Overview

• Neilyann Ysam, 24, was found fatally stabbed on July 19 in her aunt’s Southeast Portland home where she had been staying after leaving her partner.
• An arrest affidavit says her 4-year-old daughter called 911 saying, “My dad killed my mom,” and Joseph also phoned police reporting he had stabbed a “loved one.”
• Police removed five children under the age of six from the home and said none were physically injured.
• S Mate Joseph was arrested later that day in Vancouver, Washington, and is in custody charged with second-degree murder and first-degree burglary, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
• Court records show Joseph previously pleaded guilty in 2019 to assaulting Ysam while she was pregnant and violated a protection order in 2020, as authorities highlight elevated lethality after victims leave abusers.