What's more ghastly, Joe being dead or the flashes of lightning?
Joe was the brother of Anna Lochear. He managed to escape from his home in Los Angeles while the Cult of Exmortis was ravaging the Earth Realm. Finding his way to Lochear Fields Ranch, Joe decided to settle in with his sister and her husband. During the first night he slept in the room near the end of the upstairs corridor, Joe ended up with bruises on his body (possibly from Xavier Rehayem's ghost). As such, he relocated to the living room.
Over the months of May and June, things had gotten worse, as nearby friends and neighbors were brutally dismembered by the Exmortis. Despite Sean Lochear's protests, Joe went to the town to get some provisions. Somehow, he managed to make it back alive, but after he saw what had happened when he returned, he strung himself up in the living room. He is seen with his limbs removed and his eyes and heart ripped out, which implies the Exmortis got to him before or after he was hung.