Body of missing elementary school teacher from Glendale found
Oct 20, 2017, 2:09 PM | Updated: Oct 23, 2017, 6:53 pm
PHOENIX — Officials with the Flagstaff Police Department said they confirmed that a body found last week is a missing elementary school teacher from Glendale.
According to Sgt. Cory Runge, law enforcement located the remains of an adult female believed to be Cathryn Gorospe on Oct. 13.
Flagstaff police said on Friday that the remains were of Gorospe, which was confirmed using dental records.
The remains were located near Mayer. The cause of death is unknown.
Police said Gorospe’s boyfriend, 27-year-old Charlie Malzahn, is being considered a suspect in her disappearance. He has not been charged in connection to the case.
Gorospe, a 44-year-old teacher at Arrowhead Elementary, was reported as a missing person on Monday.
Gorospe told her roommate that she would be back after she drove north to bail out Malzahn on Friday.
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Her roommate called police two days later after not hearing from her.
Flagstaff police said Gorospe was last seen at the jail just after 10 p.m. Friday, where she bailed out Malzahn. He had been in jail since Aug. 20 on theft and weapons charges.
Malzahn was located in Tucson on Oct. 7, where he used Gorospe’s credit cards. He also contacted acquaintances in Clifton, Arizona in an attempt to get drugs, police said.
One of Malzahn’s acquaintances said he was driving a vehicle that matched the description of Gorospe’s car, which had blood on the inside and parts of the rear bumper and front quarter panel were missing or damaged.
Malzahn was located in Phoenix on Monday in Gorospe’s vehicle. He attempted to flee from officers but crashed the car and allegedly assaulted two police officers in an attempt to escape the police station once he was caught.
According to court paperwork, Malzahn was being fingerprinted by Phoenix Police Department officers when he allegedly attacked them. Police said Malzhan placed his handcuffs around one officer’s head and neck. One officer suffered a nine-inch cut to the back of the head.
Malzahn was incarcerated in Flagstaff after he was found guilty of stealing his sister’s car in August, according to court paperwork.
Malzahn was driving on the Interstate 10 in Tempe with his sister and her children when he became afraid that she “was going to have him ‘sniped’ by a car next to them.”
Malzahn then pulled out a handgun, stopped the vehicle and took the children out. He later called his sister and told her that the vehicle was at a restaurant in Williams. Police arrested Malzahn without incident.
Malzahn was also charged after he allegedly assaulted a female Arizona State University student on the same day Gorospe was reported missing.
A group of 30 friends and family members started an unofficial search for Gorospe on Friday, just hours before Flagstaff police made their announcement. They were searching the Kaibab National Forest around Williams.
It was unclear whether this search was tied to Friday’s discovery.
