Mother remembers son shot and killed by friend in 2023; suspect's plea hearing rescheduled

Family of victim wants harsher sentence for murder suspect

A man accused of shooting his friend and dumping his body in a different county in 2023 was scheduled to have a plea hearing Friday, but that has been rescheduled.?

WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Texas - A man accused of shooting his friend and dumping his body in a different county in 2023 was scheduled to have a plea hearing Friday, but that has been rescheduled. 

The backstory:

Shawn Joseph, 30, was missing for 12 days before being found.

On Oct. 5, 2023, Round Rock Police say Joseph was shot in a Walmart parking lot on East Palm Valley Boulevard, and then his body was taken by Royce Loggins. 

The two were talking for a while in the parking lot before the shooting.

After days of searching, Joseph was found on Oct. 17 in Milam County. 

Joseph and Loggins knew each other. They were longtime friends. The arrest affidavit says they had a falling out but were trying to work things out. 

Body of missing Cedar Park man found

Round Rock police say they have found the body of a missing Cedar Park man who was shot in a Walmart parking lot.

Joseph's mother speaks about her son

His mother, Bridget McCarty spoke to Fox 7 ahead of the scheduled hearing for Loggins.

"I think he should have gotten life without parole," she said. 

 McCarty says her last contact with her son was a text. 

"After I fixed his food, and I put the plate up, then I sent him a picture of it, and that was the last text," she said. 

"When they did find him, I couldn't even recognize him," McCarty said about when they found Joseph's body. "It was eerie. It was something, it was eerie was like the buzzards and they had dead animals."

"This boy sat at my table. I fed him. I done his hair. He lived with Shawn," McCarty said about Loggins. "All I kept saying was what type of hate, what type of hate, you know, to just throw him out there like that?"

McCarty says Joseph was always helping her, his siblings, and his kids. She says he had a lot of fun with the family. 

"He was a clown, like he was that uncle that everybody wanted to be around," she said. 

She says it's been a struggle since his death. 

"For a year, I wasn't me. When I look in the mirror, I don't even know who I am," she said. "I didn't plan my life past this. My only thing was to get to this. That's it. I don't see my future anymore."

What's next:

The next hearing has been scheduled for Sept. 15. The terms of the deal have not been confirmed. 

FOX 7 Austin reached out to Loggins' attorney but has not heard back.