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Family, friends hopeful for answers, closure in mysterious 1987 disappearance of New York teen Joseph Helt
Jan. 16, 2021, 2:11 PM PST
By Andrea Cavallier


Snow flurries had just begun to fall over the village of Ellenville, New York, on the evening of Saturday, January 17, 1987, in what would soon turn into a treacherous snowstorm.

It was around 5:30 p.m. when single mother of four Lee Ann Housman got a call that would change her life forever. Her son’s boss at the Napanoch Auction Barn called to ask why the teenager had not shown up for work. Lee Ann knew her son had been out the night before, but it was uncharacteristic for him to not show up for work.

Joseph “Joe” Helt, 17, a junior at Ellenville High, never missed a chance to make money. And that meant he never missed a chance to work at the auction barn, which only operated on the weekends. So when he hadn’t shown up that night, Joe’s family began to worry.

Joe’s aunt, Beth Churchill, told Dateline she remembers the night clearly, from the first snow flurries that pelted her skin moments before she stepped into her mother's house, to the gnawing pain in the pit of her stomach when they told her about the call.

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https://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/family-friends-hopeful-answers-closure-mysterious-1987-disappearance-new-york-n1254523
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