The Murdered
Joyce Coleman
Morris County, NJ
Joyce Coleman was 28 years old living with her husband and her 14 month old son at 245 Bartley Road, Long Valley, Washington Township, Morris County, New Jersey. They had been residing there for the past two years. Joyce was six months pregnant with the couple’s second child. Her husband, Wayne Coleman worked as a supervisor for the Charter Bulk Service in Newark. On February 28, 1970, (some sources state it was the 27th,) upon returning home from a long day at 1:45 A.M, Wayne found his wife battered and sprawled out on the floor of the basement recreation room in their home. According to police, Wayne stated that his wife failed to answer the phone when he called from work shortly before leaving his job. Mr. Coleman found every room in his house ransacked except for his son’s bedroom, and his son was completely unharmed. He also discovered four of his shotguns, one rifle, a quantity of ammunition and two cameras were missing. Wayne was an avid skeet shooter.
Upon inspection of the home by police, they found no signs of forced entry. The Morris County Medical Examiner ruled Joyce’s cause of death; “multiple blunt injuries to the head, face and neck.” One unusual thing that was found, Joyce had cuts on her neck that were done post-mortem.
Ultimately, the case was ruled a homicide and Joyce Coleman’s killer remains unknown.
If you have any further information, please contact the Morris County Sheriff’s office at 973-285-6610.
Sources:
Sources: https://newjerseygirlmurders.org/cases.htm
https://www.newjerseyhills.com/young-and-old/article_77639ee8-408f-5e17-913e-c07ef509400d.html
https://patch.com/new-jersey/longvalley/28-murders-still-unsolved-morris-county
https://www.morriscountynj.gov/Departments/Prosecutor/Unsolved-Cases
M.I.A 
I’m shocked seeing this is still unsolved….
Our school bus went by the Coleman house every schoolday, and after the murder, the kids on the bus would say ” That’s the Coleman house where the man murdered his wife. Till seeing this article today, for over 50 years, I thought the husband did it. I was only 9 years old when this happened and I remember we were not allowed to ride our bikes down that part of Bartley Road anymore. An old childhood friend from Old Farmers Road School and I were discussing the murder the other day and how scared we were. I decided to Google it and found this..Wow… I hope they solve this…
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Hi! Thanks for commenting! I’m so glad you found my article, I love hearing about the locals from the area, and their perspectives on what happened to Joyce. I had initially started wondering if the husband had something to do with it, however I was unable to come across any source of information pointing to him! I’m sure it was scary for you as a child to hear about it!!
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Hello Ashleigh- I came across your article and wondered how you know about post-mortem wounds if they were not public knowledge?
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Hello Nancy! All of the information I wrote about is located in the articles under “Sources” beneath the post! Thanks for commenting!
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