Woman who died in Newton shed fire identified by medical examiner
Sep. 4—The person who was found dead in a structure fire this past July in Newton has been identified by the Iowa Office of the State Medical Examiner as 51-year-old Julianne Chapman, who had a Florida address and was reportedly a longtime friend with the Newton property owner, according to local officials.
Autopsy results indicate the cause of death to be smoke inhalation.
Firefighters had responded to a call of a shed that caught fire at approximately 9:58 p.m. July 16 near the 700 block of East 10th Street South. By the time crews arrived, a shed behind the home was fully engulfed. The fire was brought under control, but responders then located a body of an occupant who had died.
Newton Fire Chief Jarrod Wellik does not suspect any foul play. He also said officials do not know for sure whether Chapman was living in the shed.
According to a recent press release from the Newton Fire Department, the cause of the fire is undetermined. Wellik said there was so much damage to the building that the contents in the shed "were burnt to almost nothing." It becomes very difficult at that time to determine an exact cause of the fire.
"There are a bunch of factors that have to come together to say this is for sure what caused it," Wellik said. "When we don't have definite cause, the fires are listed as what's called 'undetermined.' That just means we can't put all the pieces together to say this is exactly how the fire started."
