Joshua Robert Downey died at a Castle Pines Drive home where police also found Rosalyn Marie Rode injured.
MANKATO, Minn. — Authorities identified 52-year-old Joshua Robert Downey as the man killed in a Mankato townhome shooting that led to murder and attempted murder charges against his girlfriend’s former boyfriend.
Downey, a Mankato resident, was found dead April 26 in a bedroom on the 700 block of Castle Pines Drive. Police also found 37-year-old Rosalyn Marie Rode injured in a bathroom. Joseph David Bulfer, 44, of Fairmont, was arrested at the scene and later charged in Blue Earth County District Court. The complaint says Downey and Rode were watching a movie when Bulfer entered the home with a rifle.
The city’s public safety update named Downey as the homicide victim and identified Rode as the injured woman transported to Mayo Clinic Health System in Mankato. Local reports later described Downey as a county parks supervisor and a father of two. The complaint does not include family statements from Downey’s relatives, but it describes a violent attack that began suddenly inside the private home. Rode told investigators she had been dating Downey after ending a prior relationship with Bulfer in about December 2025. She said Bulfer could not handle the new relationship. Prosecutors have not said that Downey did anything to provoke the shooting.
The afternoon started with a neighbor’s call. At about 1:35 p.m., a person reported hearing a loud bang, noticing a hole in a wall and hearing banging from the townhome behind the caller’s residence. The caller thought gunshots had been fired. While officers were on the way, dispatchers received another emergency call from inside the home. The complaint says the caller reported being shot with an AR-15. The open line then carried sounds and statements that led dispatchers to report the suspect was still inside, Downey was dead and Rode had been forced into the shower area. Officers arrived to a scene still unfolding.
Police entered through an open north-side door after locating the residence. Officer Rick Wanderscheid said officers were clearing the ground floor when he heard a shot upstairs. He followed Officer Courtney Walker toward the sound. At the top landing, Walker, Wanderscheid and Sgt. Matt Huettl called out the layout of the floor. A door opened, and Bulfer came into the hallway. The complaint says other officers saw him throw a rifle into a bedroom before raising his hands. Officers ordered him forward. Minnesota State Patrol Sgt. Ryan Marthaler handcuffed him. Police then moved to check the rooms and the people inside.
Downey was found in the bedroom with obvious trauma and no sign of life, the complaint says. A fire department member confirmed he had no pulse. A rifle was lying on the bed, spent rifle rounds were on the floor and officers saw holes in a wall that looked like bullet damage. A provisional autopsy found six entrance wounds to Downey’s head and face, multiple entrance, exit and graze wounds to his torso, four entrance wounds to his right arm and shoulder, and a wound to his left forearm. Investigators recovered about 20 spent shell casings from the bedroom. The complaint says reports from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Crime Scene Team were still pending when charges were filed.
Rode was located in the attached bathroom, covered in blood, visibly scared and with her head down in the bathtub. She told Marthaler her head and side hurt and was able to walk out with help. Medical information in the complaint said she had numerous bruises to her head and body, a head laceration, a collapsed lung and three to four broken ribs. She later told investigators that Bulfer had struck her with the butt stock of the rifle and his hand, pointed the gun at himself and at her, and fired into the floor and wall. The complaint does not give a final hospital update.
Rode’s statement gave investigators a timeline for the hours before Downey died. She said Bulfer contacted her the morning of April 26 and asked to talk. She told him she was going to church and would then run errands. Later, she and Downey were together at her townhome. Rode said the front door was locked and the garage door was shut. She heard the door open and footsteps running upstairs. Bulfer entered the bedroom and fired multiple rounds at Downey, she told investigators. Afterward, he yelled that she was responsible and forced her to look at Downey, according to the complaint.
The attack then shifted to the bathroom, where Rode said Bulfer continued beating her. She told investigators she was sitting on the toilet when he hit her in the head with the rifle. He demanded that she get into the bathtub so he could drain her blood, the complaint says. Rode said she pleaded with him and told him her children needed her. She also said she secretly called 911 with a phone she kept hidden and left the call running under her body. Dispatcher notes summarized in the complaint say Bulfer could be heard blaming Rode for Downey’s death and asking, “Do you want me to pull the trigger.”
Bulfer’s alleged words after police detained him contrast with the violence described in the home. When asked who else was inside, he told officers Rode was in the bathroom and Downey was dead, the complaint says. He later said, “I apologize for the inconvenience.” While officers walked him to a squad car, he said, “Hey sorry guys. Didn’t mean to get you out here today.” A medic asked if he needed care, and the complaint says he declined, saying he wanted to go to jail. The filing does not say whether he later made a recorded statement to investigators or explained how he entered the locked home.
Prosecutors charged Bulfer with second-degree murder with intent, attempted second-degree murder with intent, first-degree assault, second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, illegal possession of a firearm and three counts of first-degree burglary. The complaint says he has prior felony convictions for threats of violence, first-degree burglary and domestic assault by strangulation. Those convictions support the firearm count because prosecutors say he was barred from possessing a gun or ammunition. Local reports said his bail was set at $5 million with conditions or $10 million without conditions. Bulfer is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
The legal process is now moving around the evidence from Downey’s death and Rode’s survival. Prosecutors are expected to use the autopsy, the recovered shell casings, the rifle, Rode’s medical records, the 911 recordings and officers’ observations. Investigators were still awaiting crime scene reports when the complaint was filed, and the court filing said more details could be added later. Questions that remain include how Bulfer entered the townhome, whether additional forensic tests connect the rifle to each shot and whether any further charges or amended allegations will follow.
For Mankato, the case began as a neighborhood report of a bang and a hole in a wall. It ended with a homicide victim identified, an injured woman hospitalized and a Fairmont man detained on eight felony counts. Court proceedings in Blue Earth County will determine how the charges move forward and what evidence a jury may eventually hear.
Author note: Last updated May 22, 2026.