By Ryan Randazzo | Arizona Republic
Amid an emergency moratorium prohibiting some Arizona utilities from shutting off customers’ power this summer, two gruesome deaths blamed in part on heat exposure have come to light.
Salt River Project, which is not subject to the moratorium, is facing a $1 million claim from relatives of a man who died in Apache Junction last summer.
Both the man and a woman he lived with were found dead in July 2018 in a hot home after the power was cut by SRP. Law-enforcement documents suggest the man died before the power was cut while the woman died five days later, after the shutoff.
A bill from SRP shows the man owed at least $378 at one point, and his family and the utility dispute whether it was paid before the shutoff.
Relatives of the man, David Warren King Sr., 68, filed the claim against SRP in January. Relatives of the woman, Debra Lee Noland, 64, have not filed a claim, and her sister told The Arizona Republic there are no plans for one.
Investigators found no signs of violence.
