DES MOINES, Iowa — Zachary Gaskill has been sentenced to two years in prison for his role in the death of local architect Kirk Blunck.
With other sentences being served for perjury and burglary, he was sentenced Friday to a total of 12 years behind bars.
Gaskill, now 33 years old, was originally charged with second-degree murder when he was arrested in December 2022. Six years passed between Blunck's death on Jan. 24, 2016 and Gaskill's arrest. On April 12, 2024, he was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
While two of Gaskill's ex-girlfriends testified at trial that he either fought Blunck out of self-defense or confronted him because of alleged inappropriate contact with a woman in the downstairs bar of the building, Blunck's widow, Doreen Blunck said that Gaskill was instead trespassing and attacked her husband.
Her husband was checking on their rental property in the Teachout Building when he was faced with Gaskill, according to the testimony. Blunck was later found dead in the building's stairwell with what the Polk County Medical Examiner later identified as blunt force trauma due to a fall from height.
"This horrific act by Zachary Gaskill should never have happened. I firmly believe Gaskell attacked and caused my husband's death," Doreen Blunck said in court Friday during her victim impact statement.
The couple's daughter, Kaitlin Blunck, also shared a victim impact statement saying, "I was forced to grow up extremely fast, and can say that I did not have your typical 20s experience. By age 22 I was responsible for making executive local business decisions for my father's real estate portfolio."
Both Kaitlin and her mom discussed needing to sell off multiple properties after Kirk's death.
"It was emotional, prioritizing what properties to keep and others to sell. Every sale felt like another loss," Kaitlin Blunck said.
When Gaskill was able to give a statement he said, "I really want them to find closure. I don't know what that looks like. I don't know what that takes, but the family deserves closure just like I do."
Gaskill also emphasized the fact that he hasn't committed a crime since 2019 stating, "I'm doing well ... it's about the first time in my life where things are actually going my way, and it's because of me."
During the sentencing, Judge Celene Gogerty discussed how Gaskill had been in many programs meant to help him with addiction and behavior, but that he had also violated probation while continuing to commit crimes. Gaskill has accumulated 13 parole violations which include positive drug screens with the most recent being on May 28, Gogerty noted.
"The fact that you're violating your parole as of last week does not bode well for probation," Gogerty said. "You caused Mr. Blunck's death, and I was disturbed when you celebrated in the courtroom."
As a result, Gaskill's request for probation was denied and he received a two-year prison sentence, the maximum for involuntary manslaughter.