Family Member Charged with Murder in Oconee County Homicide

There has been an arrest made in an overnight homicide in Seneca.

Deputies received a call from a motorist on Hope Avenue in the Utica community about 1:00am Friday morning, stating that she saw a man with a knife in the roadway near a vehicle. She reported that he left the area on foot and appeared to be bleeding.

Investigators began searching the area. A few minutes later another 911 call was received from 34 Ames Street from a female stating that her husband had been cut and needed medical assistance.

Deputies and EMS responded to the home to find the victim, Joe Bentley Gulledge, age 53, cut and bleeding from a knife wound. Gulledge died a few minutes later.

John Gulledge doesn’t understand why someone would kill his uncle.  “He was a good man.  H was a damn good man.  He didn’t deserve this,“ the victim’s nephew said.

Oconee County Coroner Karl Addis ruled that Gulledge bled to death from the knife wound.  This is the 8th homicide of the year in Oconee County.

Acting on information provided by witnesses to the altercation, investigators have identified the suspect as Gulledge’s brother-in-law, Randall Eugene Mauldin, age 47.  Mauldin lived in the same home as Gulledge.

Mauldin is currently in custody at the Oconee County Law Enforcement Center. He is charged with murder in connection with the death of Gulledge.

Investigators are still interviewing witnesses, but at this time Gulledge’s death appears to be the result of a domestic altercation the two men had minutes prior to the stabbing.

Both alcohol and drugs are believed to have been involved. The Oconee County Coroner’s office is assisting with the investigation.