Bondsman: Suspect a 'con artist' who manipulated Glendale teacher

As a former federal agent and private investigator, Tom Watson prides himself on being a different sort of bail bondsman, bent on helping those determined to straighten up and fly right.

He won't just check a box saying someone has ties to a community and an interest in working. Watson, with Rose's Bail Bonds in Flagstaff, does some digging — he says he will peruse Facebook pages looking for guns or drugs or signs of criminality.

He said he had reservations about Charlie Malzahn from the beginning, not because of social media but because of everything else. The 27-year-old felon's criminal history was rife with assault charges. He lacked stability. Something didn't add up when it came to the Aug. 20 vehicle theft and arrest in Williams that landed him in jail this time.

Simply put, there was little to guarantee Malzahn would abide by the rules of release orchestrated by a bondsman like Watson, and there was little to guarantee that someone willing to vouch for him would not get hurt.

In stepped Cathryn Gorospe.

Neighbors described her as the kind of woman whom nobody could speak ill of. She was a friend to everyone, disliked by none, and a hero in the eyes of those who knew her well.  

Watson described her kindness as unmatched, with her innocence akin to that of one of the kindergartners she taught at Arrowhead Elementary School in north Glendale.

So when she called Watson in late August and tried to foot Malzahn’s $20,000 bond, which required the customary 10 percent down, he voiced his hesitations. Using a grandfatherly voice of wisdom, he inquired why it was she wanted so badly to help this man she barely knew. 

He talked her out of it — that time.

“She just came across as a really, really nice person,” Watson told The Arizona Republic, pausing for a moment. “Too nice.”

READ MORE: Police: Suspect tipped officers to teacher's body

'Worth the trouble'

Gorospe called back a couple of weeks later and again asked for Watson’s help.

They got to talking and agreed to take steps to protect Gorospe, including installing a location tracking program on an inexpensive cellphone for Malzahn. 

The goal, Watson said, was to ensure he didn’t run off or get into more trouble.

“I wanted to kind of rehab him myself and just get him away from the people who he hangs out with in Flagstaff,” Watson said, adding that he was growing to think of Malzahn as a man who might be “worth the trouble.”

But as Watson started to warm to the idea, Gorospe started having second thoughts.

She decided to heed the bondsman's original advice and forgo bonding Malzahn out of jail. Watson sent her the paperwork, just in case, and they agreed she would mull if over.

Watson summarized the woman's mental wrangling that lasted through September: The man whom Gorospe had met while she spent summers in Williams working as a guide on the Grand Canyon Railway — he served at an area eatery — was in the county lock-up after making some bad choices. With her help, Malzahn could be released and finally move forward in life, she at his side, instead of taking step after step backward.

Malzahn might be troubled, but surely Gorospe could fix him.

She was a helper and a fixer. 

So on Oct. 6, she drove to the Coconino County Jail in Flagstaff, where she met Watson about 4 p.m. Bailing someone out takes time, so she and the bondsman chatted until about 9 p.m. They shared a passion for the outdoors and talked about matters ranging from hiking and winter coats to outdoor survival and hunting knives, Watson said. 

He couldn’t shake how kind she was. 

He wishes he had given her one of his knives.

Malzahn was 17 years her junior and worlds apart in every other way.

To this point, she had been cryptic about her relationship with the man in custody. In the evening chill, moments before Malzahn was released and the two drove out of the parking lot and into the darkness, Gorospe confided something to Watson he had long suspected.

“I guess I really do love him,” she told the bondsman.

READ MORE: Glendale teacher remembered as 'friend to everyone' at vigil

A crime spree 

Investigators believe Malzahn and Gorospe traveled west from Flagstaff but haven't determined how long the two were together.

At some point, Malzahn took the vehicle and crisscrossed the state, traveling through Chino Valley, Prescott, Prescott Valley, Dewey, Phoenix, Tempe, Gold Canyon and ultimately Clifton, about 30 miles west of the New Mexico border, police said previously. 

He is accused of using Gorospe's credit and debit cards in Tucson, prompting a response from police, who decided against detaining him. Gorospe hadn't been reported missing yet, and he said he had permission to use the cards. 

Malzahn moved west, where he is accused of physically assaulting a woman on Arizona State University's campus in Tempe, police said. And down the street from that room, he is accused of carjacking a woman at an apartment complex, threatening to "whack" her with a crowbar if she didn't give him the keys, according to court records. 

About 50 hours after Malzahn's release in Flagstaff, Phoenix police apprehended him after a brief pursuit. 

As law-enforcement agencies pooled resources into the search and pieced together Malzahn's movements, a team of volunteers fanned out across the rural reaches of Arizona in search of a clue. 

A week after Gorospe was last seen, a tip led to some answers and some closure, however small. 

"Malzahn ultimately gave investigators some details and directions which led law enforcement to narrow the scope of the search," Flagstaff police wrote in a statement Tuesday morning. 

With the help of investigators from the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office, police found what they believe is the woman's body on private property near Nugget Mine Road, off State Route 69, in Mayer. 

The area is more than 90 miles from where Gorospe bailed him out, about halfway between Flagstaff and Phoenix.

"We’re still going to have a hundred questions that need to be answered that never will be answered," Cory Gorospe, Cathryn's brother and one of the searchers, said in an interview with The Arizona Republic. "The man that did this probably won’t tell us."

An autopsy led officials to label her death a homicide, Flagstaff police said Tuesday. Police said Malzahn helped lead searchers to her remains.

While he has been identified as a suspect in Gorospe's disappearance, formal charges have not been filed. 

Malzahn is being held without bond in a Maricopa County jail and is due in court in the carjacking case on Wednesday. 

“All we can do now is sit and wait and hopefully get the justice that my sister deserves," Cory Gorospe said. “... He’s pretty much showing the world what kind of person he is, so I don’t need to bad-mouth him, address him. He’s doing that for himself. I’d rather spend my time remembering my sister.”

A GoFundMe has been created to help memorialize Cathryn Gorospe. A Facebook page, Bring Cathryn Home, has also emerged as a site for supporters to share memories and organize vigils in her name. 

A lecture and a con

Reached by phone after he saw the news reports about the woman's body being located, Watson opened up about some of the guilt he holds onto. Things just don't make sense, he said. 

But the more he thinks about it, the more he considers Malzahn a “con artist.”

As they filled out the paperwork together that Friday evening in Flagstaff, Malzahn talked about wanting to get his life together. Pressed by Watson, Malzahn said he recognized the opportunity afforded to him by a kind kindergarten teacher from the Valley. She was giving him a chance. It was time, he said, to leave all the baggage of criminality in the past and move forward with a strong influence and love interest in his life.

There was just one problem, Watson said in hindsight.

Malzahn wouldn’t look him in the eye when he said all those things.

“I hardly ever get fooled,” Watson said with a sigh. “A good con artist can make anybody believe anything.”  

Republic reporter Terell Wilkins contributed to this article. 

Reach the reporter at 602-444-8515, a jpohl@azcentral.com or on Twitter: @pohl_jason.

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