Heat blamed in Fairmont City woman’s death

FAIRMONT CITY — Authorities say the death of a 60-year-old Fairmont City woman is the fourth related to heat in southwestern Illinois this year.

The St. Clair County Coroner’s Office says Jean Delameter appears to have been dead for at least two days when her body was found Tuesday in her home. Authorities say Delameter had two window air conditioning units in her trailer but those units weren’t working properly.

Three heat-related deaths were reported in July. Authorities say 88-year-old Dorothy Scott of Troy died after she accidentally switched on the heat instead of the air conditioner. When 56-year-old Timothy Murray of Collinsville was found dead in his apartment, the air conditioning wasn’t on. And a 62-year-old homeless man named Otha Bowman was found dead in a vacant building in East St. Louis.