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Arrest in murder of man credited with revival of neighborhood near Iowa Capitol

News

December 21st, 2022 by Ric Hanson

(Radio Iowa) – Des Moines police have made an arrest for a murder that happened nearly seven years ago.

Sixty-two-year-old Kirk Blunck, a prominent architect in Des Moines, was found injured in the stairwell of a six story building a few blocks from the Iowa Capitol on January 24, 2016. He died a short time later. Blunck had worked on the restoration of several historic structures in Des Moines, including the Teachout Building where he was found.

According to a news release from Des Moines Police, Zachary Allen Gaskill of Des Moines was seen in surveillance photos near the crime scene. Gaskill, who was in his mid-20s at the time of Blunck’s death, is now 32. He’s been charged with second degree murder.

In 2016, the county medical examiner concluded the architect had died of blunt force trauma after a fall from some height.