Original subtitles

Mr. Zahner was different than all the other math teachers.

He was such an inspiration to so many students.

I felt very heartbroken.

Is this possibly emotionally motivated?

We don't know still

exactly what we're getting ourselves into.

This is a dangerous situation.

Is this person gonna come out shooting at US?

This is a big deal.

Tempe police dispatch officers to the scene

of the third 911 call,

a house in a residential neighborhood

on the south side of town.

So the temple police department received numerous

911 calls from residents in that area that night,

most of them stemming from gunshots going off in the area.

That definitely heightens things and is extremely stressful,

because you're making sure you're not

driving into an ambush situation.

In tempe,

as you're driving to a call before you actually

go on scene,

you're supposed to have your body-worn camera on.

Officers locate the 911 caller a block away

from the incident.

He told the officer that he was in

the backyard with the victim when he was shot.

That 911 caller was a very distraught,

um, white male subject,

just very confused

and, um, very upset.

It's kind of a roller coaster for that specific caller.

There is that fear of not knowing if ryne is still alive.

We had no idea where the suspect was,

had no idea if anyone inside the house

was involved with the incident,

if the suspect fled into the residence

and was maybe hiding in there.

The officer's trying to gather all of

that information, trying to weigh risks.

This is a dangerous situation.

You've got someone that has been trained to use firearms.

You know that there are some firearms in the house.

Well, if he lives there,

where's his room at, where do you think

the firearms are located?

That way, whichever tactical team is gonna go up

and make contact,

they have as much information as they can.

Within minutes, SWAT officers arrive

to the scene, meeting in an alley behind the house.

They prepare to handle an active shooter situation.

Specifically with an active shooter,

so, since it's a house, um, you know,

obviously, it can be a little tricky.

Even though, you know, we're getting information

on how many people are in there,

we don't know still

exactly what we're getting ourselves into.

More police surround the house

from the front to make sure that

if the shooter is still there,

he has no way out.

Police in the back

spot the victim on the ground as

they prepare to access the property.

So when the officers saw the victim lying

face down on the ground, was lying next to a fire pit,

when they ended up checking on the victim,

he was deceased.

We still don't know where the suspect is,

so then there's a matter of trying to clear the house

to make sure that okay, the suspect's not still hiding.

With no sign of the shooter outside,

officers approach the screen door leading into the house.

Nobody ended up responding or coming to the door.

It's that whole, you know,

unknown of what's going on inside the house,

you know, why is no one coming to the door?

Police find and detain the person in the room.

After they made that initial contact

and found the firearms, that definitely

gave some relief to the other officers that

that was one of the first rooms that they found,

but, while they had some relief,

still some trepidation and uneasiness,

because you don't know who else is still left in the house.

Tempe, Arizona, SWAT officers are clearing a house

after discovering 26-year-old ryne zahner murdered outside.

Police find and detain another individual in the house.

Once they finished clearing the house,

those individuals were detained, because we have

no idea who our suspect is.

It appeared that most of them were

roommates of ryne zahner, the victim.

We don't know if it was any of those people that

came out of the house and then went back into the house.

At this point, patrol officers' jobs is to lock down

the scene on start trying to protect evidence

until detectives arrive.

With the house secured,

officers return to the remains outside.

They confirm multiple gunshot wounds to the chest.

In the backyard, the victim's laying

face down in the dirt.

There's numerous shell casings of a .223 and 5.56 caliber.

Both of those are interchangeable

for an assault rifle type firearm.

While examining the body,

police confirm the victim's name is ryne zahner,

a high school math teacher leaving behind his parents,

siblings, students, and friends.

Ryne and I went to college together

at the Mary Lou fulton teachers college,

at Arizona state university, and I hadn't talked to him

since we graduated, but he was one of

the kindest people that I had ever met.

Mr. Zahner was different than all the other math teachers.

He was just someone that you could really

just talk to and get along with, and...

He -- he, like, saw you, you know, for who we were,

and he accepted you and respected you.

He was a sweet guy.

You could just see the light from him

whenever he talked to you.

He would challenge all the guys in our class

to, um, an end-of-the-year race,

and he -- I remember being down on the track with him,

and all these guys that were athletes

were so excited.

And sure enough,

as soon as they go, like, zahner's just, like, booking it,

like, super fast and leaves all the other students in the dust.

And he was so full of energy, and he always wanted to be

a part of everything,

just out there with every event he could be a part of,

he would try to.

The gravity of that kind of loss that was so violent...

I remember sitting down on my couch

and just being completely devastated

to hear that something like that had happened

to someone who was so kind.

Like, how could that be true?

I was looking through all my pictures with him,

and I was like, this isn't fair.

He was so young.

It was really intense, um...

I felt very heartbroken.

Like...

Like, um...

