The man who killed a teacher from a Glendale elementary school within Deer Valley Unified School District was sentenced in a Flagstaff courtroom Tuesday to a life sentence with no chance of parole.
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The man who killed a teacher from a Glendale elementary school within Deer Valley Unified School District was sentenced in a Flagstaff courtroom Tuesday to a life sentence with no chance of parole.
Charlie Malzahn, 32, pleaded guilty in June to first-degree murder, abandonment of a body and other charges in the 2017 death of Cathryn Gorospe. He was sentenced in Coconino County Superior Court in Flagstaff.
Gorospe taught at Arrowhead Elementary School, 7490 W. Union Hills Drive, in Glendale. Her Linkedin profile lists her starting date with DVUSD as August 2006.
She had been helping Malzahn curb drug addictions and straighten out his life, according to Associated Press reports.
Gorospe, 44, went missing in October 2017 after posting bond for Malzahn, who was jailed in Coconino County and had at least three prior felony convictions for crimes that spanned the state. She put up her house as collateral to further help him turn his life around, AP reported.
Instead, he stabbed her multiple times near Williams, where the two met. He was the stepson of a police chief and was working at a restaurant, and Gorospe was working a summer job as a tour guide in the town that’s about an hour from the Grand Canyon, where she had rafted the river and often hiked, according to AP.
Malzahn later was seen driving Gorospe’s blood-stained SUV in Phoenix and was arrested after fleeing from law enforcement. He gave authorities details and directions that narrowed the search for Gorospe’s body.
Gorospe’s remains were found on private property in Mayer, about 85 miles south of Williams. Along with multiple stab wounds, she had broken ribs and defensive wounds. The remains were identified using dental records.
“We are deeply saddened to learn of the death of our Arrowhead Teacher Cathryn Gorospe,” DVUSD shared in a released statement in October 2017. “Cathryn’s friends and colleagues at Arrowhead Elementary School and throughout the Deer Valley Unified School District had hoped and prayed for a different outcome.”
Prosecutors agreed to drop capital punishment as a sentencing option for Malzahn in exchange for his pleas.
“She was a smart and fun person who was driven in any project she took on,” her stepmother Deidre Gorospe told The Associated Press. “And unfortunately she had this flawed belief that anybody could be rescued with enough kindness and compassion. And while that served the kids she taught and the pets she rescued, unfortunately with her murderer, it cost her her life.”
For family members and friends of Cathryn Gorospe, the Flagstaff courtroom on Tuesday marked their first time seeing Malzahn in person since her 2017 slaying, according to AP.
Gorospe’s father, Ray, told the court Tuesday that nothing he experienced as soldier and a firefighter compared to knowing his daughter had been stabbed to death and then run over with her car.
“I didn’t know it was possible to feel so much pain without being physically injured,” Ray Gorospe said in between sobs, per the AP. “People talk of closure. To me, there will be never be closure, only the terrible pain of losing my daughter.”
Gorospe grew up in California but moved to Arizona to attend college and stayed, teaching elementary school children in Glendale and frequently visiting the northern part of the state, the AP noted.
Gorospe and Malzahn dated for about a month before she bailed him out of jail, according to records. Gorospe tried to set boundaries to ensure he sought help for substance abuse and he would get a job, Deidre Gorospe said.
Malzahn has spent the last few years jailed in Maricopa County on separate charges and at the state psychiatric hospital to ensure he was competent to proceed with the murder case in Coconino County.
The judge on Tuesday also ordered that he serve consecutive sentences ranging from 2-1/2 years to 15 years for the other charges. They include theft of means of transportation, theft of a credit card and armed robbery.
Malzahn spoke briefly during the hearing.
“I just want to say I’m sorry. I know it doesn’t change anything,” he said.
Steve Stockmar has been with the Independent Newsmedia team since 2017. An NAU alum and Peoria resident, Steve’s community journalism pursuits focus mostly on arts & culture, education, and profiles of neighbors making a difference. In his spare time Steve plays in a vintage baseball league using uniforms and rules from the 1860s, and also acts (badly) in community theater. In addition, he has an unhealthy obsession with baseball and the Chicago Cubs.
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