On January 16, 2022, 24-year-old Cody Taylor was found shot to death at a residence in the 53000 block of Cemetery Road in the unincorporated community of Perdido, Alabama. Deputies discovered Taylor’s body after a man and a woman walked into the Baldwin County Corrections Center docket room around 10:30 a.m. and reported that someone had been killed; staff summoned a deputy and detained the pair for questioning.

The man who reported the death was identified as 23-year-old Ethan Branum of Bay Minette and was arrested and charged with murder. He also faced charges of unlawful imprisonment, first-degree burglary, and menacing; the woman who accompanied him was treated as a witness and was not charged. Bond for Branum was set at $259,000 and the investigation into the circumstances of Taylor’s fatal gunshot wound remained ongoing.

If anyone saw or heard anything in Perdido around January 16 that could help investigators, please come forward with information.