Murderer sentenced to death in 2014 slaying of Glendale church volunteer
INDEPENDENT NEWSMEDIA
Posted 2/29/24
A jury has imposed the death penalty on a 34-year-old convicted of 2014 killing of a church volunteer on his way home from his shift at a place of worship in Glendale, the Maricopa County …
You must be a member to read this story.
Join our family of readers for as little as $5 per month and support local, unbiased journalism.
Current print subscribers can create a free account by clicking here
Otherwise, follow the link below to join.
To Our Valued Readers –
Visitors to our website will be limited to five stories per month unless they opt to subscribe. The five stories do not include our exclusive content written by our journalists.
For $6.99, less than 20 cents a day, digital subscribers will receive unlimited access to YourValley.net, including exclusive content from our newsroom and access to our Daily Independent e-edition.
Our commitment to balanced, fair reporting and local coverage provides insight and perspective not found anywhere else.
Your financial commitment will help to preserve the kind of honest journalism produced by our reporters and editors. We trust you agree that independent journalism is an essential component of our democracy. Please click here to subscribe.
Need to set up your free e-Newspaper all-access account? click here.
Non-subscribers
Click here to see your options for becoming a subscriber.
Register to comment
Click here create a free account for posting comments.
Note that free accounts do not include access to premium content on this site.
I am anchor
SHOOTING
Murderer sentenced to death in 2014 slaying of Glendale church volunteer
(Metro Creative Connection)
Posted
INDEPENDENT NEWSMEDIA
A jury has imposed the death penalty on a 34-year-old man convicted in the 2014 killing of a church volunteer on his way home from his shift at a place of worship in Glendale, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office announced Thursday.
Gustin Ray Woodman Jr. was sentenced this week following his October conviction in the first-degree murder of 72-year-old Mark Woodruff.
Woodruff was found with a gunshot wound to the head in the early morning of June 24, 2014. He was in the driver’s seat of his car, which was still running on his driveway.
During an initial investigation, Glendale Police Department detectives found evidence that another gunshot had been fired through the car door, but only one 9mm shell casing was found near the victim, according to a release from the MCAO.
“Two days later, officers conducted a traffic stop on Woodman and while searching the vehicle found a 9mm Taurus handgun,” the release stated.
“When detectives analyzed the gun, they discovered a spent 9mm shell casing stuck in the chamber of the gun. The casing was analyzed by the Glendale Police Department’s Forensic Unit and found to be associated with the 9mm shell casing found at the scene of Woodruff’s murder.”
Detectives learned in an interview that Woodman had spotted the victim at a gas station, saw money in his wallet and decided to follow the victim and rob him, according to the release.
Last October, a jury found Woodman guilty of one count of first-degree murder, one count of conspiracy to commit armed robbery with a deadly weapon, armed robbery with a deadly weapon and one count of possession of a weapon by a prohibited person.
In addition to the death sentence for the murder, Woodman faces an additional 15.75 years in prison for the remaining charges, according to MCAO.
“I commend our prosecutors and the Glendale Police Department Homicide Unit for their work over the last 10 years finding justice for this victim,” Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said.
“I hope this sentence can bring some semblance of closure to the Woodruff family and the community of faith he loved so much.”
We’d like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.
