Joy Hayward, 28, was born and raised in Annapolis, Maryland. She had attended Salisbury university and graduated with her bachelor's degree in Psychology. After college, she relocated to Jacksonville, North Carolina in 2003 to live with her boyfriend.


Before joy was murdered. She lived in Annapolis with her mother. Her boyfriend, Mike was a subcontractor and traveled for work. He had been staying in Ridley park, Pennsylvania for his latest assignment. Joy would make the drive from Maryland to Pennsylvania to be with her boyfriend. On one of these visits, the couple had gotten into a heated argument.


Joy would leave her boyfriend's place and check in at a day's in hotel in Chester, Pennsylvania on February 12th, 2004. Her boyfriend claimed that joy took his phone. So he wouldn't be able to call her. Unfortunately, unknown to Joy, Chester, Pennsylvania is a dangerous area. Joy checked into the hotel around 1:30 AM, but she did not go up to her six room floor. According to the desk clerk she left for about an hour and a half and returned at 3:00 AM.


The clerk had said that a Black man was walking behind Joy. She took the elevator to her room. A worker discovered her body the next day, around 4:30 PM. On February 13th, 2004, Joy's body was found in the bathtub. A washcloth had been placed in the drain and there were about six inches of water in the tub. Investigators could tell that she had been beaten, but they could not determine if she had been sexually assaulted. The cause of death has been determined to be asphyxiation.


Do you have any information about this case? Can you help Joy's family get justice? If you know anything about Joyce's ho. Please contact the Chester police department at 610–447–7931. Or you can reach out to the Delaware County District Attorney's office at 610–891–4811.

And if you would like additional information about this case, please visit the Who Killed Joy Hayward in Chester, PA. 2/12/04 Facebook page.

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