Arrest made, charges filed in the 2016 death of Des Moines architect Kirk Blunck
Des Moines police have made an arrest in the nearly seven-year-old case surrounding the death of prominent local architect Kirk Blunck.
Zachary Allen Gaskill, 32, was charged Wednesday with second-degree murder. The investigation began on Jan. 24, 2016, when the 62-year-old Blunck was found severely injured in the stairwell of the Teachout Building, 500 E. Locust St., where he had an office.
The Polk County Medical Examiner ruled the cause of death as blunt force trauma due to a fall from height.
Blunck's father, Darrel Blunck, told the Des Moines Register in 2016 his son was on his way to collect "a lot of money" from someone just hours before his death.
Surveillance photos near the scene were shared in 2016 with the public in hopes of identifying the people in them as potential witnesses. Both people, one of whom was Gaskill, contacted police soon after to answer questions.
"Over the course of the past six years, detectives have continued to follow investigative leads, interview potential witnesses and examine evidence," said Sgt. Paul Parizek in a Wednesday news release. "Those efforts identified facts that support the elements of the crime Gaskill has been charged with."
Gaskill is being held in the Polk County jail without bail.
In 2018, a judge ordered Gaskill pay $6.25 million to Blunck's family after they alleged in a wrongful death lawsuit that Gaskill attacked Blunck, causing his death.
More:Family of architect Kirk Blunck requests $6.25M in wrongful death lawsuit
Those damages include $500,000 for Blunck's wife, Doreen Blunck, and $250,000 each for his three children for a loss of companionship and love as a result of his death. The judge also ordered $5 million in punitive damages against Gaskill, as the Blunck family had requested.
On Wednesday, family attorney Grant Woodard issued a statement thanking the Des Moines Police Department and detective Jeff Shannon "for their determination and efforts."
"The Blunck family is very pleased that the process of justice for Kirk continues," Woodard said.
Blunck specialized in renovating historic buildings and helped pioneer efforts to revitalize the East Village and Sherman Hill. He renovated the six-story Teachout Building in 1998 and his firm has worked on 13 projects in the East Village, including the buildings that house Wooly's and the Locust Tap.
In downtown’s Western Gateway, Blunck helped transform the century-old Crane Building, once a toilet factory, into apartments for artists.
He had been involved with the Des Moines Art Center since 1980. He helped develop the plans for a wing of the museum and completed other project studies over the years.
But Blunck’s life wasn’t free of high-profile controversies. Des Moines officials nearly evicted the tenants of one of his Sherman Hill apartments in 2014 because of issues that included exposed asbestos and lack of screens and fire exit signs. And a Register investigation in June 2014 revealed Blunck owed the city more than $1 million for two loans he received in the 1990s to renovate East Village buildings.
Gaskill once played for the Des Moines Blaze, a nonprofit minor league football team. He left the team in 2013.
From 2017:Kirk Blunck family sues former minor league football player for wrongful death
Noelle Alviz-Gransee is a general assignment reporter at the Des Moines Register. Follow her on Twitter at @NoelleHannika or email her at NAlvizGransee@registermedia.com.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Arrest made in the 2016 death of Des Moines architect Kirk Blunck
