Despite initially appearing as a good guy on the cobbles, solicitor Joel’s (Calum Lill)

‘true’ nature has been exposed in recent months. It was unveiled that he had been grooming

and abusing young girls over the years, including Lauren Bolton (Cait Fitton).

His ex-fiance Dee-Dee Bailey (Channique Sterling-Brown), Lauren, and DS Lisa Swain (Vicky Myers) have since pledged to bring him to justice.

However, this week saw a dramatic twist in the plot. In Monday’s episode (September 30), Dee-Dee received a voice message from Joel, suggesting he was contemplating suicide. She later shared this with Lisa Swain, who managed to trace Joel’s last known location.

Lisa, accompanied by Kit (Jacob Roberts), visited the site where they discovered a suicide note in his abandoned car. Back on the cobbles, Lisa relayed the news of Joel’s apparent suicide to her fellow residents, reports the Liverpool Echo.

Dee-Dee, however, was convinced that Joel hadn’t taken his own life and even went to Joel’s recent location herself to uncover the truth. She found another covered car in the same field and urged Lisa to investigate.

Now, fans are convinced that Joel was actually killed by an unexpected resident. Sharing their theories online, viewers believe the soap dropped a ‘clue’ about how Joel met his end.

Corrie fans were quick to call out Dee-Dee’s bizarre antics on a Facebook fan group, especially during a scene that kicked off the episode with her acting oddly as she gazed at a trickling tap.

“What’s wrong with Dee Dee,” one fan posed, while another was quick to suggest: “I think dee dee has done something to Joel.”

When another viewer said, “She was mesmerised by the water running from the kitchen tap! ” speculation began to boil over.

Jumping into the fray of theories, someone else pondered about Joel’s potential demise and speculated: “drowned him?” A fifth fan exclaimed: “That would be a twist!”.

The plot thickens as other Corrie lovers have spotted Lisa Swain’s shady antics, with one sharp viewer posting a hunch about her possible motive for murdering Joel.

On X, a sleuthing fan shared their suspicion: perhaps Lisa snuffed out Joel after a squabble involving her daughter Betsy (Sydney Martin) went too far. They theorised, “Joel has either come across or threatened Betsy the night before, swains found him and they’ve had an altercation and it’s ended in Joel’s death and Kit either was involved or saw it so now is helping cover it up.”