Detroit parents waiting for answers after son was found dead on 8 Mile

Detroit family searching for answers after son found dead

Jeanne and Joseph Dillario spent Friday morning setting up a memorial, with flowers and a poster, where their son was found. They say their son, 43-year-old Joshua Dillario, was a journeyman carpenter, working a side job rehabbing houses just two miles from where he lived.

DETROIT (FOX 2) - The parents of a 43-year-old man are searching for answers after their son was found dead near a playground at 8 Mile and I-75 South.

The backstory:

Jeanne and Joseph Dillario spent Friday morning setting up a memorial, with flowers and a poster, where their son was found. They say their son, 43-year-old Joshua Dillario, was a journeyman carpenter, working a side job rehabbing houses just two miles from where he lived.

"We just saw him on Easter Sunday. We were all sitting down at dinner celebrating family. He had told us that he was working in the area. He’s been working here for months," Jeanne said. "The police report states that he was assaulted."

The parents say his personal belongings were missing. 

What they're saying:

Detroit police are still investigating while waiting for results from the medical examiner’s office.

Meanwhile, Jeanne and Joseph say they feel helpless. 

"I know my son. I had a gut feeling since day one that something happened. He would never leave his daughter. He loved his daughter. His daughter was his whole life, and now she is just devastated," Jeanne said.

While their son has a criminal record stretching from the 90s to 2020, they say a past does not mean someone deserves to be assaulted and left dying on a curb.

Meanwhile, their family and loved ones cannot fathom this being their reality. 

"Anyone that might have seen him walking. Anyone that knew him because he walked every single day, the company he was working for, please come forward, please give somebody some information about our son," Jeanne said.

What's next:

Joshua’s parents plan on coming back to this site often, planning to build a permanent memorial for their son. Until then, they’re adamant about getting answers, even planning to keep their son’s body at the medical examiner’s office in hopes of finding more evidence and gaining a better understanding of what happened.

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