Inset: Tyler R. McGuire (Maricopa County Attorney's Office). Background: Police at the scene where McGuire killed a colleague in 2023 (KTVK).
A 31-year-old man in Arizona who became "fixated" on a female employee at the pizza shop he managed will spend the rest of his life behind bars for killing a male employee he believed was interested in the same woman.
A Maricopa County judge ordered Tyler Ross McGuire to remain in a state correctional facility for the remainder of his natural life for the 2023 slaying of Deazo Seghi, authorities announced.
The sentence was handed down after a jury earlier this month found McGuire guilty on one count of first-degree murder in Seghi's death.
"This defendant carried out a planned and unprovoked killing, leaving a family to endure an unimaginable loss," County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said in a statement. "This sentence delivers justice for the victim and affirms that this level of violence will be met with the strongest consequences under the law."
According to a news release from Mitchell's office, McGuire grew "fixated on a woman he supervised" at a local pizza shop in Mesa, Arizona, where Seghi was also employed.
"McGuire told the woman he had a crush on her, but she made it clear she was not interested," the release states. "That same month, McGuire physical[ly] confronted the victim, believing he was also pursuing a relationship with the woman."
Prosecutors said that over the course of the next year, McGuire grew increasingly angry with the victim, escalating to the point that he "purchased a gun and searched for the victim's address."
About a year after McGuire initially confronted Seghi about the woman, Seghi was gunned down in front of his home.
"On December 11, 2023, the victim was found slumped over inside his vehicle in front of an apartment complex near North Stapley Road and East Brown Road in Mesa," prosecutors wrote. "According to witnesses, McGuire approached the vehicle and shot the victim multiple times in the chest before running away."
McGuire was quickly located and taken into custody. At the time of McGuire's arrest, police said they found a cellphone and black handgun in his possession. The bullets from McGuire's handgun came back as a match for the bullet casings found at the scene of Seghi's murder.
Several days after McGuire's arrest, his mother contacted authorities regarding a diary she found that belonged to her son. The diary "detailed" McGuire's "plan to kill the victim" as well as his "reasoning for doing so."
One entry read: "I decided a while ago I needed to kill someone. This person hurt me."
Another said: "If I had my way, I'd be with her. Although that opportunity was stolen from me."