Man gets prison for fatal cast iron skillet beating at Sacramento homeless camp
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- A judge sentenced Ryan Anthony Tatara to 26 years to life in prison for a 2024 murder.
- Prosecutors said Tatara beat James Robert Czech to death with a cast iron skillet.
- Investigators said they matched Tatara’s DNA with a water jug found at the crime scene.
A judge last week sentenced a man to 26 years to life in prison for a March 2024 death of a man living in a homeless camp in south Sacramento, where he was beaten with a cast iron skillet.
A jury on Dec. 17 found Ryan Anthony Tatara, 38, guilty of first-degree murder in the death of James Robert Czech, 66, whose body was found in a south Sacramento canal.
On Thursday, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael Bowman sentenced Tatara for Czech’s death, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday in a news release.
On March 23, 2024, Tatara was walking along train tracks in south Sacramento when he came upon Czech’s camp. Prosecutors said Tatara and Czech were initially involved in a conversation before the two men got into a fist fight.
Tatara, at one point, picked up a cast iron skillet and started swinging at Czech, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors said Tatara went back and forth from ransacking Czech’s camp and punching, kicking and hitting Czech with the cast iron skillet. Czech died from blunt force trauma injuries and a stab wound to the neck.
Sacramento County sheriff’s officials have said Czech’s body was found in the canal along Tokay Avenue not far from Florin Road and Florin Perkins Road. The area is dotted by large industrial warehouses and bordering railroad tracks.
Prosecutors said Tatara left behind a water jug at the crime scene. Authorities analyzed traces of DNA found on the water jug. The DNA was uploaded to a database that provided a match to a sample from Tatara, according to the DA’s Office.
Nearly five months after the deadly attack, sheriff’s officials announced that Tatara was identified as the murder suspect. Tatara at that time was already in custody at the Yolo County Jail in connection to a robbery attempt in Woodland in which he allegedly tried to stab an employee.
On Tuesday, Tatara remained in custody at the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center near Elk Grove as he awaits his transfer to prison.
