Investigators now say the 46-year-old southeast Iowa woman who died after being rescued from a weekend housefire may have been assaulted before the fire broke out. The ex-husband and fiance of a popular fixture at a Burlington eatery has been arrested and charged in connection with her death.
A fry cook on the morning shift at the Hungry Bear restaurant, Cyd Richards was found unconscious in a burning house Sunday night. Firefighters responded to the blaze around 10 P.M. as the house was billowing smoke. Emergency crews tried to revive Richards; she was transported to a local hospital where she was later pronounced dead.
Fifty-eight-year-old Dennis Richards of Burlington was arrested Tuesday night and charged with second-degree murder. He appeared in court Wednesday and is being held in the Des Moines County Jail under $1 million bond. The state medical examiner listed Cyd Richards’ cause of death as strangulation.