BY STEPHEN H. COWLES/CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Playback58@gmail.com

COURTLAND—Dan Howe remembers Joseph “Jay” Joyner Jr. as intelligent and outgoing.

“He was one of the top 10 students in my son Nathan’s 1993 (Franklin High School) graduating class,” said Howe, manager of the Downtown Franklin Association.

Joyner, 37, of Courtland on Monday was charged with shooting to death his father, Joe Joyner, and with the beating death of his stepmother, Sandra Joyner, on Thursday at their home at 31334 Walters Highway near Carrsville. The bodies were found Friday.

“I was shocked,” Howe said upon hearing the news. “I called my son and he was flabbergasted.”

According to Jay Joyner’s Facebook page, he has 430 Facebook friends and is married to Erin Joyner, who lives in New Orleans. Photos indicate the couple, who are reportedly separated, have several young children. When Joe Joyner, 62, ran for Isle of Wight County supervisor in November, he indicated he was expecting a fourth grandchild. Jay Joyner was his only son.

Several of the people listed as friends on Jay Joyner’s Facebook page said they really don’t remember him. Others would not comment or return calls.

Dan Howe’s Facebook connection to Jay Joyner came about through a business posting that landed on the personal side of the social network page.

Also listed on Jay Joyner’s Facebook page was Nancy Parrish, small business development manager for Franklin-Southampton Economic Development, Inc. Parrish said she once worked with his mother, Joan Pavlina of Courtland, at Union Camp.