Joseph Zoll, Jr. penned a letter publicly available on everloved.com last week in memoriam of his late brother, Brian, 23, whose body was found last month in a backyard pool in East Shoreham after a six-month search for his whereabouts.
The departed Sound Beach resident was solemnly commemorated in a Christian mass ceremony that commenced at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 14th, the day prior to Father’s Day.
The location—St. Anthony’s of Padua R.C. Church on Rt. 25A in Rocky Point—was the same parish where the Zoll patriarch, Joseph Zoll, Sr.’s funeral service was held after Matthew fatally stabbed his dad on Nov. 9th while in the throes of a psychotic episode.
Family and friends gathered once more to mourn a Zoll this past weekend, one who first made headlines last fall. After killing his father, Matthew subsequently disappeared amidst the mental health crisis the family has now indicated as commensurate to the “severe form of schizophrenia” he “greatly suffered from.”
Matthew had previously gone missing at an earlier date while off of his medication.
In his obituary, Joseph, Jr. both vowed to, and asked that others remember his brother not for the circumstances surrounding his tragic demise, but for the “remarkable person he was in every way.”
“Our family, including my late father, fought together to get him all the help he needed,” he wrote.
“He loved my father, my mother, my sisters and I so very much… we all love and miss him dearly.”
Visiting hours for Matthew were held Friday night at the Rocky Point Funeral Home.
A private cremation followed Saturday’s service.
Matthew graduated from Rocky Point High School in 2019, and attended Syracuse University thereafter.
His last known whereabouts, before his body was found last month: he crashed his dad’s SUV before retreating into the woods to avoid detection.
Matthew’s body was found on May 25th beneath a partially unsecured swimming pool cover at a Pal Court home. The residence actually belonged to a Suffolk County Police detective who served as part of the U.S. Marshals Service task force unit tasked to search for him in the fall.
The detective and his teenage son were opening the pool ahead for the summer when they discovered the body the Suffolk County Police Department later confirmed was Matthew Zoll.
The memorial site for Matthew has raised $1,000 from 22 contributors for the Schizophrenia International Research Society, as of Tuesday, June 17th.
In lieu of flowers, friends and relatives are encouraged to share memories, photos, and personal notes here, so that the everloved page may continue to exist as a place of positivity.
“Matthew had a big heart and big dreams,” Amy Pena wrote. “I cherish the simple moments where he would trust his friends with his closest desires and dreams. He would sit with me when he could tell something was off and talk with me. He was loved by friends and shared that back always.”
“I look forward to carrying on my brother and father in their story and spirit,” Joseph, Jr. added.
“For now though, I thank you for the paying of respect and kind words not only to my best friend, but also to my dad, who we all lost that same night.”