Husband of ‘King of the Hill’ actor Jonathan Joss speaks out after alleged killer freed on bond

Following his release, Joss’ husband, Tristan Kern de Gonzales told The Independent that he is “not surprised” that Ceja was set free, and doubled down on his assertion that the killing qualifies as a hate crime.

“That gentleman was probably the worst one when it came to threats and harassment,” Kern de Gonzales said on Wednesday.

Murdering the 59-year-old Joss was “a very grave mistake,” he went on.

“He thought he would silence him and get rid of him, but all he did was make him more powerful,” Kern de Gonzales asserted. “Now,” he maintained, Joss “will be remembered as a martyr and a legend” to many in the LGBT+ and Native American communities.

Joss was of Comanche and White Mountain Apache descent.

People may have deemed Joss “eccentric,” at best, according to Kern de Gonzales. But, he continued, they also “declined to consider how much he was hurting.”

“I’ve been in mental health crisis and acted just as Jonathan did, even worse,” Kern de Gonzales said. “The difference was, I was given medical attention and was treated as someone who needed help instead of being seen as a violent threat. Jonathan was never violent, he never went after anybody or threatened anybody’s person.”

Although police say they have “no evidence” Joss’ killing was a hate crime, Kern de Gonzales claimed Ceja, who lives two doors down from the couple, directed homophobic slurs at the two as Joss lay dying.

“Everything was really close range. It was in the head,” Kern de Gonzales told The Independent in a previous interview. “I held his face together while I told him how much I loved him. He could still hear me, he looked up at me and he wasn't able to talk because of the extent [of his injuries], but I could tell he was trying to say, ‘I love you.’”

At the same time, Ceja, who had reportedly been engaged in a long-running feud with Joss, laughed coldly and sneered, “Oh, you love him? Joto,’” according to Kern de Gonzales, a South Carolina native.

“‘Joto’ is Spanish for f****t,” he said. “I never knew the word until I came to Texas, and then I heard it a lot.

The deadly clash occurred after Joss and Kern de Gonzales showed up at their home, which burned down in January, to collect their mail. The two had been living in Austin, about 90 miles away, following the blaze. Kern de Gonzalez said he is certain the blaze was arson. Authorities, on the other hand, have said the cause remains undetermined.

Joss clashed frequently with others on the block, who Kern de Gonzales claimed had subjected the pair to ongoing anti-LGBT harassment over the past two years. One neighbor shared a video with local CBS affiliate KENS, purportedly showing Joss walking back and forth with a pitchfork, screaming. However, while Joss may have at times annoyed people by “ranting and raving” in public, Kern de Gonzales said insisted he was not a threat.

“I don't care if me and my husband were walking around with one pitchfork in our hand and another pitchfork up our a**, we didn't point any weapons at anybody,” Kern de Gonzales told The Independent. “When the man rolled up with the gun, we were checking the mail.”

A police log shared with The Independent by the San Antonio police lists more than 50 calls between January 26, 2024, and February 9, 2025, to the house Joss and Kern de Gonzales shared.

Officers showed up at the address in response to disturbance reports, to conduct mental health and welfare checks, complaints of theft and criminal mischief, and one incident last year allegedly involving a knife. (Further details were not immediately available on the episode, or exactly who was involved, but Kern de Gonzales related an anecdote on Wednesday about once having driven their Hummer in circles in their yard while Joss threw knives at trees from the window.)

The final entry is for a shooting in progress at 7:02 p.m. on June 1, the incident that ended Joss’ life.

Kern de Gonzalez said finds it “really sad how people treat other people when they're having a mental health crisis or going through trauma,” and that no one wants to consider what led to that point.

“It's OK to be a little sad, but if you’re in a state where you’re yelling or whatever, that doesn't get the same grace,” Kern de Gonzales said.

Ceja is due back in court on August 19. His court-appointed lawyer, Alfonso Otero, did not respond to a request for comment.