NPR for North Texas
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

A 61-year-old man dies in Tarrant County Jail custody, 4th 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 an award-winning reporter who started at KERA News in 2020. Before joining “NTX Now,” she covered Tarrant County government, with a focus on deaths in the local jail. Her work drives discussion at local government meetings and has led to real-world change — like the closure of a West Texas private prison that violated the state’s safety standards. A Massachusetts native, Miranda got her start in journalism at WTBU, Boston University’s student radio station. She later worked at WBUR as a business desk fellow, and while reporting for Boston 25 News, she received a New England Emmy nomination for her investigation into mental‑health counseling services at Massachusetts colleges and universities.