Like he was just such a unique human being,

like, we need so many more people

that are bright in this world,

that are happy and...

That can inspire people.

And I saw that in him.

Back at the crime scene,

detectives return to the 911 caller

to learn more about what happened that night.

You don't usually have someone that witnesses something

that close and then is able to,

you know, wrestle with the suspect and then flee

and then get away.

Did have burn marks on his hand,

so, um, the hairs on the back of your neck going up,

you know, being a little bit skeptical about the interview.

Are they being honest about what occurred?

Or are they just making something up and possibly

had other involvement?

Although the man appears genuinely

shaken up by his friend's murder,

detectives still have questions.

He's stating that he's got all of this adrenaline going

through his system, that he possibly

blacked out or can't remember a good amount of, you know,

the incident and can't recall it --

that makes things a lot more difficult for

the detectives trying to figure out his involvement.

Officers investigating the murder of local math teacher

ryne zahner

have their eye on the man who reported the shooting.

Based on all of that information,

everything else that we still have to look at,

it's extremely important, even though we're, you know,

doing this interview that we keep the investigation moving.

Detectives work through the night

processing the crime scene.

As day breaks, they turn their attention to one of

ryne's roommates,

who is still detained on scene,

a marine named Mike.

Okay.

Based on the information that we got from

the 911 caller that had left the scene,

he did mention that there was a marine who lived

in the residence, had firearms with him.

We had that individual detained.

At this point investigation,

we have no idea who our suspect is,

and based on that, he was definitely, a focus for US.

He was very stoic, relaxed,

so to speak.

You don't know whether it's just their personality style

or maybe they did have something to do with it,

okay, and that's why they're acting nonchalant or don't care.

Um...

Until detectives can test the man's firearms,

they realize they have no evidence to hold him.

So after speaking with the marine roommate,

aside from just him being stoic during his interview

as well as possessing firearms,

there wasn't enough information at that time

to show that he was the one that,

you know, was involved in this incident.

Detectives then question Mike about other potential suspects.

He made mention that ryne had just

ended a relationship very recently,

which gave US another lead.

We're looking at,

okay, is this possibly emotionally motivated from that?

Detectives end the interview and speak

with the rest of ryne's roommates.

None of them provide any conclusive information

pointing to who the killer could be...

...leaving police to follow up with ryne's ex-girlfriend...

...who lives at home with her parents.

She's, at this point, what we would call

an investigative lead to see, you know,

if she was involved in this incident

and could possibly be our shooter.

She tells them that she and ryne broke up

just a week prior to the shooting.

The woman's father then turns over

his firearms to investigators.

Detectives conclude the interview by asking

the woman about her whereabouts earlier that evening

when ryne was killed.

She's mentioning all of these things that

possibly raise some red flags for the case

and her possible involvement -- she mentioned that she worked

in an emergency room at a hospital.

This was good news for US, because it gave US

something solid that we could follow up on.

Meanwhile, the high school

where ryne taught attempts to put

this tragedy behind them.

The celebration of life was held in

the gymnasium at mesa high, and we all gathered together.

All of the benches were full.

I think this -- the faculty stuff were --

was sitting, like, in front of everyone,

and there were a lot of students

that went up there and who spoke.

They were crying for him.

You know, it just kind of proves that

he was such an inspiration to so many students.

He had his family there, and they spoke some words about him.

I broke down at that part, because it's like...

He was just growing.

He was just trying to develop his life, you know?

All the things someone

should be doing to be successful,

he was doing them,

and it was -- it was just cut too short.

Out of leads,

detectives ponder their next move

when a surprise witness comes forward.

While the detectives are following up on these leads,

they learn that the original 911 caller has now come back

to the police station wanting to provide further information.

How you doing?

This seems kind of odd

based off of his lack of recall initially.

That raises that heightened amount of, okay,

what do we have here?

Detectives question him inside the station.

Detectives investigating the murder of

local math teacher, ryne zahner,

are re-interviewing the 911 caller

who first reported the killing.

You never have an idea of why

these people are coming to the station.

They could possibly be,

you know, the person that you're looking for,

and they're turning themselves in.

He seemed like he wanted to talk,

but again wasn't really forthcoming in the beginning,

so the detectives ask him some generic questions

at first, and he seemed

to open up a little bit but was still hesitant.

Um...

When he did, it was a -- a game changer.

After this timeframe that he's had time to settle down,

think about the incident,

he's now remembered that it was his brother.

In the detective's mind,

that's gonna raise some red flags a little bit,

and you've got to figure out whether or not he felt

something for his brother and wasn't being,

you know, completely 100 percent, you know,

up front in the beginning, or was it legitimately

just one of those things that can happen psychologically

in a stressful incident that he just could not recall

or didn't remember that part of the incident?

Tyler then offers another startling detail.

