It has been over a year since Joseph “Danny” Foster and his wife, Daisy, were murdered in their Ronceverte home. Today, the family continues to search for answers and the person(s) responsible for their deaths.
On April 2, 2020, Crystal Foster received a dreaded early morning phone call that her parents’ home, located on Fullen Cemetery Road, was on fire. After pulling herself together, she raced from her Lewisburg house to her sister Sara’s house in Ronceverte so they could help search for their parents, who were missing. Unfortunately, her parents were nowhere to be found.
It wasn’t until later that day that the bodies of her parents were found inside the home. They had perished in the fire.
At first, their deaths seemed like a horrible accident. But the following day, Foster and her sister were asked to come to the Greenbrier County Sheriff’s Department for questioning.
“They asked us normal, random questions, but we were confused as to why we were being questioned because it was just an accidental fire,” Foster stated.
After leaving the police station, the sisters went to the site of their parent’s home, now completely destroyed.
“When we got back to the house, there were a ton of sheriffs there, and that’s when we were told that it was not an accidental fire,” Foster said. “They were murdered and their house set on fire as a cover-up.”
To this day, a suspect has not been identified and the family cannot imagine why these two were killed.
The Fosters had lived in their home for over 40 years. In that time, they raised a family including Crystal, Sara and their brother, Joey.
Danny, who his co-workers called PeeWee, had recently retired from Jiffy Foam after 42 years.
“He loved music. He loved playing the guitar. He always joked and said he wasn’t any good, but he would play anyway,” Foster said of her father. “He was a huge kid at heart — always joking and goofing around, playing around with the kids and dancing.”
“He was a hard worker,” Sara Foster added. “He was in his 70’s and diabetic, but you couldn’t get him to come into the house and quit working.”
“He loved to piddle around and work on cars,” Crystal continued. “He had a ’62 Mercury Comet and an 80’s model Mustang in the garage that burned. He loved working on cars.”
Their mother, Daisy, ran a daycare out of her home for over 30 years.
“She raised those kids. She treated them like they were her own,” Foster said. “There were always multiple kids coming in and going out of that home all the time and she would make sure they did their homework and did good in school.”
“She would go outside and be a kid with them,” Foster remembered. “She would play kickball and board games. She was always doing something.”
“When she would take the children on a walk down River Road, the neighbors would joke ‘there goes Mother Hen Daisy with her little ducklings following behind,’” Foster continued.
Daisy also loved to cook and plan parties, Sara Foster recalled. She held a party for each child on their birthday. She was famous for her special Easter parties, which would include 40-50 kids and adults.
“Everyone got to go home with a prize,” Foster noted.
The Fosters also loved their “grandbabies,” Brooklynn, Nathaniel, L.J. and Kayle.
“They are missed by so many people,” Crystal Foster added. “We cannot think of one reason at all for this to happen. …We cannot think of one person who had an issue with them. They didn’t even argue with people.”
The family pet, a mixed breed Chihuahua named Shadow, also perished in the fire, Foster said.
They also had a pet duck they named Aflac who would follow them around the yard, Foster laughed. After the fire, the duck stayed near the property for the summer, but one morning he was gone.
The Fosters were laid to rest at Fullen Cemetery.
The state fire marshal’s office has created a $10,000 reward for anyone with information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible for the murder of the couple.
Crystal and Sara have set up a Facebook page called Justice For Daisy & Danny where community members can stay informed and keep the memories of the couple alive. The sisters are also raising money to add to the $10,000 state fire marshal’s reward. Additional information can be found by using #justicefordaisyanddanny, or by messaging their Facebook page.
Crystal Foster said that it is important for those in the community to keep talking about the event, and her parents. “Sooner or later someone will have information that solves the case.”
Greenbrier County Sheriff Bruce Sloan explained that because the incident is being treated as an active homicide investigation, he cannot release many details.
However, he said that the initial call regarding the fire came in a little before 5 a.m. on April 2.
“When we arrived on scene the house was fully engulfed,” Sloan said. “It was a complete loss.”
The house sits off the main road and is somewhat secluded, although there are a couple of houses close by, Sloan added.
The result of the autopsies conducted by the medical examiner and crime scene investigation has led officials to believe that the couple were murdered, according to Sloan.
Members of the West Virginia State Police and the State Fire Marshal’s Office assisted with the investigation.
“This has been a lengthy investigation,” Sloan said. “We have looked at a lot of people.”
Lead detectives, Lt. Gary Workman and Deputy Alex Workman are continuing to work on the investigation. They follow every tip that is submitted, Sloan assured.
“We feel good about where the investigation is at this point, although we are obviously not where we need to be,” Sloan said. “The officers have made a tremendous amount of progress.”
“Oftentimes, someone may know something and they think ‘well, this doesn’t mean anything and this is probably irrelevant, or they probably know this already,’ so they don’t call us, but anybody who has any information at all, no matter how insignificant they think it may be — we welcome those calls,” Sloan added.
He continued that the smallest piece of evidence or brief memory of that day or of the hours preceding the fire might contain the very piece of information that the investigators need.
“The sheriff’s office and the state fire marshal’s office continue to work diligently. We don’t intend on stopping until we reach a successful conclusion,” Sloan said. “Certainly the family of the victims deserve closure and we hope to provide that. We feel like the victims deserve justice.”
For those who have any information, they may contact the Greenbrier County Sheriff’s office at 304-647-6634, the 911 center at 304-647-7911, or they may submit anonymous information through Crimestoppers at 204-255-STOP (7867) or on their website crimestopperswv.com.
