One Year Later, Search Still on for Joshua Rubin's Killer

One year after Joshua Rubin's smoldering body was found along a remote stretch of Applewood Road in South Whitehall, the search remains for his killer.

Rubin, a Brooklyn cafe owner, had gone missing from his New York neighborhood at 9 p.m. Oct. 31, 2011. Though his body was found the next day in South Whitehall, authorities here were not able to identify him until six weeks later, through DNA testing.

The Lehigh County District Attorney's Office and Coroner had asked the public's help in identifying him, releasing two forensic sketches. Meanwhile, Rubin's family had continued to look for him in New York.

Rubin's body was found about 8:30 a.m. Nov. 1, 2011 along Applewood Drive, on a bend in the road between Huckleberry and Haasadahl roads, by a South Whitehall public works employee who was cleaning up tree branches after the freak October snowstorm.

Rubin had been shot to death and his body set on fire. The coroner ruled the death a homicide. 

Rubin may have known his killer. The Brooklyn Paper last December quoted a New York City Police Department source as saying: "It looks like [the killer] was definitely somebody that knew him. He was trying to get money and may have been involved with [the wrong crowd] to make a couple of bucks."

Rubin owed $14,000 to creditors and was concerned about making his rent payment on his Whisk Bakery Cafe, which had only been open for a few months, according to report last year in The New York Post. Less than 12 hours after his body had been found, his credit cards were used at the Woodbury Common mall in Orange County, N.Y. 

Last March, the Lehigh County District Attorney's Office released surveillance photos of the two men whom authorities said had used the cards.

Rubin's family, who had been searching for him as local authorities were trying to identify his body, said in a statement published last year on Ditmas Park Patch that Rubin "was a kind, caring and gentle young man."

Anyone with information has been asked to contact Det. Lou Tallarico of the Lehigh County District Attorney’s Homicide Task Force at 610-437-5252.