Bartow murder suspect indicted in Gordon County
Alex Bernard Joyner was arrested after a chase ended in Calhoun last year.
A Cartersville man accused of two carjackings in Floyd County and murder in Bartow County has been indicted by a Gordon County Grand Jury.
In March of last year, Alex Bernard Joyner, then 30, was charged with killing his girlfriend, Malayca Jones, 27, who had been found dead at the Morgan
Square Apartments in Cartersville.
According to Cartersville Police Department reports, investigators learned Joyner had been arrested last March in Calhoun after leading Gordon County Sheriff’s Office deputies on a high-speed chase in a stolen vehicle. Joyner had carjacked two vehicles in Floyd County and was armed at the time of his arrest.
Floyd County Police Department investigators later located Jones’ vehicle abandoned near the scene of the first carjacking.
Joyner was also initially charged with aggravated battery, aggravated assault and theft by taking motor vehicle in connection with the murder.
According to Gordon County Sheriff’s Office and Floyd County Police reports, at around 5:50 a.m. he approached a woman at her New Heritage Road home, put a pistol to her face and demanded her car. However, he crashed the Chrysler Pacifica in a sharp curve near Calhoun Highway. He then walked to a nearby gas station on
Adairsville Road, pointed his gun at an attendant and stole her car.
An alert went out on the stolen car and a GCSO deputy spotted it on Ga. 53 Spur. Joyner sped away but the deputy pursued the car to the area of Court Street and River Street. Joyner hit another vehicle, lost control and crashed near the Calhoun Post Office.
Deputies, joined by Calhoun Police Department officers, arrested Joyner and recovered the gun believed to have been used in the carjackings.
He initially faced several charges in Gordon County, and last week a Grand Jury indicted Joyner on charges of fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer, reckless driving, driving under the influence of alcohol, failure to maintain lane, speeding, improper passing, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
In Floyd County Joyner was initially charged with aggravated assault, terroristic threats, false imprisonment and weapons violations.
Already on probation stemming from a 2009 incident where he was convicted of aggravated assault, a firearms violation and theft in Bartow, Joyner had that probation revoked by Cherokee Judicial Circuit Judge Suzanne H. Smith in early August. In February of last year, he had been sentenced to serve 60 days for a felony probation violation.
Joyner remains in the Bartow County Jail, charged with murder, probation violation, two counts of theft by taking, aggravated battery, aggravated assault by strangulation.