DES MOINES, Iowa — The trial began Tuesday for Zachary Allen Gaskill of Des Moines, who is charged with second-degree murder in the 2016 death of a local architect.
Police arrested Gaskill in December 2022, more than six years after 62-year-old Kirk Blunck was found with serious internal and external injuries in a stairwell of the Teachout Building.
Blunck, known for his architectural work in downtown Des Moines' East Village neighborhood, died shortly after he was found.
According to court documents, Blunck had texted his wife "911" as Gaskill tried to get into a locked room that Blunck was in.
"I didn't know if something was wrong, if he had gotten hurt or why he'd texted 911, he'd never done that in the past," said Doreen Blunck, Kirk's wife.
The Polk County Medical Examiner later identified his cause of death as multiple blunt force trauma due to a fall from height.
In 2018, Blunck's family filed a wrongful death civil lawsuit against Gaskill, claiming he caused Blunck's death. He never showed up to court, but was ordered by a judge to pay $6.25 million to the family.
For more than half a decade, the case was cold — until Des Moines police used surveillance photos from near the scene to identify Gaskill in 2022.
Prosecutors claimed Gaskill had inconsistencies in his story on Tuesday, pointing out that he first claimed he was at Up-Down DSM in the building and was looking for a bathroom. He later said he was actually searching for an elevator to get back downstairs.
When detectives first brought Gaskill in for questioning, they asked him if he ever felt like he should call the police.
Gaskill responded: "No, just because that guy knocked me over the edge, I could've died just as easily. That guy came out of his apartment to assault me, that guy came to hit me."
After talking to witnesses and looking at evidence, investigators came to the conclusion that Gaskill knew where the bathroom was. There was also no elevator on the floor he and Blunck were on.
"As time progressed our defendant would say different versions," prosecution attorney Monty Platz said. "The story would evolve and each stories evolution began to turn kirk into a worse and worse person."
Gaskill also previously claimed he was the victim in the encounter between him and Blunck, which investigators found as another inconsistency.
Defense attorney Michael Adams implored the court room to look only at what's presented during the trial: "What I ask of you is at this point is merely that you listen critically to all of the evidence."
The court adjourned Monday with the lead detective in the case on the stand. The trial will reconvene Tuesday morning at 9 a.m.