A Phoenix man has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the 2014 shooting death of Joseph Hight.

Robert Hoffmann, 39, was arrested Jan. 12 on suspicion of shooting Hight in a trailer near 16th Street and Grovers Avenue in Phoenix, according to court documents. He entered a not-guilty plea Tuesday in Maricopa County Superior Court.

Hoffmann, whose prior arrests involve possession and theft allegations, is accused of shooting Hight in the back of the head on Sept. 27, 2014, before disposing of his body in the desert.

Court documents said Phoenix police were originally made aware of the case in October 2014, when they were called to investigate a missing person.

A woman who lived at the Phoenix trailer where the murder is believed to have happened told police she was in the bathroom when she heard a discussion over a cellphone before hearing a "loud pop," court documents said.


The witness said she exited the bathroom to see Hight laying face down in a pool of blood. She said Hoffmann told her that he shot Hight in the back of the head with a .327 revolver and asked her to help dispose of the body. A second witness who lived in the trailer also told police that Hoffmann took out a gun and shot Hight in the back of the head, records show.

The woman told police that she saw Hoffmann and Michael Mohler, who was in the trailer at the time of the shooting, carry a "large object wrapped in black plastic and carpet" and drive away with it in the bed of her 2002 Dodge Ram truck. Price also said Hoffmann approached her about changing the tires on the truck so "police could not track them."

She told police that she and her roommate spent the next couple of weeks cleaning the trailer and did not tell police because they were "afraid of Hoffmann."

Court documents did not disclose if the revolver was registered and to whom, but the woman told police the gun was on a coffee table in the living room before the shooting and she was not sure what happened to the gun after the shooting.

In February 2015, Pinal County detectives found a skull in the desert north of U.S. 60 that was later determined to be Hight's. In July 2015, a second search of the area was conducted with Phoenix police and fire, when skeletal remains of Hight's were found.

Hoffmann will next appear in court March 16 for a pretrial conference.