push for justice in young woman’s 1998 homicide“Everybody loved Joey,” said Joe Labute, Joey’s father. “He was fun, he was interesting, very smart, very intelligent. Quick wit, sarcastic; kind of like his dad.”
Joey LaButeOn the evening of Friday, March 4, 2016, Joey had plans in Columbus’ Short North neighborhood. He met some coworkers at the now-closed restaurant Fabian’s. After dinner, he met his cousin Stacey Reigle and her then-husband Kyle at Union Cafe, which was about a three-minute walk from the eatery, at some point after 9 p.m.
Joey had parked at the Thurber Apartments, where he used to live, before or after dinner, making the approximately 20-minute walk to the Short North strip.
“He doesn't usually like to go out, and he sort of got talked into going that night, apparently,” LaBute said. “Some connection to the fact that Stacey's husband, Kyle, was coming out as gay, and there was some sort of celebration of that.”
While the Short North is already a popular spot on a Friday night, the first weekend of March also coincided with the Arnold Sports Festival, making the Downtown area even more crowded. The multiday convention draws more than 100,000 attendees annually, numerous of which come from out of town. Many of its events are held at the Greater Columbus Convention Center, which is about a seven-minute walk from the Union.
Ohio State’s off-campus crime map back onlineWhile out at the bar, the trio hung out together at a table, with Joey “floating around” and talking to different people, LaBute said. At some point, he went to get a drink from the bar, and the Reigles lost track of him. They attempted to contact him, calling him and sending him texts, but he did not answer. Grainy surveillance footage captured Joey walking out of the Union alone about 12:30 a.m. The Reigles left without Joey at some point after, according to LaBute.
“There’s video of [Joey] leaving the bathroom to go outside, and from there, nobody really knows where he went or who he was with,” LaBute said.
However, he was in contact with a few people after leaving the bar, in what LaBute has called “strange” interactions over the phone. At some point after leaving, a friend called Joey, to which he briefly answered and said, “I’m driving,” according to LaBute. Joey sent his last-ever text to a different friend at 1:22 a.m., which said “Jnhstioj."
The next morning, panic began to set in as family members had not heard from Joey since the night before. LaBute said in the following days, he went out looking for Joey, finding his car still parked at the Thurber Apartments. He also handed out flyers and completed media interviews. The hope of finding his son alive came to a halt on March 28, about three weeks after Joey first went missing, when LaBute received a phone call on his way home from work.
“I was sitting at a light intersection and got a call that was from the Columbus area code and I was like I should answer this,” LaBute, who lives in Cincinnati, said. “It was the detective telling me that they'd found a body that they thought was Joey.”
LaBute said he met with Columbus detectives the following day, when they confirmed the body was Joey’s. His remains were found partially submerged in the Scioto River, south of Downtown near Scioto Audubon Metro Park, about three miles away from the Union.
An autopsy performed revealed he had died at least three weeks prior to when he was discovered. The examination also revealed there was no external trauma on his body, such as gunshot or stab wounds.
Ohio State’s Will Howard explains what happened to his hand at Cotton BowlA Franklin County coroner said in 2016 that she believed he had died prior to being put in the river, since there was no water in his lungs. A toxicology report states the only substances found in his system were alcohol and caffeine. His blood alcohol content was 0.15%; however, this may be misleading since ethanol levels can rise during decomposition.
The cause of his death, and the manner – which determines if it was the result of an accident, suicide or homicide – were both ruled to be “undetermined.” However, the coroner’s report listed the Columbus Division of Police’s Homicide Unit as the agency handling the case.
LaBute believes Joey’s death was a homicide and has come up with his own theories on what may have happened. He said three days after Joey went missing, a man who he did not know reached out to him through a direct message on Facebook. He noted the individual was not one of Joey’s Facebook friends.
The man started off a conversation by saying LaBute did not know him, but he wanted to check in and see how he was doing. LaBute responded saying he was doing as good as he could be under the circumstances.
Two years later, in 2018, the man began repeatedly messaging him again without a reply, asking what the “circumstances are” and claiming he wanted to help.
“I got another message from him and he said ‘Where are you?’” Labute said. “I thought, why on earth would that matter to you? That seems a little creepy to me. … After that, he tried to call me and I didn't answer.”
LaBute said the man matched a general description of someone who was seen dancing with Joey the night he vanished, although he cannot confirm it was the man who messaged him. He also said he later realized there is a chilling resemblance between the man’s name and the last message Joey ever sent: “Jnhstioj."
Three Ohio cities significantly drop in Zillow’s 2025 most competitive markets list“A friend of mine pointed that out and said, ‘You know what, this guy's name is practically in this message,’” LaBute said. “It’s one heck of a coincidence. … It did cross my mind that perhaps perpetrators sometimes want to integrate themselves into the conversation, into the action, try to ascertain what's going on with the case and all that sort of thing.”
In another strange instance, LaBute revealed to NBC4 that an unknown individual filed for unemployment benefits in Joey’s name shortly before he disappeared.
LaBute has suspicions about a different man who knew Joey and was also at Union that night, who he claims has given conflicting accounts on what time he left the bar. He has also considered other theories that have swirled online, including that Joey met up with someone from the dating app Grindr, or that a visitor from the convention may have “picked on” Joey, resulting in his death.
Online sleuths have theorized the case may be connected to Brian Shaffer’s disappearance in 2006, who also disappeared from a now-closed Columbus bar that was about a five-minute drive from the Union. However, police have never stated they have any reason to believe the cases are connected. Shaffer was never found.
LaBute claimed he sent all these potential leads to Columbus police, including the odd messages and unemployment fraud, and never received a reply. NBC4 reached out to the department, asking them if they would like to address LaBute’s claims and to see if the case is still being investigated.
The police department did not answer whether they received LaBute's leads or replied to him but did say the case is not an active investigation at this time “pending new evidence.” LaBute also said he was unaware the investigation was no longer active.
LaBute is no stranger to grief; his first wife died of cancer in her 40s, and his stepson died in his 20s. But with Joey’s death, LaBute never got an answer on what happened to him. He said nothing is more important to him than solving his son’s case.
Arrest made in fatal north Columbus shooting“Never knowing if he was frightened, or if he thought something was going to happen to him or that kind of thing, that’s painful,” LaBute said. “I'm a different person than I was then, for sure.”
LaBute asked anyone with information about the death of his son to email him at labute@msn.com. People may also contact the Columbus Division of Police at 614-645-4545 or Central Ohio Crime Stoppers’ anonymous tip line at 614-461-8477.
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