Suspect arrested 8 years after fatal Glendale apartment shooting

PHOENIX — A man was arrested on Thursday eight years after he allegedly fatally shot a victim inside his Glendale apartment, authorities said.

Joseph Keller,  faces multiple charges, including first-degree murder and armed robbery.

His bond was set at $1 million.

Here’s everything we know about the early stages of the investigation

Joseph Sanchez was shot and killed at his residence near 57th Avenue and Camelback Road on April 22, 2016.

Officers responded to an an unknown trouble call at the apartment, where the victim lived with his wife and children, around 3 p.m. that day, according to court documents.

Witnesses reported hearing a loud noise coming from an apartment, then seeing four men flee the area in what was described as a white Dodge Avenger with a black roof and black rims.

When police entered the apartment, they found Sanchez dead from multiple gunshot wounds. Nobody else was home at the time of the shooting.

The apartment had been ransacked, but the only items reported stolen during the incident were an Xbox and a laptop, according to the probable cause statement for Keller’s arrest.

How did detectives crack the 8-year-old Glendale cold case?

In July 2016, Keller told police he wouldn’t answer questions without an attorney present.

Investigators tried to interview him a second time in February 2021 while he was incarcerated in a unrelated case. He agreed to give a DNA sample but declined to answer questions after being told it was for an investigation into the 2016 homicide.

During another interview in prison in January 2023, Keller acknowledged that he dated the owner of the white Avenger and rode in it, but he said he never drove it. He then invoked his right to remain silent. According to prison records, he was released in April 2023.

His statement contradicted some of what his girlfriend previously told police, according to his latest arrest document. The girlfriend previously lived in the apartment complex where the homicide occurred but moved out in September 2015, seven months before the shooting. She said Keller never visited the apartment, but he knew she used to live there. She also said he drove her car often.

Over the course of the investigation, fingerprints from a toilet at the apartment and the girlfriend’s car were matched to Keller, according to the arrest report.

The victim’s family has moved out of state since the crime. Detectives traveled to interview them again earlier this month, and they confirmed they didn’t know Keller and there was no reason for him to have been in their apartment. The also said they didn’t know the girlfriend.

Detectives started searching for Keller to take him into custody this week. They located him at an apartment complex Thursday and followed him before pulling him over near 75th and Indian School Road to arrest him.

An investigation into the other possible suspects is ongoing.

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