A woman charged with fatally shooting her former
sister-in-law and driving around with the body for hours pleaded not
guilty to murder today.

Sandra Lee Kotz, 48, entered the plea during an arraignment at Fontana
Superior Court.

Authorities contend that she shot and killed 58-year-old Ellen Ann
Bayless sometime Saturday and drove the victim’s car for more than 10
hours before Rialto police found her just before 1 a.m. Sunday.

Kotz apparently called her sister in Washington State to report what had
happened. The sister was able to direct officers to the 500 block of
Joyce Street, where Kotz was found sitting on a curb with a handgun in
her purse.

Bayless’ body was found covered with blankets in the passenger seat of
her 2005 Dodge Neon. Kotz directed police to the vehicle, which she had
parked in a nearby field.

A motive has not been determined but authorities say the two women were
arguing about family issues prior to the shooting.

Bayless was no longer married to Kotz’s brother but had offered to help
her because Kotz was homeless.

Police are still trying to determine where the shooting took place but
witnesses place the pair in Yucaipa around the time Bayless was killed.

Originally posted by Staff Writer Stacia Glenn.

An armed transient was found pacing a Rialto
street early Sunday after fatally shooting her sister-in-law and driving
around with the body for hours, police say.

Sandra Lee Kotz, 48, is being held without bail at West Valley Detention
Center in Rancho Cucamonga on suspicion of murder.An armed transient was found pacing a Rialto
street early Sunday after fatally shooting her sister-in-law and driving
around with the body for hours, police say.

“This is just really bizarre,” said Rialto police Lt. Joe Cirilo. “We
have a victim, we have a gun but what we don’t have is the motive and
the location where this occurred.”

It was 12:45 a.m. when Kotz’s sister in Washington State called police
to report a conversation she’d just had with Kotz.

Kotz “told her she’d killed their sister-in-law and had been driving
around for several hours with the body in the car,” Cirilo said.

The sister was able to direct police to a home in the 500 block of S.
Joyce Street, where Kotz allegedly told her sister she was headed.

Officers found a distraught Kotz walking on the street just after 2
a.m., armed with a handgun they believe was used to kill 58-year-old
Ellen Ann Bayless.

Kotz took police to the victim’s white 2005 Dodge Neon, which was parked
in a nearby field. Bayless, who had been shot in the upper body, was
dead in the car.

Detectives are trying to figure out where the shooting occurred and how
the two women came to be in the same place. It’s possible that Kotz was
in Yucaipa, where Bayless lived, immediately after the shooting.

Bayless’ husband – Kotz’s brother – has not been located. Kotz is a
transient whose last known address was in Upland.