A 44-year-old man is charged with second-degree murder after investigators say he broke into a Mankato townhome Sunday afternoon with a rifle, severely assaulted his ex-girlfriend and fatally shot her boyfriend.
Joseph David Bulfer, of Fairmont, faces eight felony counts in connection with the shooting on the 700 block of Castle Pines Drive, including second-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault, second-degree assault, felon in possession of a firearm and three counts of first-degree burglary.
According to the criminal complaint filed in Blue Earth County District Court, officers were dispatched to the area around 1:35 p.m. on Sunday, April 26, after a neighbor reported hearing a loud bang and noticed a hole in their wall coming from the adjacent townhome.
While officers were on the way, dispatchers received a second call from a woman inside the residence who reported that a man had shot her with an AR-15. Dispatchers could hear the suspect was still on scene and that a man inside the home was reportedly dead.
The woman, later identified as 37-year-old Rosalyn Marie Rode, of Mankato, was able to call 911 by hiding her cell phone on her body.
The complaint says officers arrived and approached an open door at the residence. While clearing the ground floor, they heard a gunshot from upstairs and moved up the stairway. When they reached the top landing, a door opened and Bulfer emerged into the hallway. Other officers saw him throw a rifle into a bedroom before raising his hands.
When asked who else was in the residence, Bulfer told officers that Rode was in the bathroom and that the other man was “f***ing dead.”
Officers handcuffed Bulfer and led him outside. While being escorted to a squad car, Bulfer told officers, “Hey sorry guys. Didn’t mean to get you out here today.”
Officers found 52-year-old Joshua Robert Downey, of Mankato, on the bedroom floor with catastrophic injuries and no pulse. A rifle was on the bed and about 20 spent shell casings were on the floor, the complaint states.
Rode was found in the attached bathroom, covered in blood with her head down in the bathtub. She was taken to Mayo Clinic Health System in Mankato, where preliminary information indicates she suffered numerous contusions to her head and body, a laceration to her head, a collapsed lung and three to four broken ribs.
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A provisional autopsy revealed six entrance gunshot wounds to Downey’s head and face, multiple entrance, exit and graze gunshot wounds to his torso, four entrance gunshot wounds to his right arm and shoulder and a gunshot wound to his left forearm.
Rode told investigators she had dated Bulfer and broke up with him around December of last year. She began dating Downey, and Bulfer couldn’t handle it. On the morning of the shooting, Bulfer wanted to talk with Rode, who told him she was going to church and running errands. Rode said she and Downey were watching a movie in her townhome Sunday afternoon when Bulfer arrived.
The front door was locked and the garage door was shut, but Rode heard the door open and someone running up the stairs. Bulfer opened the bedroom door and immediately began shooting at Downey multiple times, according to the complaint.
Bulfer then turned the gun on himself while screaming at Rode that the shooting was her fault. He hit her multiple times, forced her into the bathroom and struck her in the head with the butt stock of the rifle while she sat on the toilet. Bulfer demanded she get into the bathtub so he could drain her blood. Rode entered the bathtub and begged him not to kill her because her children needed her.
Bulfer pointed the rifle at Rode multiple times and also put it to his own head before firing into the floor and wall. Rode was able to secretly call 911 and hide the phone under her body until officers arrived.
Dispatchers who were on the open phone line heard Bulfer tell Rode, “you just caused [Downey] to die” and “Do you want me to pull the trigger.” Rode could be heard pleading, “please don’t, please don’t, stop it.”
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Court records show Bulfer has three prior felony convictions in Martin County, including domestic assault by strangulation in 2013, first-degree burglary in 2013 and threats of violence in 2021. He was also convicted of violating an order for protection in 2002. Bulfer is prohibited from possessing firearms due to his prior convictions for crimes of violence.
The Mankato Department of Public Safety was assisted by the Blue Earth County Sheriff’s Office, Minnesota State Patrol, Lake Crystal Police Department, North Mankato Police Department and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
The second-degree murder charge carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison.
