His accused killer is on the run, and is now on the New Jersey State Police list of most wanted felons.
The FBI and U.S. Marshals are also looking for 27-year old Welder Morente Dubon.
He has managed to hide for nearly seven years and could be anywhere. The suspect has some very distinctive features.
He is extremely short: 5'2", and has a crooked right eye. He's also known to be extremely violent.
No one knows that better than the family of Joey Tremarco of Millington, New Jersey, viciously murdered with no chance to fight back.
"There is just a sadness. A terrible sadness. Every day, every night, he's the first and last thing I think about," said his mother Debbie Tremarco.
For Joey Tremarco's parents, it's not just that they lost their 23-year-old son, it's how that haunts them.
Joey Tremarco, who worked in the family scrap metal business, was making a pick-up in Plainfield, New Jersey, in March of 2007; he suspected an employee, Welder Morente-Dubon, an illegal Guatamalan immigrant, had been stealing. The two argued.
"He was bending down to pick something up and he was struck with a baseball bat across the back of his head. And he continued to beat him," Debbie said. "This person just has no regards to human life," Debbie said.
Joey, who lived with at home with his parents in Millington, was engaged to be married to his high school sweetheart, Carmela Gramaglia.
"I still hear his laugh, I still remember his laugh, and I can still most importantly remember his smile," said Gramaglia.
She also remembers that day. They were all gathered at the family house.
"I just heard everybody was screaming. People were running into the house. Running out of the house. And it was said they found Joe. And he was dead," Carmela said.
Dubon seemingly disappeared. He is the subject of a national and international manhunt, and on the New Jersey State Police 12 Most Wanted list.
"It is one of the most violent crimes that have taken place in the state of New Jersey in which the felon has not yet been apprehended," said Justin Blackwell of the New Jersey State Police.
Agents have chased leads on Welder in and out of the country.
('Any idea where he could be?') "Mexico, Guatamala, Panama. It's also possible he snuck back into the United States," said deputy U.S. Marshal Christopher Manna.
"He doesn't know the damage he has done. And that is just one thing that I wish one day we could see him and let him know what he truly has done," said Carmela. "My life was shattered right before me, a young girl whose dreams were to marry your high school sweetheart. The man that you knew was the guy for you. It was all taken away in seconds. There is never going to be an answer that is going to fulfill my broken heart."
"And they always say, oh time heals all pain, well it doesn't. It puts a patch over a big open wound in your heart. And, it's hard," Debbie Tremarco said.
The Union County Prosecutor is offering a $20,000 reward in this case and is asking anyone with specific information should call the Union County Prosecutor's Office. Sgt. Jorge Jimenez: 908-527-4534.
PHOTOS OF NEW JERSEY STATE POLICE MOST WANTED
---
If you have a tip about this or any other issue you'd like investigated, please give our tipline a call at 877-TIP-NEWS. You may also e-mail us at the.investigators@abc.com.
Follow Jim Hoffer on Twitter at twitter.com/nycinvestigates and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/jimhoffer.wabc
Follow Sarah Wallace on Twitter at twitter.com/sarahwallacetv and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/sarahwallace.wabc
