TOLEDO, Ohio — Bonnie Gill's family Thanksgiving table will have one fewer place setting this year.
That's because her son, Josiah Gill, 20, was murdered earlier this month and his body was set on fire under the Veterans' Glass City Skyway Bridge.
Toledo Fire & Rescue received a call around 2:10 a.m. on Nov. 9 for a car on fire near I-280 northbound at the Front Street exit ramp. The car was found in a grassy area underneath the bridge.
Bonnie Gill is hoping someone finds it in their heart to come forward and give them closure.
"Josiah really liked an adventure. He liked to be outdoors."
Gill said her son loved camping, fishing and SCUBA diving. He went to Toledo Maritime Academy and wanted to be a marine biologist.
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"He also really liked to work with his hands and work outdoors. He really loved his landscaping job and I always wanted more for him, but I wish I would have just been happy that he was doing what he was happy doing," Gill said.
She also told WTOL 11 that Josiah Gill was a typical young man and she doesn't believe he was into anything nefarious that would have led to his death.
"He came home at night and played with his little sister, and he had friends like all teenagers do, and that's all he did," she said.
So it makes no sense to her why someone would kill her son.
The autopsy revealed the cause of death as a single gunshot wound to the head. The Lucas County Coroner's office classified the manner of death as a homicide and said that Gill was not alive during the fire.
After Toledo fire department crews extinguished the blaze, they found the young man's body inside the vehicle.
"Josiah was a hard worker. He did not no-call, no-show. It was so concerning that his best friend and his boss went straight to the police station," Bonnie Gill said. "When I saw the coverage about the car that was found, and I mean, I bought him that car. I knew what it looked like, I knew it was his car, but I just thought it can't be."
The fire left Bonnie Gill with no body left to hug, no hand to hold and no Josiah to lay to rest.
The family held a memorial on Saturday with only posterboards of pictures of Josiah and some of his favorite items, including a hat.
"It smells like him still and he wore it a lot and when I didn't have his body to say goodbye to, I thought this was as close as I could get to him," she said.
"I have nightmares of him burning. He had such beautiful hair, and I just keep seeing him burning, and his pretty blue eyes, just burning and I'm his mom and I'm supposed to protect him and I just wonder if he was thinking of me."
Bonnie Gill hasn't stopped thinking of her son and she never will. She hopes someone out there will stop and think about coming forward.
"Anything you've seen, anything you've heard, there's ways to be anonymous to be safe, and in ten years, in twenty years from now, please don't leave me not knowing what happened to my son," she said. "Please be brave. Please say something if you know anything and let us know."
His family believes Josiah Gill was killed on the evening of Nov. 8 before someone pushed his silver Cadillac CTS into the brush under the bridge.
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If you saw anything or know anything, call or text Crime Stoppers at 419-255-1111. You can remain anonymous and may be eligible for a cash reward.
There is also a GoFundMe for the Gill family to give him a proper memorial HERE.