Bond Denied Again To Eldridge, Accused Of Beating Man To Death

CARTERSVILLE, GA — A man charged with murder in connection with the brutal beating death of an elderly Bartow County man has been denied bond a second time.

Authorities accuse Jason Monroe Eldridge, 44, of murdering Floyd Calvin Lee, 86, after Lee caught him on May 6, 2020, trying to burglarize his Floral Drive home. Eldridge pleaded not guilty to all charges related to Lee’s death.

Assistant District Attorney Suzanne Brookshire said during Eldridge’s hearing Monday that “Lee was essentially beaten to death in the head with a two-by-four.” Hospitalized with a fractured skull, Lee died on May 8.

“This is a horrendous crime,” Brookshire said as reported by The Daily Tribune News in Cartersville. “There was blood spatter everywhere.”

Public defender Jennifer Brock asked Cherokee Judicial Circuit Judge Jeffrey Watkins to grant Eldridge an unspecified “reasonable bond.” If released, she added, Eldridge would probably live with his sister in Euharlee.

Watkins instead denied bond because of the possibility that Eldridge might “intimidate witnesses and victims.”

Eldridge previously had been denied bond in June 2020, soon after his arrest.

According to the Cartersville newspaper, Eldridge faces one count of malice murder, two counts of felony murder, three counts of aggravated assault and two counts of exploitation and intimidation of an elderly person.

Read the story in The Daily Tribune News.