 In 1970, Joe begins investigating Llanview's increasing drug trade for "The Banner".While making inquiries in California, Joe's car goes over a cliff and his body is never found, so he is presumed dead.A devastated Viki (Erika Slezak 1971 onward), at the insistence of her father Victor, signs papers declaring Joe legally dead in 1972, a move which shocks Vince and Joe's sister Eileen Riley Siegel (Alice Hirson), both of whom refuse to believe Joe to be dead.