Kriti Mehrotra
While relationships can often be complicated, hard, and stressful, nobody ever imagines they could culminate in murder. However, as profiled in Netflix’s ‘Worst Ex Ever: Fatal Attraction,’ that’s precisely how two connections ended for Joyce Marie Lewis-Pelzer. While her ex-girlfriend Shawndell McLeod suddenly disappeared without a trace left behind in September 2011, her estranged wife Rosalyn Lewis was found heinously stabbed to death in December 2018. It took a while, but thanks to documented evidence, surveillance footage, as well as witness statements, authorities were eventually able to convict her for both homicides, and that too after separate trials.
Joyce Pelzer Was Always a Person of Interest in Shawndell McLeod’s Disappearance
Born in 1976, Joyce Marie Lewis-Pelzer was reportedly a proud registered nurse but had trouble keeping jobs for various reasons. It thus significantly affected her personal life and relationships, including the one she shared with her long-term girlfriend, Shawndell McLeod, in the late 2000s/early 2010s. According to the aforementioned original, the couple decided to move in together at some point in their romance, but it was the latter who allegedly paid for most of their decorations and daily expenses. Nevertheless, when they became rocky following Joyce’s infidelity with Rosalyn Lewis, she was the one who took everything from their home, including the furniture, light fixtures, and toilet seats.
As per records, Joyce and Shawndell broke up for good around this period, but the former could not stand the thought of it and allegedly became mentally as well as physically abusive. She had reportedly already isolated the loving family woman from many of her loved ones, claiming she didn’t like her spending time with them, which is a situation that only worsened after their split. That’s because, in July 2011, she allegedly broke into the home they once shared in the middle of the night, grabbed a knife, and threatened to take her ex-partner’s life if they could not work things through.
The reported incident left Shawndell so shocked that she not only sought a temporary protective order against Joyce but also purchased a gun for self-defense, according to court documents. But alas, she suddenly went missing in September 2011, after which suspicion fell on her most recent ex-girlfriend, despite Joyce’s new partner, Rosalyn, corroborating her alibi that they were together. Authorities suspected her not only because of her tumultuous history with the disappeared woman but also because Shawntwell had told friends mere days prior that if something happened to her, Joyce was responsible.
Joyce Pelzer’s Alleged Confessions to a New Girlfriend Became Key Evidence
Although officials and Shawndell’s loved ones all believed Joyce to have had a hand in her ex’s vanishing, she was only ever questioned in connection with it for years owing to a lack of evidence. However, everything turned upside down in the summer of 2018 when some officials reached out to a woman named Katie Long, who told them she had been seeing Joyce for a few months. Katie admitted that while Joyce and Rosalyn had tied the knot and were still married, she was also in the equation, as the couple seemed to be separating after long-standing issues. More importantly, the healthcare provider for the elderly told them Joyce had once confessed to killing Shawndell.
Katie asserted that while she didn’t want anything to do with Joyce anymore, she was still in contact with her in the hopes of getting more information regarding precisely what had transpired. According to the aforementioned original, later on, the former registered nurse allegedly told her that she had hired someone to kidnap Shawntell from her workplace, and Rosalyn was a part of it too. Then, as per Katie’s account on the show, the couple allegedly killed their captive and buried her somewhere in a wooded area, or reportedly just buried her alive deep within a wooded area so that she could never be found.
Katie relayed all of this to the authorities, unaware that she would get another call from Joyce in August 2018, telling her she was heading to New Orleans, Louisiana, to “take care” of some business. The former had learned by this point that her on-again-off-again partner’s estranged wife, Rosalyn, had moved there to take care of a relative some time prior, so she knew another life was in trouble. After all, Joyce had reportedly also told her that she was going to blame Rosalyn for Shawntell’s disappearance and murder. Therefore, she contacted the police and Rosalyn as soon as she could, which worked for a while, until Joyce soon returned to Florida without taking any overtly criminal steps.
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Joyce Pelzer is Currently Serving Time Behind Bars for Two Homicides
Unfortunately, a few months later, Joyce managed to lure Rosalyn to a Georgia hotel under the pretense of being ready to sign the divorce papers the latter had long prepared. There, at a Motel 6 in Conyers, on December 10, 2018, she stabbed her estranged partner more than 30 times with a small knife before fleeing the scene in her truck. By the time authorities arrived at the scene, thanks to calls by witnesses who had heard screams and seen a bloody Rosalyn lying right beside the open doorway, she was barely breathing. She managed to identify her attacker as Joyce to deputies at the scene, but sadly succumbed to her injuries shortly after.
Thus began a search for the killer, with efforts including examinations of surveillance camera footage, issuing a BOLO (be on the lookout), and a chase. Joyce was arrested within hours, with bloody clothing and the murder weapon in the vehicle with her, but she reportedly still did her best to maintain her innocence. However, more than 2 years later, in January 2021, she pleaded guilty to one count of murder in connection with Rosalyn’s stabbing death in exchange for life in prison with the possibility of parole.
It’s imperative to note that by this point, Joyce had told authorities it was her estranged wife who was responsible for Shawndell’s 2011 murder, claiming she had hired 2 hitmen. She also claimed Rosalyn had her ex-girlfriend buried near/in a ravine in Arabia Mountain. But alas, despite significant efforts, her remains have never been found. In the end, it was Joyce who was charged, tried, and found guilty of Shawndell’s murder in late 2023, for which she was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in February 2024. Hence, today, at the age of 50, she is incarcerated at the medium-security Pulaski State Prison in Hawkinsville, Georgia, where she is expected to remain for the rest of her natural life.
