Family reacts to guilty verdict in death of Jacque Mitchell
ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. – After a year of heartache and anticipation, a St. Louis County jury reached a verdict in the case of Jacque Mitchell, who was found dead in March 2023.
The jury found Joseph Dejoie guilty of the majority of the charges against him. Dejoie was the last man to see Mitchell alive.
Jacque’s sister, Tiffany Mitchell, shared her thoughts with FOX 2 on the outcome of the trial and the loss of her beloved sibling.
“The best justice would be for her to be sitting here right next to me. And unfortunately, that’s never going to happen. So, where do we go from there? We go to make sure he can never do this to anybody again,” Tiffany said. “That he’s never able to walk the streets. He can never harm anyone again. And I think, in retrospect, justice has been served.”
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While the guilty verdict brings some solace, Tiffany believes Dejoie should have been convicted of more severe charges.
“I believe he should have been convicted of second-degree murder,” Tiffany said. “I think there was more than enough evidence.”
The jury deliberated for less than five hours before delivering their verdict, finding Dejoie guilty of involuntary manslaughter but not guilty of second-degree murder. However, the jury found him guilty of several other charges, such as tampering with evidence, abandoning a corpse, possessing a controlled substance, kidnapping, rape, and sodomy. The jury recommended the maximum penalty for most of these crimes.
Tiffany underscored the significance of witness testimony, specifically from two women who recounted their experiences of sexual assault by Dejoie.
“I think that it had a big impact on the jury to see what kind of man he was, and my heart just breaks for them,” she said.
Jacque’s loss has left a profound void in the lives of her family and friends.
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“I’ll never see her get married. She’ll never have children. She won’t get to see my kids grow up. She’ll never see her parents again. It’s rough. It’s hard,” Tiffany said.
The investigation into Jacque’s disappearance and subsequent death revealed chilling details. On March 14, 2023, surveillance footage last showed her leaving Maggie O’Brien’s in Sunset Hills. Detectives obtained footage of Dejoie driving her car.
Eventually, police found her body in his apartment, where they had kept her for six days. At the trial, the prosecution revealed Dejoie kept Jacque’s body in a plastic box for six days. The toxicology report confirmed Jacque died from a fentanyl overdose.
“I 100% know she was drugged,” Tiffany said. “She was not a drug user. She didn’t even smoke a cigarette, so it was a little insulting when the defense said that we didn’t know my sister. They said she was probably a prior drug user. It was insulting. I had to walk out quite a few times.”
Dejoie will be sentenced on May 17.
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