A man once freed after prosecutors' first murder case against him fell apart is back in custody, more than a decade after a woman was shot and killed near a rural Kentucky gun range. Deandre Louis McElroy, 40, was apprehended following a fresh grand jury indictment tied to the 2014 killing of 21-year-old Donesha McStoots.
McElroy now faces a fresh grand jury indictment tied to the killing. He was apprehended after the indictment. The indictment reflects that at least nine of the 12 grand jurors found sufficient evidence to move the case toward trial, though it explicitly does not determine McElroy's guilt or innocence.
A Killing Near the Gun Range Entrance
McStoots was found near the entrance of Knob Creek Gun Range in West Point around 6:49 p.m. on May 9, 2014, suffering from a gunshot wound to the back, The Pioneer News reported. She was rushed to a local hospital, where she later died of her injuries. The gun range entrance sits near the intersection of Highway 44 and Dixie Highway, according to WDRB.
The range's owner, Kenny Sumner, told WDRB he heard four quick gunshots while closing up for the night and initially assumed trespassers were responsible. When he went to investigate on foot, he instead found McStoots crawling along a gravel road, bleeding and partially unclothed, and drove her in his own vehicle to Southwest Hospital, where she later died.
McStoots was a native of Hardin County who had settled in Louisville, raised alongside her sister Maresha, who was born just nine months and one day after her, WDRB reported.
Forensic Evidence and a Digital Trail
The Bullitt County Sheriff's Office investigated McStoots' death as a homicide. Investigators later disclosed that sulfuric acid had been poured on McStoots' body in an apparent attempt to destroy DNA evidence, but detectives still managed to extract usable genetic material linking McElroy to the crime, according to WHAS11.
The First Arrest and Its Collapse
McElroy was first arrested on May 28, 2015, nearly 400 days after the murder, with LMPD's Fugitive Unit involved, per WHAS11's reporting.
That original case did not hold. In June 2015, a Bullitt District Court judge dismissed the murder charge against McElroy without prejudice. The dismissal without prejudice left the door open for prosecutors to refile if new or reconsidered evidence surfaced.
Case Reopened After a Decade
The Bullitt County Commonwealth's Attorney's Office consulted with sheriff's office detectives before the sheriff's office presented the case to a grand jury, which returned the new indictment.
Following the September 2026 indictment, McElroy was booked into the Bullitt County Detention Center on September 21, 2026.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Bullitt County Sheriff's Department.
