BAY MINETTE, Alabama — A Bay Minette man is being held on murder charges after his live-in girlfriend was found shot to death Friday in their home on Cottage Hill Road.
Elzie Rufus Joiner, 39, whose address is listed on the Baldwin County Corrections Facility website as Stockton, but was identified in a Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office release as the live-in boyfriend of the victim, is in jail without bond, charged with felony murder and discharging a firearm into an occupied dwelling or vehicle; along with misdemeanor charges of reckless endangerment and an alias writ of arrest warrant for driving with a suspended license.
According to the BCSO release issued Saturday, deputies with the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office Uniform Services Division received a report of a domestic dispute at 9:10 p.m. Friday, May 22 on Cottage Hill Road in Bay Minette.
Upon arrival, deputies discovered 35-year-old Candise Marie Kleinatland inside the residence suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Deputies attempted life saving measures, but Kleinatland expired on the scene.
According to the release, Joiner was taken into custody after admitting to deputies he shot Kleinatland. A 12-year-old was inside the residence when the shooting occurred but was unharmed.
This is the second murder investigation in the Bay Minette area reported in 2020. On March 14, Bay Minette Police arrested Alonzo Darrell Hale, 28, of Bay Minette in connection with the shooting of 19-year-old Larry Darnell Smith Jr. during an altercation at a Circle K gas station in the early-morning hours. Hale was released March 27 on a $200,000 bond.
