One victim identified in murder-suicide case
Tucson police have identified a man killed in an apparent murder-suicide at a west-side home.
The body of Richard Posner, 62, was found Saturday along with a woman's body in a residence in the 100 block of South Melrose Avenue, near West Congress Street and South Grande Avenue.
Police said Monday that the woman, who had not been positively identified, used a gun to kill Posner before killing herself. The woman was in her late 40s.
Police went to the house Saturday to check on the well-being of the people living there. The landlord called 911 to report she had not heard from the tenant for several days.
On March 9, Tucson police received a request from the Los Angeles Police Department to check on the welfare of the woman living at the home as part of a missing-persons investigation. Tucson police officers went to the home but no one answered the door and no foul play was evident.
People are also reading…
It was not known if the two people were already dead inside the house at the time.
Several websites said Posner was an artist who did commissioned work in Europe and throughout the United States. An online bio of Posner had a lengthy list of his work, including many commissioned pieces of public art. His bio said he was originally from California but was now living in Tucson as a "freelance" public artist.
Marisa Gerber
House fire that injured man is suspected as arson
A man in his 50s was injured in a possible arson on Tucson's south side Monday.
A neighbor called 911 around 5:15 p.m. after he saw black smoke coming out the back door of the home in the 100 block of West Columbia Street, near South Sixth Avenue and Ajo Way.
Javier Elenes, the 19-year-old neighbor who called 911, said he heard an alarm going off but didn't hear any screams. Elenes said firefighters arrived in less than five minutes.
Firefighter Joe Roberson said that as soon as he broke though the front door, he heard a man coughing but couldn't see anything through the smoke.
Roberson said he felt around, found the man and pulled him from the home. The man could hardly breathe, Roberson said, but was able to tell him that nobody else was inside the home.
The man was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injures, said Capt. Tricia Tracy, a Tucson Fire Department spokeswoman.
Tracy said Tucson police detectives and fire investigators were were investigating the fire as an arson.
Sgt. Matt Ronstadt, a spokesman for the Tucson police, said the man got in a fight with his 60-year-old girlfriend, who also lives at the residence. The woman left for a while and returned to find firefighters at the house, Ronstadt said.
Damage was estimated at $25,000.
Marisa Gerber
50-lb. load of cocaine seized at checkpoint
Federal agents using specially trained dogs found $1.4 million in cocaine at an Interstate 19 checkpoint south of Tucson.
Nineteen wrapped and packaged bundles of cocaine were found in a car's gas tank March 10. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the cocaine weighed about 50 pounds.
Agents seized the car and the drugs and took the driver into custody.
The Associated Press
Man won't face charges for body found at home
TOMBSTONE - An actor and historian will not face charges in connection with his mother's death after an autopsy showed no signs of foul play and a prosecutor declined to file charges.
Timothy Fattig was arrested on a negligent-homicide charge last week after the city marshal found the skeletal remains of 68-year-old Jill Fattig inside her home.
Marshal Billy Cloud said that the 34-year-old man told him his mother died more than a year ago, and he locked her home and left because he was so distraught.
Cochise County Attorney Ed Rheinheimer said an autopsy showed no evidence of homicide, and he would not file charges.
Fattig did O.K. Corral re-enactments and is well known for his biography of Wyatt Earp.
On StarNet: Find an interactive map of reported crimes in the city of Tucson, updated every morning with the previous day's data, at go.azstarnet.com/crime
The Associated Press
