MESA, Ariz. — A Mesa man is behind bars after allegedly fatally shooting his girlfriend in the back of the head Tuesday. Court documents show he gave several conflicting accounts of the event, and told a friend that she had been "nagging" him for several days.
On Tuesday, around 1:30 p.m., 48-year-old Timothy Staufenbeil called Mesa police to tell them that he'd accidentally shot his girlfriend while cleaning his gun.
Officers arrived at Staufenbeil's home near Guadalupe and Sossaman roads to find the woman sitting on a couch in the living room with a beach towel covering her head and body. First responders pronounced her dead on the scene.
Investigators soon learned that the police were not the first ones Staufenbeil called.
Prior to calling the police Staufenbeil placed a call to his friend in Oklahoma, and reportedly told him that he had "shot the victim and he didn't know what to do." He said that she'd been "nagging" him and "carrying on for a couple of days."
Staufenbeil told his friend that he got up from the couch, and shot the woman.
Staufenbeil also called his mother and told her that his girlfriend had just gotten back in town and was "upset over various things." He reportedly told his mother that the victim had scratched him earlier in the day, and admitted that he shot her.
When speaking to the police in person, Staufenbeil told officers that he had been in the garage and came back inside to see his girlfriend "sitting on the couch with a gun to her head." He claimed he rushed towards her to stop her from harming herself, and the gun went off while he was trying to grab it away from her.
Staufenbeil then denied shooting his girlfriend, and according to the report claimed that scratches seen on his arm were from his dog.
Staufenbeil was arrested on suspicion of 2nd-degree murder, and is being held on a $1,000,000 bail.
The victim was not identified.
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