AG Mayes calls for investigation into woman’s death after power was cut off
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Arizona’s top prosecutor is calling for an investigation into the heat-related death of a Sun City woman last year, which made headlines recently due to the family’s demand for change.
State Attorney General Kris Mayes sent a letter to the Arizona Corporation Commission, which regulates certain power companies, on Tuesday, asking them to look into what Arizona Public Service (APS) did leading up to the death of Kate Korman. The 82-year-old had her electricity shut off on May 13 and was found dead six days later.
According to the Maricopa County Office of the Medical Examiner’s autopsy report, she died from chronic ethanolism, commonly known as chronic alcoholism, with contributing factors being heart disease and “environmental heat stress.” The high temperature on May 13 was 99 degrees and on May 19, it was 95 degrees.
According to APS, Korman stopped making payments toward her electric bill in January 2024. After 10 attempts to contact her, they turned her power off.
According to Mayes’ letter, APS voluntarily stopped disconnecting power to customers who missed payments on May 16, more than two weeks before June 1, when companies can’t by law disconnect electricity. “Ms. Korman may still be alive if APS had stopped disconnections just three days earlier,” Mayes said in the letter.
In 2024, Maricopa County had 138 people die indoors due to heat-related reasons and nearly 70% of those were cases that had air conditioning present but not on or functioning within the home.
She also said the Corporation Commission hasn’t done much to look into Korman’s death and hasn’t talked to her family about the disconnection. Arizona’s Family asked the panel about the letter and they said they had heard of it but haven’t received it.
Last week, Kate Korman’s son, Jonathan Korman, called on government officials to do more to protect the most vulnerable in the desert heat.
A couple of days later, Jonathan and his brother, Adam Korman, got into an ugly exchange on social media with Nick Myers, the vice chair of the Arizona Corporation Commission, over the death. The brothers wanted him to do more but he blamed them for her death.
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