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Family and friends gathered this morning in Rocky Point to say goodbye to Matthew Zoll, the 23-year-old Sound Beach man whose body was found last month in a backyard pool after a six-month search that followed the stabbing death of his father.
A Mass of Christian burial took place at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at St. Anthony of Padua R.C. Church on Route 25A in Rocky Point — the same church where loved ones mourned his father, Joseph Zoll, 61, seven months ago. Visiting hours were held Friday night at the Rocky Point Funeral Home.
Zoll’s older brother, Joseph Zoll Jr., shared a deeply personal letter this week on a memorial page at everloved.com, where he remembered his younger sibling not for the circumstances of his death, but for the “remarkable person he was in every way.”
“Over the past few years, my brother developed a severe form of schizophrenia that he greatly suffered from,” Joseph Zoll Jr. wrote. “Our family, including my late father, fought together to get him all the help he needed.
“In the wake of this tragedy, we remember not only what an amazing brother, son, and friend Matthew was, but also the remarkable person he was in every way,” he continued.
Focusing on love
Matthew Zoll, who graduated from Rocky Point High School in 2019 and attended Syracuse University, had been missing since Nov. 9 — the day police say he fatally stabbed his father in their Rocky Point home before fleeing the scene in his dad’s SUV and crashing a short distance away and running into the woods.
His body was discovered May 25 in a backyard swimming pool beneath a partially unsecured cover at a Pal Court home in East Shoreham, less than a mile from the crash site. The cause of death remains under investigation, according to the most recent police statement on the case.
The property is owned by a Suffolk County Police detective, who was opening the pool for the summer with his teenage son when they made the discovery. The detective, according to reports, is part of the U.S. Marshals Service New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force — the same unit that had been helping search for Zoll since the fall.
At the time of the stabbing, Suffolk police described Matthew Zoll as dangerous and in need of treatment. He had previously stopped taking medication when he went missing earlier in 2024, police said.
Despite the dark circumstances, Mathew Zoll’s brother’s tribute focuses on love, grief and healing.
“He loved my father, my mother, my sisters and I so very much,” Joseph Zoll Jr. wrote. “We all love and miss him dearly.”
A friend’s college memory
The memorial site has so far raised $860 for the Schizophrenia International Research Society, a cause selected by Matthew Zoll’s siblings. The family encouraged friends and relatives to share memories, photos and personal notes.
Carley Sackett, a friend of Matthew Zoll’s in college, shared some heartfelt memories of their relationship.
“I remember one night we challenged ourselves to an all-nighter, where we had a drawing contest, watched paranormal YouTube videos, and just talked,” she wrote. “When I was stressed for my finals, he came over and personally tutored me in physics. He brightened my semester when I was extremely academically stressed.
“I’m grateful for the time I got to know him and experience his kindness firsthand,” Sackett added.
Joseph Zoll Jr. wrote that he wanted the everloved.com page “to be a place where you can express your memories and love for him.”
“I look forward to carrying on my brother and father in their story and spirit,” he wrote.
A private cremation followed Saturday’s service.
Top photos: Facebook and Everloved.com.
