“The Myer case is …” chief assistant district attorney for Ulster County Emmanuel Nneji starts to say before stopping to pick his words carefully. “You drive down the road. You see roadkill. It’s a deer. It’s some animal. I mean, you may be sensitive to it, but you move on. Just the whole idea of seeing a human being left like roadkill on the side of the road, it sent chills up my spine.”
Nneji refers to photographs taken on the morning of Saturday, October 29, 2022, in which the body of a human being is laid out off to the side of Route 32 in the Quarryville neighborhood.
Shortly after sunrise on that day, a passing driver called 911 and reported that the man on the side of the road was unconscious and unresponsive. When emergency medical responders arrived, it was already past the point where the man, later identified as Mickey Myer, could have been revived.
There, off the shoulder of the highway, Myer was pronounced deceased less than eight hours after celebrating his 66th birthday.
The Saugerties Police Department first awaited toxicology reports, and then initiated an investigation into the death. In the days following the tragedy, friends and loved ones searching for answers would find none. Days turned into weeks, and weeks into months. No suspects were arrested, much less identified to the public. But the town and state police forces, struck by the suspicious circumstances, were working behind the scenes the whole time to gather evidence to present before a grand jury, which then decided that criminal charges should be brought.
“Because it was such a long time,” said Saugerties town supervisor Fred Costello, “I think there was a measurement of skepticism amongst the public. If anything would ever happen. I knew that there was a lot of activity happening, but it was nothing mature enough to share.”
What happened on the drive home?
Police finally named their suspect in a bulletin released on February 21. Local resident Joseph E Karolys was wanted for manslaughter in the first degree. The difference between murder and manslaughter lies in the existence of the intention before the deed, which lawyers call malice aforethought. For the charge of manslaughter in the first degree, Karolys could be looking at up to 25 years in a New York State prison.
Furnished with the description of Karolys’ red dump truck, the bulletin asked for the public’s help in apprehending their suspect and kicked off a short manhunt wherein citizens were cautioned against themselves attempting to detain or apprehend Karolys. Less than 24 hours after the bulletin was released, Saugerties police chief Joe Sinagra was able to report that Karolys had been taken into custody. His 17-year-old son had also been arrested. It was Ash Wednesday.
As it happened, Myer’s birthday in 2023 fell on Fat Tuesday, the final day on the Catholic calendar before the righteous abstinence of lent settles in. That night Myer had gone up to Greene County to celebrate. As well he might.
“He had gone to one bar,” said Nneji, “and from there I think he may have gone to the Elks Lodge. He had some drinks there and then went to the One More Time [bar and grill]. When they were closing the One Last Time for the night, people thought he was too drunk, that he shouldn’t drive, so they arranged a ride for him with the Karolyses. Right? And what was supposed to be to save his life and the lives of others ended up being what took his life. There were four people in the car. And three of them went to the Karolys home. And Myer was the one person that didn’t go there and didn’t make it home.”
The fourth person in the car has so far been unnamed.
It is alleged that Joe Karolys also had too much to drink, and called his son to pick them up. What exactly happened on the drive home remains a mystery. Nneji contends that Myer was physically assaulted between the time of leaving the bar and being left on the side of the highway two miles or so from his home.
Though Nneji couldn’t discuss the details in the photographs, he alleged that they showed Myer was the victim of the very serious injuries which contributed to his death. Blood alleged to be Myer’s has since been discovered in the vehicle used to drive the men home. There were signs the blood was attempted to be scrubbed away.
Nneji says that the Karolyses, both father and son, attempted to clean the blood from the vehicle upon returning home. It is alleged that Karolys’ wife Rachel was also present.
After the indictment
“After the grand jury made a decision to indict [Karolys],” said Nneji, “we obtained a warrant for his arrest. Then he was arrested and brought into court. Yesterday, Friday, we’re in court, arguing the bail. And the judge granted our request to remand him.”
Arraigned in Ulster County court and sent to the Ulster County jail without bail, Joseph E. Karolys was additionally charged with assault in the first degree, tampering with physical evidence, and attempted bribery of a witness. It has been suggested that the fourth person in the vehicle was a witness to what transpired that night, and that Karolys has attempted to buy that person’s silence.
Joseph Karolys the younger was charged with manslaughter in the first degree, assault in the first degree, and tampering with physical evidence. The 17-year-old was also arraigned, and has been sent to a youth detention facility.
According to supervisor Costello, Mickey Myer was well liked.
Joe Karolys less so.
Starting in late 2018, Karolys the elder, whose business Karolys and Son operates a processing site at 1446 Route 212 in Saugerties as well as numerous construction and demolition debris dumps near the Saugerties-Woodstock border, found himself embroiled in a years-long dispute with the Town of Saugerties, the State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), the Ulster County Health Department and eventually the New York State attorney general’s office over his penchant for illegal dumping.
Stop-work orders were issued by the Town of Saugerties in 2018 and separately by the DEC in 2019. Karolys was arrested after he defied a stop-work order issued by the Ulster County Health Department, also in 2019, put in place because “probable levels of carcinogens including the banned chemical DDT” had been detected. Saugerties police officers running a sting operation observed trucks unloading construction-related debris in off hours. (HV1 reporters Nick Henderson and Cristina Coulter have reported extensively on the Karolys dumps.)
He was a well-liked guy
“I think the significance of what’s happened since the incident with Mr. Myer,” said Costello, “is that family and Mickey’s friends suffered through holidays and a pretty extended period of time, where there was no resolution to Mr. Myer’s passing. And I think now that the grand jury has spoken, and supported the indictments which are being executed now. I think that’s the first step to bringing some closure to Mr. Myer’s friends and family who have not had that so far.”
Mickey Myer was the owner of Foundation and Site Specialist LLC. On his memorial page, he is compared with a doctor due to his precision as a talented excavator.
“Mickey was a good guy,” remembers Costello. “Yeah, it was fun to be around him. It’s a bummer.”
As yet, no date has been set for a trial to pass judgment on both Joseph Karolys and his son. A conference with the court to determine what evidence is admissible is scheduled for the spring. There may be a discussion of whether there’s a possibility of resolving the case without going to trial, but prosecutors insist that option would require a guilty plea from Joseph Karolys.
“Man went out on his birthday, on his birthday! And was killed on his birthday,” says Nneji. “He was happy in the bar, he was drinking. He was drunk on his birthday. He was having a good time. He wasn’t being rude or doing anything to anybody. They just felt that he was too drunk to drive and arranged a ride for him. That’s why Karolys and his son are indicted.”
Nneji stops to reflect.
“The part about not taking someone’s life seriously, taking someone’s life with disregard,” muses Nneji. “The indignity of how they left him there. I’m going to look into this, and we’re going to do what we can to get answers for his family.”
Join the family! 
