IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – A retired Chicago police detective was found dead outside his rural Iowa home Tuesday, a day after his daughter was convicted of murder in a 2001 shooting death she had claimed was self-defense, a death investigator said. Bernard Richter, 69, was found dead about 11:50 a.m. on his property in Rembrandt by sheriff’s deputies sent to check on him after relatives said they had not heard from him since Sunday morning, according to Buena Vista County death investigator Matt Imming.

Imming said it appeared Richter had died of natural causes, but that the state medical examiner’s office would conduct an autopsy Wednesday. Imming said the discovery of the body a day after his daughter’s conviction appears to be “purely coincidental.” “We’re still trying to piece together the timeline,” he said. “The investigation is still ongoing.”

Sheriff Gary Launderville said investigators on the scene Tuesday could not positively identify the elderly male body as being Richter because of blood pooled around his face and chest and that his office would leave the final determination to the state medical examiner’s autopsy. Launderville said it appeared the body had been where it was found face down on the ground for 24 to 36 hours before deputies arrived. “We are not ruling out anything at this point,” he said. “We’re way too early in this thing.”

A Fort Dodge jury on Monday convicted Tracey Richter of first-degree murder in the Dec. 13, 2001, shooting of Dustin Wehde, 20. Bernard Richter supported his daughter, but family members said he did not attend her murder trial because he been ill in recent months. Tracey Richter had claimed she killed Wehde after he and another man broke into her Early home and choked her with pantyhose. Jurors, however, sided with prosecutors who said she killed Wehde as part of a plot to frame her ex-husband.

During a September interview, Bernard Richter said he had retired after working for 27 years as a homicide detective in Chicago and indicated that the allegations against his daughter were taking a toll. “I see what they put in the paper,” he said. “They don’t put nothing about the poor family.”

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The Judicial Nominating Commission has named three nominees to the Iowa Court of Appeals. The commission selected the nominees on Tuesday from a pool of 18 applicants who were interviewed earlier in the day. They are District Judge Thomas Bower, of Cedar Falls; District Associate Judge Susan Christensen, of Harlan; and Assistant Attorney General Jeanie Vaudt, of West Des Moines. Gov. Terry Branstad has 30 days to make his selection. The vacancy on the court is being created by the retirement of Chief Judge Rosemary Sackett in January.

A ban on opening burning which had been in place in Cass County since October 7th, was lifted Tuesday afternoon. The ban was issued due to dry and windy conditions, and the danger of seemingly controlled, open burning, getting out of control.  Recent rains and a light dusting of snow last week has helped to lessen the fire danger.

Cass County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Kennon announced that at the request of area fire departments, the ban burn was lifted at 3-p.m. Tuesday.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources will stock trout in Council Bluffs on Nov. 9, near Spencer on Nov. 12, near Fort Dodge on Nov. 16, in Sioux City on Nov. 17, in Ames on Nov. 18 and in Mason City on Nov. 23. The DNR will release 1,000 rainbow trout in Big Lake at Council Bluffs, 1,500 in Scharnberg Park Pond at Spencer, 1,500 in Mooreland Pond at Fort Dodge, 1,500 in Bacon Creek at Sioux City, 2,200 in Ada Hayden at Ames, and 1,500 in Blue Pit at Mason City. 

The stockings are part of the DNR’s cool weather trout program that brings trout to areas that cannot support them during the summer months.  Trout will be released at 2 p.m. in Big Lake, between 12 and 1 p.m. at Scharnberg Park, 1 p.m. at Moreland Pond, 1 p.m. at Bacon Creek, noon at Ada Hayden and 11 a.m. at Blue Pit.

Anglers will need to have a valid fishing license and pay the trout fee to fish for or possess trout.  The daily limit is five trout per licensed angler with a possession limit of 10. Children age 15 or younger can fish for trout with a properly licensed adult, but they must limit their catch to one daily limit.  The child can purchase a trout fee which will allow them to catch their own limit.

(DNR Press Release)

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – A Chicago attorney says a jury verdict finding a former western Iowa woman guilty of murdering a man in 2001 is a victory for public safety. Stephen Komie on Tuesday praised Sac County Attorney Ben Smith and state investigators for securing Monday’s conviction of Tracey Richter, of Omaha, in the death of 20-year-old Dustin Wehde at her home in Early, Iowa. Komie represented Richter’s first husband, John Pitman III, in a bitter divorce and custody proceeding in the 1990s. Prosecutors say Richter tried to frame Pitman and Komie in a murder-for-hire-scheme in which she had Wehde write in a pink notebook they’d hired him to kill her and her son. Komie says he was surprised to learn last month he’d been framed and he’s “thrilled” Richter had been convicted.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A state audit has found more than $95,000 in questionable spending at the Denison Fire Department, including payments it says were made to businesses owned by the former fire chief. The report released today (Tuesday), from state Auditor David Vaudt details a review that was requested by city officials after former Fire Chief Mike McKinnon left the job in 2010.

It identifies a number of purchases that were improper or did not have proper documentation, including webcams, GPS units,  atelevision, a riding lawnmower and snowblade and clothing. The audit also found thousands paid to businesses owned by McKinnon and included invoices with addresses for post office boxes in Des Moines that did not exist.

The City of Atlantic’s Airport Commission will meet 9-a.m. Wednesday, in the airport terminal building. New business on their agenda includes the review of a letter from the F-A-A with regard to the Parallel Taxiway Project, and the continuation of an Engineering Agreement with Snyder and Associates for final project’s documents, bid, and construction services.

City Administrator Doug Harris said at last week’s City Council meeting in Atlantic, that the F-A-A will pay nearly $600,000 toward the $1.2-million dollar cost of the project, which involves completion on one segment of the taxiway to the runway. The City’s share is 5-percent of the total cost. The letter the Airport Commission will review, spells out a schedule the City must adhere to, including the hiring of an engineer by December 15^th, and the letting of bids by no later than May, 2012.

The Board of Supervisors in Adair County will hold a Public Hearing Wednesday, with regard to a road closure at N-9 and N-8 in Union Township. The hearing takes place at 9:30-a.m.

Other business during the meeting, which begins at 9-a.m., will include action on: Homestead & Military allowances and disallowances; a claim by the City of Greenfield; renewal of an Urban Renewal TIF certification for the Northwest Wind Farm; and with regard to a Health Insurance Wellness Incentive.

Cass-Adair County Engineer Charles Marker will make his report to the Board, and Roger Hall is set to discuss moving dirt along a certain fence line.

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