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A 61-year-old man dies in Tarrant County Jail custody, fourth reported death this year

A jail cell at the Tarrant County Jail in Fort Worth, pictured in 2024.
Yfat Yossifor
/
KERA News
A jail cell at the Tarrant County Jail in Fort Worth, pictured in 2024.

A 61-year-old man in Tarrant County Jail custody died Wednesday after being transported to John Peter Smith Hospital, according to a press release from the sheriff's office.

Richard Gutkowski died at JPS just before 11 a.m., according to the medical examiner's online deaths database. His cause of death is pending.

White Settlement police arrested Gutkowski for criminal trespass, and he was booked into the jail on July 29, county criminal records show.

This is the fourth death in custody the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office has reported in 2025. The jail has faced criticism for years for the number of deaths behind bars, including an alleged murder by guards.

Two people died in custody in February: Charles Stephen Johnson, who died by suicide, and Kimberly Phillips, who died of hunger and thirst. The cause of death for Lizza Elizabeth Gadlin, who died in April, is still pending.

This story has been updated with Richard Gutkowski's name after he was identified by the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office.

Got a tip? Email Miranda Suarez at msuarez@kera.org.

KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider making a tax-deductible gift today. Thank you.

Miranda Suarez is KERA’s Tarrant County accountability reporter. Before coming to North Texas, she was the Lee Ester News Fellow at Wisconsin Public Radio, where she covered statewide news from the capital city of Madison. Miranda is originally from Massachusetts and started her public radio career at WBUR in Boston.