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Boyfriend of Phoenix kindergarten teacher killed 5 years ago sentenced to life

Charlie Malzahn was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday for the 2017 killing of kindergarten teacher Cathryn Gorospe.

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — A man who killed his girlfriend shortly after she bailed him out of jail was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday in Flagstaff.

Charlie Malzahn, 32, pleaded guilty in June to first-degree murder for the death of his girlfriend Cathryn Gorospe. 

Gorospe was a kindergarten teacher at the Deer Valley School District in Phoenix. She went missing in October 2017 after posting bail for Malzahn, who was in jail in Coconino County.

RELATED: Man who dated Arizona teacher to be sentenced in her murder

“She was so much more than the smiling teacher on the missing person poster," Gorospe's stepmother, Diedre, said during Malzahns' sentencing. 

Family members told the court that Gorospe was always rescuing animals and seeing the good in people. They believed she was trying to rescue Charlie Malzahn as well, who had a history of arrests.

Malzahn was later seen in Phoenix driving Gorospe's blood-stained car and was arrested. He later told the police where to find her body. 

Her remains were found on private property in Mayer, 85 miles south of Williams with multiple stab wounds.

“When you killed Cathryn you also killed something inside of us all," Diedre said during Tuesday's court hearing. 

Malzahn apologized to Gorospe's family, telling them he knew it changed nothing.

“This murder has left an unfillable hole in my heart," Gorospe's brother Cody said. "I feel like a part of me died that day.”

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