Authorities transferred a Cartersville man accused of a Cartersville murder in March of 2022 from Riverbend Correctional Facility in Milledgeville to the Floyd County Jail on Tuesday to face armed robbery and aggravated assault charges there.
The Calhoun Times reports that on March 18th, 2022, 33-year-old Alex Bernard Joyner took a 2006 Blue Chrysler Pacifica at gunpoint from a woman in Calhoun, drove away, crashed in Floyd County, and then walked to a nearby gas station. He reportedly approached a gas station attendant, pointed a gun at her, and told her to give him her car keys.
Joyner then fled back into Gordon County. A deputy on the lookout for the stolen car attempted to stop the vehicle, but Joyner purportedly sped away. A pursuit ensued until Joyner reportedly struck another vehicle, lost control, and crashed near the Calhoun Post Office.
The deputy arrested Joyner without further incident, and fellow deputies recovered the firearm they believed he used in the crimes.
In Floyd County, he has been indicted on felony armed robbery, aggravated assault, hijacking, theft, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, among other charges.
The following afternoon, Cartersville Police Officers responded
to a report of an unresponsive female at a residence in the Morgan Square Apartments off East Felton Road. Upon arrival, officers found 27-year-old Malayca Jones deceased inside the apartment, covered in blood, with a pair of scissors on her back. Officers found glass shards and debris scattered through the room. The complainant told police she’d heard a fight the day before the carjackings and had not seen Jones or Joyner since.
Floyd County Police Investigators located her vehicle abandoned near
the scene of Joyner’s first alleged carjacking.
On March 23rd, 2022, Alex Bernard Joyner received charges in Bartow County for murder, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, and theft by taking a motor vehicle.
Joyner had been in the Riverbend Correctional Facility since September 1st, 2022, for previous aggravated assault and theft convictions from Bartow County in 2008 before being transferred to the Floyd County Jail on Tuesday to face the current charges.
He was indicted in Floyd County in May and remained in jail on holds from both Bartow and Gordon counties.