Joseph Baker Jr. bio

Joseph Baker, Jr. was born on September 21, 1999, in Millington, Tennessee, to Joseph and Jenny Baker. Joe Sr. served 22 years in the Navy and is now retired. Jenny currently works part-time at a local convenience store. Joe Jr. was the fourth of six children; he has three older sisters, Deana, Jill, and Cindy, and two younger siblings, Mike and Sarah.

Joe Jr. was the proverbial black sheep in the family. He was always in trouble for one reason or another and had no respect for his parents. It didn't help that Joe Sr. and Jenny were both alcoholics and left the children to raise themselves, except when it came time for punishments for real or imagined-in-an-alcoholic-fog infractions. Joe Sr. believed that the way to teach a child respect was to beat it into him, and when that didn't work, to beat them even harder.

Joe Jr. grew up to hate his father and anyone else who represented any kind of authority figure. He dropped out of high school at 16 when he had just started his sophomore year. He figured he could support himself with the money he was making selling crystal meth to his high school buddies.

One night he went to meet a few of the guys to make a drug deal, and instead, he ended up getting robbed of all of his dope and his connection's money too. Not able to pay his supplier, he hid out with friends. He stayed a night or two here and a night there, but never stayed in any one place very long because no one wanted to be around him when his connection caught up with him—and for good reason.

A week later, Joe Jr. was found on his parents' front porch, where he had been dumped after being severely beaten. He was told to have the money that night, or he would be killed. His parents, for once concerned for his safety, sent him to live with his uncle, who had been a Marine and was a much more stable influence than Joe's own father had been.

Uncle Dave lived in Oxford, Mississippi, where he had settled after retiring from the Corps. He was aware of Joe Jr.'s drug problem and thought he might be able to straighten him out. The boy did fine living with his uncle for about 3-1/2 years, but then he started acting irrationally, quit his job, and started hanging out with the wrong crowd.

As Joe continued getting into increasingly deeper trouble, Uncle Dave finally told him to get out of his house and never come back. Joe wandered the streets of Oxford until one of his buddies let him flop at his place. The cops raided the apartment, a known local drug house, and Joe was busted for being under the influence and having enough meth on him to be charged with possession with the intent to sell.

He was convicted in April of 2022 and given a four-year sentence with three years suspended and three years parole after his release. Joe was released on March 20, 2023.