An Iowa man has been charged with murder two months after his girlfriend was found dead in the Iowa City home they shared.
According to a report by The Iowa City Gazette, a criminal complaint revealed that Joshua Perry contacted emergency services on January 6 to report a woman who was unresponsive at their residence. Upon arriving at the scene, authorities found the deceased body of 33-year-old Victoria Skarda.
Perry, 34, was arrested on domestic abuse and child endangerment charges and has been in jail since that time.
A post-mortem examination concluded that Skarda’s cause of death was cardiorespiratory arrest following a recent physical attack. This information was detailed in the criminal complaint filed against Perry for the charge of murder.
Iowa City police had been the couple’s address several times for domestic altercations.
The couple shared a child, whose age was not included in the reports.
Johnson County Attorney Rachel Zimmerman filed to dismiss the lesser charges against Perry after the murder charge was filed.
