Missouri man charged with murder in Iowa killing

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Charges against a Missouri man accused in a deadly Iowa attack have been upgraded.

The Des Moines Police Department said in a news release that an amended charge of first-degree murder was filed Friday against 52-year-old Tony Wayne Hyde, of Columbia.

He was arrested in September after a Polk County deputy witnessed 62-year-old Timothy Guy Thacker being assaulted and stopped to intervene. Thacker had sustained serious head and facial injuries. He was rushed to a hospital, where he died five days later.

Hyde was booked into the Polk County Jail on a felony count accusing him of causing serious injury. The decision to upgrade the charge was made after Thacker’s death was ruled a homicide following an autopsy.

Hyde remains jailed as the case works its way through the courts.