Police find dead body in basement four months later

Law enforcement authorities have ruled the cause of death for a body that was found in a basement as accidental, according to the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.

Rick Dean Wixom, 53, was reported missing by his family in October 2017. Prior to that, no one had seen him since he worked on basement stairs in the 700 block of South Central Avenue in Burlington in September 2017, according to the Iowa DCI.

In January, the owner of the home that Wixom worked on called a plumber to check on water in the basement. When the plumber went into the basement Jan. 12, he found Wixom's body, said Iowa DCI Special Agent Richard Rahn.

"I know that it's odd he was down there for that length of time," Rahn said. "This home wasn't in the best shape, for lack of better words. People didn't go down there for whatever reasons."

On Jan. 13, an autopsy conducted at the University of Iowa Health and Clinic Decedent Care Center. The medical examiner ruled Wixom's cause of death to be blunt force injuries consistent with a fall and the manner of death was accidental.