His brother has gone missing.

Okay.

Come to find out, he hasn't been seen in over a day,

and now no one knows where he is.

Now it's switching gears,

and now all of the focus is going towards his brother

and trying to locate him.

On their way out of the building,

Caleb's brother mentions another key piece of information

about an incident from a couple years back.

Based on this new information,

detectives issue a nationwide apb for Caleb.

While they wait to see what comes of the apb,

investigators talk with police in Oregon,

where Caleb and his family once lived.

They discover that Caleb once reported

to be the victim of a sexual assault.

Detectives call Caleb's brother to see

if he can provide more details.

Caleb's brother says Caleb would often get

aggressive around his friends

because of what had happened to him.

Police put the word out to the public

to be on the lookout for Caleb.

Breaking news...

Male reporter: As we come on the air tonight,

Caleb bartels, the man quickly becoming

one of the most wanted in the valley.

Female reporter: And police believe he may have now

crossed state lines, possibly going to Sacramento,

Reno, or beaverton, Oregon.

Several days later, there's a hit on the apb.

California highway patrol

find Caleb's car near susanville.

There's an off duty officer ends up seeing a vehicle

matching Caleb's vehicle description,

and it is Caleb's vehicle.

There's any number of different ways that

this stop can go at that point.

So is this person gonna come out shooting at US,

or are they gonna take off and flee in a pursuit?

This is big deal.

You now have a possible known homicide suspect

that's here,

you still have an outstanding assault-type rifle.

This is a dangerous moment for these officers.

California highway patrol has just identified murder suspect

Caleb bartels' car

and are confronting him on the side of the road.

The officer has no idea what he's gonna do, at this point,

kind of racing through his mind,

are they gonna take off in a pursuit?

Are they gonna run or are they gonna jump

out of the car and start shooting?

Caleb ends up being cooperative,

surrenders without incident,

which was very lucky for the officers involved,

as well as Caleb.

Detectives back in tempe are notified

of Caleb's arrest and travel to California to speak with him.

With Caleb not cooperating, investigators have

no choice but to end the interview.

After Caleb was apprehended, they ended up searching

his vehicle, and when they searched his vehicle,

they ended up finding a receipt for ammunition

that matched the same caliber of the ammunition

that was found in the backyard from when ryne was shot,

and they found a receipt

for a rifle matching that same caliber.

But they did not find a rifle in the vehicle.

While detectives are putting together their case

against Caleb,

one of ryne's neighbors comes forward with

security footage from the night of the murder.

It shows a street intersection just two blocks from

the homicide and captures the sound of gunshots on camera.

When detectives viewed the video,

you can hear multiple gunshots going off.

You also see a vehicle leaving the area and, coincidentally,

that vehicle's very similar to the vehicle

that Caleb bartels owns.

The footage also seems to eerily capture

the 911 caller who witnessed the shooting

speaking with dispatch.

So at this point, we can show Caleb,

sometime about a month prior to the incident,

goes out and buys an assault-type rifle

that's the same caliber as .223 and 5.56 that

was found at the scene, we have the incident

in the backyard, okay,

where he shoots ryne, his brother

ends up hearing him say, "get off of me,"

while he's wrestling with him.

And we now have the security surveillance

from these other places,

everything leading to Caleb having murdered ryne.

Police file formal charges against Caleb,

and after a three-week trial,

is found guilty and sentenced to life in prison

for first degree murder, aggravated assault,

and burglary.

I do believe Caleb did this incident.

All of the evidence points to it.

The history between Caleb and ryne, they did have on alleged

physical altercation at one time between the two of them,

that possible sexual assault incident --

that was one of those things that caused animosity

or caused Caleb to be upset.

A lot of the times, it is common

for people to fixate on things.

Sometimes it's fixating on a person.

Sometimes it's fixating on a fixed point in time

that for whatever reason,

they are just not able to let go of.

So all of this stuff tied together, um,

possibly, you know, could have led to some of

that animosity or feelings that he might have had.

I remember in class, he would talk about Caleb.

They have pictures together.

They would go out and party all the time.

This guy just became jealous of his life.

It's crazy to think that somebody close to you

can just walk in your life and out you.

I mean, just -- his smile lit up a room.

He was so joyful all the time.

Just knowing what a loss like that can do

to an entire community, especially for, you know,

someone who was a vibrant teacher who had students

who loved him, so, you know,

that's a burden now that they have to shoulder

and his -- his friends

who loved him so much, his family that loved him

so much, um...

That can never be fixed.

Even though he's no longer here,

I can still feel his spirit

when he -- when there's a certain situation

as if he's still guiding me down a path.

Mr. Zahner, thank you

for teaching US how to be...

How to be kind, how to be understanding

and how to listen.

Thank you for inspiring me to...

To live a better life

like how you lived yours.