Video Shows Homicide Victim Talking About His Business

Several months ago, Joshua James Rubin posted a video about his new venture, Whisk Bakery Cafe -- a coffee shop in a Brooklyn neighborhood, where people could gather to drink coffee, view local artwork and listen to live music.

"I've been obsessed with coffee for a long, long time," he says in the video, recalling how the idea for a coffee shop "started to brew" after he managed one in his hometown of Rhode Island. 

Rubin, 30, didn't get to live out his dream. On Wednesday, authorities, through a DNA match, said they had determined the body found along Applewood Drive in South Whitehall on Nov. 1 was that of Rubin's. He had been shot. His death has been ruled .

Rubin's body had been by a South Whitehall public works employee at 8:30 a.m., less than 12 hours after he was last seen leaving his apartment on Lawrence Avenue in Brooklyn. 

Detective Thomas Gerbach, of the South Whitehall police department, said on Thursday that authorities can now start to retrace his movements in hopes of finding his killer. "We're following up on everything," he said.

Gersbach fielded calls from New York media, explaining that the stretch of road where Rubin was found is somewhat remote, but travelled daily, not far from an orchard, homes and a school. 

He said he does not know of any specific tie between Rubin and South Whitehall.

Authorities suspect Rubin was and his body left in the township.

As law enforcement in Lehigh County worked the past month to identify the body found smoldering along Applewood Road, Rubin's family and friends searched for him at hospitals, morgues and homeless shelters, He was a diabetic, and reports say, he had appeared distressed before his disappearance.

The New York Times reports that Rubin's credit card had been used a few days after he disappeared to buy food at the Woodbury Common outlet center in Orange County, N.Y. It quoted Lehigh County District Attorney James Martin as saying there are no suspects but “persons of interest.”

In the video, friends talk about Rubin's determination to open the cafe. Jan Rosenberg, of Brooklyn Hearth Realty, said he had brought "so much energy" to the project.

Outside the Whisk Bakery Cafe, now closed, people have set up a memorial.

Rubin's family has released information on his funeral, set for Tuesday, Dec. 27.

Anyone with information about Rubin is asked to contact Lehigh County Homicide Task Force Detective Lou Tallarico or South Whitehall Township Detective Tom Gersbach at 610-437-5252.