Joshua Fay Saunders

Joshua Fay Saunders – aka Gothic King Cobra - age 34 of Casper, WY suffered a heart attack and died in his sleep on August 21, 2025.

Josh was born on March 26, 1991, in Casper, WY. Josh grew up in Casper, WY, Miles City, MT, Grand Forks, ND, South Lake Tahoe, CA, Valley City, ND, and moved back to Casper, WY as a senior in high school where he lived the remainder of his life.

Josh is survived by his parents, Clint and Tanis Saunders of Casper, as well as his sisters, aunts, cousins, grandparents, a great-grandmother, and several great aunts and uncles. Sadly, Josh’s online world has some really horrible people in it, so the family names have been withheld for the sake of their privacy and safety.

Josh loved older people and animals, and he had a way with both. One of Josh’s best friends was senior citizen who Josh loved visiting and having long conversations with. This is likely due to the relationships he had with his grandparents and great grandparents.

Josh was very fortunate growing up to have, not only his grandparents in his life, but also his great grandparents. At the age of 21, 6 out of 8 of his great grandparents were still living, and one of his great grandmas is still alive today. Through reunions, holidays, and visits filled with games and laughter, Josh had a relationship with each of his grandparents and great-grandparents, and he loved them all dearly. As they all continued to get older, Josh would often tear up and cry on his dad’s shoulder when talking about his fear of losing them.

Josh was a unique soul who lived in his own world—on his own terms. His eccentric personality often made him a target for bullies. Despite being the target of relentless bullying, every single day of his life starting at the age of 5, Josh stayed strong and was always true to himself.

Josh started a YouTube channel when he was a teenager and the channel continued to grow and grow until he was known all over the world. A fellow YouTuber once told his dad that even though Josh ‘only’ had around 100,000 subscribers, his online reach was in the millions. On Josh’s YouTube channel and Facebook, Josh was always unapologetically himself and shared himself with the world without a filter and without fear of judgement. His dad often told Josh, “I’ve never met another person with the bravery to be so vulnerable, and I probably never will.”

Josh was extremely (if sometimes accidentally) funny. From the time he was a child, he loved to make people laugh. That continued into his adult life. Josh’s sense of humor and vulnerability were two characteristics that made him so popular online.

Thousands of tributes dedicated to Josh have appeared online. They have provided an enormous amount of comfort to Josh’s family who would like to thank everyone who took the time to express their condolences. These tributes also speak to the unique impact Josh had on the world.

Here is one of those tributes. Thank you, Emma, for this beautiful poem, it truly touched our hearts.

• For KingCobraJFS — A Tribute
• by Emma Jayne Flora, a fellow outsider who saw the spark

• I found you in the silence of lockdown nights,
• A voice rough with gravel, singing Ozzy in flickering light.
• Not polished. Not clean. But realer than most—
• A gothic soul, a wand-maker, Casper’s ghost.

• You rode your bike through town like a spell on wheels,
• No script, no mask, just truth that heals.
• And something stirred in me—quiet but loud:
• A sense that being different could still make you proud.

• We were born in the same year,
• But you lived without fear.
• While I wore a mask to be liked,
• You wore leather and eyeliner like armor in the fight.

• They laughed at you—but I never did.
• Because behind your pain, I saw the kid
• Who was bullied too young and treated without care,
• Just like me, gasping for breath in stale, heavy air.

• You were raw. You were broken. You were brave.
• And though the world didn’t know how to behave—
• You stayed you. With your tactical soap and steel resolve,
• A reminder that I didn’t need to dissolve.

• So thank you, Josh, for being the goth wizard of truth,
• For holding the line since our youth.
• You’ll never know how much it meant—
• But your impact was real. Your time was well-spent.

• I just wish I could say this while you were still near:
• That you helped me come back to myself, crystal clear.
• So wherever you ride now—through mist, through stars—
• Know you left behind more than battle scars.

• Rest easy, King.
• Your magic lives on in the songs we sing.

Stay strong, stay weird, and never stop being unapologetically you, even in death. We'll meet at Cobra's Cantina, and we'll have a drink with Ozzy.

That’s what’s up. 

Josh will be missed beyond what words can express, he was the most unique and brave person I knew. I was proud to be his dad and told him that often.

Because Josh spent so much time in the online world and had so many online fans, we will be doing a live event on his YouTube channel for a celebration of life.

The online celebration of life for Josh will be on Sunday, September 21st at 7:00pm Mountain Daylight Time. This is during the Fall Solstice. We feel that the Solstice is a perfect time to celebrate Josh and send him off. Please join us on Josh’s YouTube page at the link below and have a drink combo ready to toast Josh at the end. https://www.youtube.com/@KingCobraJFS/featured

In lieu of flowers, please make donations to any of the following: The Casper Humane Society - Josh loved animals and several of his/our dogs came from there. Any trusted autism research organization except Autism Speaks. The family strongly discourages donating to that organization; they feel they are not a trusted organization.

To share a memory of Joshua or leave a special message for the family, please visit the guestbook below.