Friend Raising Funds To Help After Mother, Son Both Stabbed

DEER PARK, NY — A Deer Park man has raised $32,410 to support his childhood best friend, whose mother was fatally stabbed in her home last month, according to police.

Michael Bodt, who created a GoFundMe page titled: 'Help Joe with hospital and funeral costs' told Patch that he has known friend and neighbor Joe Mille, 47, for 44 years. The longtime friends live only two doors down from each other growing up.

Bodt was the one Mille turned to for help, after both his mother and he were stabbed in a horrifying incident the day before Christmas Eve.

According to Suffolk County Police, on the afternoon of December 23, Shaquela Titley, 30, stabbed Marie Mille, 85, the mother of her ex-boyfriend, and then her son, Joseph Mille, when he returned to their Deer Park home. Mille got out of the house and called 911 from a neighbor's house at about 12:20 p.m., according to police.

Marie Mille was pronounced dead at the home by a physician assistant from the Office of the Suffolk County Medical Examiner. Mille was taken to a local hospital where he needed surgery for "serious, but non-life-threatening injuries," police said.

Bodt said that he was the neighbor Mille called when he found his mother's body — and later came to his parent’s house, where Bodt happened to be staying that day, for help.

"He ran to me covered in blood," said Bodt. "He was banging on my door and I knew right away.”
Bodt said he believed his friend had numerous stab wounds, but police have not confirmed an exact number.

Bodt called 911 and said that the police came quickly.

Titley, of Deer Park, was arrested at the 5th Precinct in Patchogue and was charged with second-degree murder, police said.

"It's just horrible," said Bodt. "It feels like it feels like a dream or a nightmare, but we actually lived it."

Many people offered to send food to Mille, Bodt said. But he knew Mille would have a long road to recovery, and wouldn't know when he would be released from the hospital.

"Instead of people just sending them stuff that would get thrown out or go to waste, I figured, let me start the GoFundMe,”Bodt said. “This way, when he does get out, he's got the money to pay for the funeral and anything else they need."

Within two days, Bodt raised more than $26,000 for the Mille family. He told Patch that while he's grateful for the tremendous response, he's not surprised at how many people donated to the Mille family. Mille, he said, is a "caring" person who will often reach out to others and lend a helping hand.

"Deer Park is always generous, from the people we graduated high school with, to the people that don't even know us," Bodt said.

Marie will be remembered as the "matriarch” and “pillar" of the family, who "lived her life with everlasting love and kindness,” Bodt wrote on the GoFundMe. She was very active in the community, he said, and often attended church.

"This is the type of person where you think, 'This can't happen to her,'" Bodt said."It's just not right. It's not fair."

Mille was released from the hospital on December 28, and his health is improving, Bodt said.
Bodt told Patch he cleaned and readied Mille's house while he was hospitalized, in preparation for his return.

"It's going to be a long road mentally and physically," Bodt said.

To donate to the GoFundMe, click here.

GoFundMe is a Patch promotional partner.