TEMPE, Ariz. — A man was sentenced to natural life plus 15 years in prison after he was convicted of first-degree murder in the death of Mesa High School math teacher Ryne Zahner, according to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office.
Prosecutors said Caleb Bartels shot and killed Zahner, who was his former friend and roommate, in the backyard of the teacher’s Tempe home in the early morning hours of Jan. 15, 2017.
At the time of the shooting, Zahner was in the yard catching up with Bartels’ younger brother, a good friend of Zahner’s.
Prosecutors said Bartels began yelling at the men, pointed an automatic rifle at the victim and fired multiple shots. Bartels’ brother tried to wrestle the gun from Bartels but eventually ran from the backyard and called police.
Bartels’ brother was able to identify the shooter the day after the attack, and police learned Bartels had been involved in a traffic stop leaving Arizona a few hours after the murder.
Bartels was allegedly stopped again in two other states before being identified as the shooter. He was arrested in Doyle, California, a small town near the Nevada border.
Police said they found in Bartels' car receipts for the gun used to kill Zahner and receipts for ammunition matching the shell casings found at the scene of the murder.
