Two doors changed Joseph Quiros-Soto’s life.
The first was the apartment door he kicked open in Bayonne, New Jersey, before killing the man inside. He walked through the second door 35 years later, shuffling up to a desk clerk at the Locust Grove Police Department to confess.
The Spalding County Sheriff’s Office took in Quiros-Soto on Wednesday. The 62-year-old is being held on burglary and murder charges. His case is set to proceed in Hudson County, New Jersey.
In August 2024, he showed up at the clerk window with a bag and medication packed, saying he was ready to turn himself in. The police were hardly sure they should believe him.
He insisted he was telling the truth.
Locust Grove Police Chief Derrick Austin remembers the unhurried day Quiros-Soto walked into the station to profess his spiritual transformation.
“He seemed a little bit down in the dumps. He was not cocky,” Austin said.
Quiros-Soto was following the advice of a pastor to turn himself in rural Georgia for a crime that happened across the river from New York City, according to the affidavit from the state of New Jersey.
“Hearing the word (of God) had weighed on him for a while,” Austin said.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution was not able to reach Quiros-Soto or his family members for comment.
Austin said Quiros-Soto was ready to go to jail that day, but it was difficult for the New Jersey police officers to find the jurisdiction and paperwork from the ’80s.
The Locust Grove Police Department sent him home in August after he calmly retold the details of the case in the interrogation room of the station. Austin remembers how he felt as the day ended.
“Either the guy had a lot of memories and was watching some movies, or he did it,” Austin said.
The murder occurred in the early morning hours of Aug. 9, 1989, in Bayonne, New Jersey, authorities said. The perpetrator forcibly entered the victim’s apartment by kicking down the door, according to New Jersey police.
The victim was with his girlfriend and her two young daughters, and his handgun malfunctioned as he tried to shoot through the door, so he tried to defend himself with a crowbar, police said. Quiros-Soto took the victim into a headlock and shot him in the head, according to the affidavit.
Quiros-Soto’s criminal behavior continued after the 1989 murder, where he served time for a 1991 burglary charge, according to Union County court records. He committed another New Jersey burglary in 2008, according to Burlington County court records. Quiros-Soto also faced charges of receiving stolen goods in 1991 in Middlesex County, New Jersey, according to Middlesex County criminal records.
Hudson County detectives flew down to investigate Quiros-Soto’s confession, which police said included details only the killer could have known, according to Austin. Some details matched the testimony of the victim’s girlfriend four decades ago, according to the affidavit. Last week, Quiros-Soto’s DNA matched evidence found on the victim’s sweatpants, police said.
Austin said that Quiros-Soto’s decision to turn himself in revealed some deeper questions the officer was no expert on answering.
“Him finding Jesus put a burden on his heart,” Austin said. “It goes back to the old right and wrong.”
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