A Fort Wayne man was found guilty Thursday of murder and illegal possession of a firearm in the April 10 shooting death of a man later found in a wooded area.

Anthony J. Lopez, 42, faces up to 91 years in prison. His sentencing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Nov. 8. He was found guilty of killing William Jeffrey Kintzel, 63, in the 2300 block of Birchwood Avenue.

When Allen Superior Judge Fran Gull read the first guilty verdict, one of Lopez’s supporters screamed “no!” Allen County Sheriff’s deputies soon escorted her from the courtroom as her hysterics continued. Lopez’s attorney, Richard Thonert, declined to identify the woman or her relationship to Lopez.

The murder charge carries a sentence of 45 to 65 years.

Jurors also found Lopez guilty of felony possession of a handgun by a convicted felon, which carries a sentence of one to six years, and found him eligible for a sentence enhancement for using a gun to commit the murder.

The enhancement could add up to 20 years to his sentence.

In Thursday’s closing arguments, Allen County Deputy Prosecutor Tom Chaille told jurors that every step Lopez took on the day of the murder was captured on video somewhere.

About 6:45 p.m., a resident’s surveillance camera caught Kintzel driving Lopez and Michael Allen Barker, 42, near the wooded area. That video shows them eventually parking and Barker waiting in Kintzel’s 2021 silver Dodge Durango while the other two were in the woods, then Lopez running from the woods with his left hand – his dominant hand – in his pocket.

A teenager discovered the body four days later. Chaille said the autopsy showed that for 30 to 60 minutes, Kintzel struggled while trying to crawl his way out of the woods, unable to call for help because of a punctured lung. He had the key fobs for the Durango around his neck, and police were able to trace those to a Durango towed April 13 from the Dollar General in the 6400 block of East State Boulevard.

A review of the security videos there shows Lopez and Barker about 7:15 p.m. buying bleach and bleach wipes and cleaning the inside of the Durango. They were unable to restart the SUV because the key fobs were on Kintzel in the woods.

The two men threw multiple items into the trash at the Dollar General, then were on video going into multiple stores in the Georgetown Square shopping center. Lopez is seen on another video at the trash bin behind another business, looking around and then throwing a Dollar General bag and his jacket into the container. Trash was collected April 11.

Thonert said that when the teen found the body April 14, he ran out of the woods. The video of Lopez running out of the woods the day of the murder was similar.

“That is consistent with a person who walked into the woods, had seen a body and didn’t want to get involved,” the defense attorney told jurors. Lopez had told police when he was questioned April 15 that he used to do drugs and cocaine with Kintzel, and when Lopez saw his body, he was afraid the people who shot Kintzel would come after him.

Investigators didn’t test four shell casings found at the scene for DNA and didn’t check phone records for Kintzel, Barker and Lopez from before the incidents, Thonert said.

When police arrested Lopez on April 15, he had been in a pawnshop with his uncle, who was selling Lopez’s gold cross necklace and items in the uncle’s name, Chaille said. The uncle is seen on video outside the pawnshop reaching behind his back to hand the money to Lopez.

Lopez also had a gun on him when arrested, although it wasn’t the gun used in the murder. Thonert said he bought it because he was afraid people were after him.

Barker is wanted on a warrant and was charged April 27 with murder and felony robbery resulting in serious bodily injury.

Chaille said the case was difficult, especially without Barker available.

“The police department worked really quickly and really thoroughly to put together a really strong case despite the delay between the crime and the discovery of the body,” Chaille said.

Thonert said he’s already begun the appeal for Lopez. He reiterated that the prosecution didn’t provide a witness to show Lopez shot Kintzel or provide the gun used.

Thursday’s closing arguments were delayed after one of the jurors’ chair broke, sending the juror to the floor. Chaille was in the midst of his argument.

No one was hurt, but the proceedings were moved from courtroom 1 to courtroom 2 and finished there.

Allen Superior Judge Fran Gull apologized to the jurors on behalf of the court, noting that the building is more than 100 years old.

“Please don’t hold this against the state or the defendant,” she told the panel. “You’re certainly able to hold this against the court.”

Crime and courts reporter James D. Wolf Jr. began working as a journalist in 1987 while earning his bachelor’s degree at Purdue University Calumet. He has worked in Indiana, Iowa and Illinois.

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