When Jose De Jesus was 17, he rented a limousine and went on a road trip to New York with his friends and older sister. They couldn’t stop laughing. They even got the driver laughing with them the whole time.
“We had such a good time, and that memory really sticks out to me, because we didn’t have a care in the world,” says Marilyn De Jesus, who is older by less than two years. Being so close in age, she would always tag along with her brother and his friends, and Jose always had them in stitches.
That was his way. In high school, Jose was known to be the class clown. He made jokes everywhere he went, despite being diagnosed with severe asthma as a baby. He endured treatments at St. Christopher’s Hospital throughout his childhood, and as an adult, he continued to struggle with it. But he never stopped laughing at his own jokes, an infectious laugh his sister described as funny and unique.
In 2010, while on a vacation with his family, Jose and his brother Ed both decided that they wanted to sleep in Allentown at their parents’ house. Not knowing where they were, they drove straight into the woods.
“We tried pushing the car out of the mud, but we just couldn’t do it,” says Ed. A trail was nearby, so they left the car and started walking. During the four-hour journey, covered in mud from head to toe, they started cracking jokes, riffing off the characters the “Harold and Kumar” movie franchise. Jose was Kumar and Ed was Harold, and Ed would always ask his brother, “How is your name spelled, Kumar. Is it with two O’s or three U’s?”
Jose, also known as June, Jay love, and Kruel, was born on May 14, 1974 at Temple University Hospital, to Ana Negron, and Ernesto De Jesus. He was the middle child of three siblings.
Growing up in North Philadelphia, Jose and his siblings were well-raised. Their mom would always put toys on layaway so they would have a happy childhood. During his teenage years, however, Jose started getting mixed up in street life with a rough crowd from his neighborhood. It never stopped him from always looking out for those in need.
“My brother wasn’t perfect, none of us are, but he was really just a good guy,” said Marilyn.
If there were any other things that Jose loved to do as much as laughing, it was writing and carpentry. He always had a book with him, and he liked to write poetry, often about family and getting away from the street life. He painted his sister’s house and installed floors in her kitchen. As a contractor looking for more opportunities, he would always go to Home Depot to look for work.
Marilyn talked to him on June 30, 2018, to check on him but that was the last time she would see him. On July 3, Jose’s life was taken at Lehigh and Emerald in Kensington.
“He was a good father, brother, and son, and never fought with anybody,” says Marilyn. “He would always say ‘I want to get a tattoo of a monkey and an umbrella,’ because he loved monkeys, and umbrellas,” she said. “You would always see him walking around with an umbrella.”
Jose De Jesus is survived by his brother, sister, parents and three children. A suspect in his murder was questioned by the police, but the crime remains unsolved.
A reward of up to $20,000 if available to anyone that comes forward with information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for Jose’s murder. Anonymous calls can be submitted by calling the Citizens Crime Commission at 215-546-TIPS.
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