July death of 72-year-old Wichita woman ruled a homicide by the coroner’s office
The death of a 72-year-old Wichita woman in July has been ruled a homicide by the local coroner’s office.
Rita R. Golden was found unresponsive in her home on July 15.
According to her autopsy report, which was available for public view Monday, Golden had been letting a homeless man stay in her yard for about two weeks before her death. The man “would occasionally come into the residence to eat or take a nap but only when the decedent’s (Golden’s) daughter was home,” the report says.
On July 15, Golden’s daughter saw her alive around 9 a.m. The daughter returned to Golden’s home, in the 2600 block of East 10th Street North, in the evening and found her lying on the floor. She was wearing a bathrobe but had no clothing on from the waist down. The front door of the house was secured but the back door was open.
Authorities who responded to the daughter’s 911 call pronounced Golden dead at 7:32 p.m.
Wichita police officers who searched Golden’s home found the homeless man “in a closet in one of the bedrooms,” Golden’s autopsy report says.
No one had been arrested or charged in connection with the homicide as of Monday, according to police, booking and court records.
The Sedgwick County District Attorney, Marc Bennett, in an emailed response to questions posed Monday by The Eagle said: “The matter has been presented and remains under consideration pending the results of additional forensic analysis.”
Police spokesman Officer Paul Cruz said Tuesday that the department would not comment on the case.
Golden’s cause of death is listed in the autopsy report as hypertensive cardiovascular disease with atrial fibrillation — a medical description for high blood pressure coupled with an irregular heartbeat. Other significant conditions a medical examiner noted on the report were multiple blunt force injuries to Golden’s body, possible asphyxia by smothering, emphysema and lung conditions including a blood clot.
Her manner of death is listed as “homicide.”
In the section of the report where the coroner gives an opinion about a person’s cause and manner of death, the coroner wrote that Golden’s “injuries observed at autopsy would have resulted in severe physical and/or emotional stress that would induce a cardiac arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat) in an already labile heart further compromised by her lung disease.”
More information on the case is expected in the coming days.
Wichita has had more than 40 homicides so far this year. At least 33 are considered criminal in nature. The others were deemed justified, accidental or self-defense killings.
This story was originally published December 24, 2019 at 9:47 AM.
