Remembering Josh as hunt for killer goes on

After a funeral for Joshua Terry on Monday in Cedarburg, more than a dozen of his friends joined together for a basketball game at the Feith Family Ozaukee YMCA in Saukville, just as they had done with him for many years.

“Since we started this almost 20 years ago, we have had many people come and go over the years,” Jim Ulrich, one of the players, said. “When everyone heard what happened to Big Josh, a lot of them took time off work to stop at the memorial service, share stories and get back on the court for Josh.”

Terry, a retired Wisconsin Air National Guard veteran, was shot and killed at about 6:40 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 30, on the side of I-43 near the Northwoods Road overpass in the Town of Port Washington.

Ozaukee County Sheriff Jim Johnson last week provided more details of the incident and made an appeal for witnesses to step forward.

Johnson said Terry’s 2013 white, four-door Kia Optima entered I-43 at Highway 32 in Grafton and headed north, apparently traveling below the speed limit. 

At the time, Terry was taking an evening drive to listen to music and relax, as was his habit, Johnson said.

It was somewhere between the Saukville interchange at Highway 33 and Northwoods Road in the Town of Port Washington that an incident occurred between Terry’s car and another vehicle, likely a minor accident, which left fresh damage to the Kia, Johnson said.

Both vehicles pulled to the side of the road where Terry was shot and killed.

Witness reports confirm the suspect vehicle fled north on I-43 at a high rate of speed, he said. 

An unidentified vehicle, possibly the suspect’s, exited at Highway H on the north side of Port Washington at a high rate of speed at about 6:43 p.m., turned north on Highway H and re-entered I-43 southbound.

Johnson said three vehicles were seen in the vicinity and traveling north at the time. They included:

• A gold or similar color Kia Sedona minivan.

• A yellowish older four-door sedan with long, slim vertical taillights.

• A dark-colored SUV, possibly a General Motors product.

Terry’s family has established a reward fund of $10,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the shooter. 

Anyone with information should contact the Ozaukee County Sheriff’s Office at (262) 284-7172.

Information can also be provided confidentially through Tip 411. 

An anonymous tip can be sent via text message to 847411, using the keyword OZSO with a message. Johnson asked that the message be as descriptive as possible.

Terry — a fitness advocate who was about 6-foot-8, weighed about 300 pounds and was known as a gentle giant — graduated from Cedarburg High School and earned a degree in psychology from University of Wisconsin-Stout in 2001.

He served in the military  from 2000 to 2006 as a member of the Wisconsin Air National Guard 115th Fighter Wing based in Madison and was a collector of coins and sports cards.

Terry is survived by his wife Renee.