Unified police officer found dead at his Salt Lake City home Saturday
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Unified police officer has been found dead at his Salt Lake City home, the third officer in that department to die in less than a month.
Salt Lake City police said they’re investigating the death of Jon Richey, but there’s no indication of foul play.
Officers were dispatched to Richey’s home Saturday morning for a welfare check when he didn’t show up for work, Salt Lake Police Lt. Robin Heiden said.
Richey, 52, was found alone inside the home with no obvious signs of distress, Heiden said.
The Utah State Medical Examiner’s Office will determine a cause of death.
News of Richey’s death came as officers were attending the funeral of Unified police detective Brian Holdaway, who suffered a medical condition at the sheriff’s office building and died on Feb. 2. Unified police detective Brooks Green died Jan. 25 following a “sudden cardiac event” near his home, authorities said.
“Based on the information we currently have, these deaths are not related. They are tragedies that unfortunately strike families like our own,” the Unified Police Department said in a statement. “To protect the integrity of ongoing investigations and the privacy of the affected families, we will not go into further detail or comment about the investigations. The death investigations are being handled by outside agencies. We will be focusing our efforts on the health and well-being of our employees and families of our lost members.”
Richey, who had been with the Unified Police Department since 2007, suffered gunshot wounds in both legs in January 2016 shootout with a suspect that killed a fellow police officer. He recovered from the injuries and was honored by the Utah Legislature the following month.
Richey grew up in Holladay and became the youngest police officer in Utah in 1984 at age 19, according to the Salt Lake City Tribune.
He helped start the K9 Program at the Salt Lake City Police Department in 1988 and went on to work as a detective in narcotics, larceny, burglary, robbery and homicide.
Richey served as a sergeant, detective and detective sergeant before he took a job in 2007 with the Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office, which has since become the Unified Police Department. He also worked in the West Jordan Police Department.