At age sixteen, Cecil Gaddy became a hero. He was riding in a car with his pregnant sister, her boyfriend, and one of their friends when the driver of the van lost control. On instinct, he threw himself across his sister’s body, doing everything he could to shield her from harm. The act of bravery resulted in Cecil being thrown through the car’s windshield and becoming paralyzed from the waist down.
As he navigated through this new chapter of life, Cecil kept his eyes fixed on the future. He continued advancing his guitar skills and pursued his education. He graduated high school and then moved to the town of Osceola, where he rented his first house. Being in a new place can be intimidating. Cecil sought out its best sites and soon discovered a new group of friends. According to his sister, Alicia, it was the wrong type of crowd. She claimed these newfound friends took advantage of her brother’s kindness and eagerness to please, using him for money and his pain medications. More and more items mysteriously vanished from his home. By January 2004, Cecil had enough. He called Alicia and informed her of all that transpired. He talked about the stolen items, the pressure for money and drugs; how he felt more like a an accessory than a friend to these people. Most alarmingly, Cecil mentioned that one of his friends asked to use his home to set up a meth lab. This last request was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Cecil decided to cut ties with the entire group, and although this choice was for the better, he feared the possible repercussions.
On January 31st, just a week after their phone call, Cecil’s house went up in flames, taking his life with it. Firefighters discovered the young man’s burned body lying face down in a bedroom. He was nineteen-years-old. Investigators never determined the exact cause of the fire, believed that Cecil, who regularly smoked, likely left a cigarette on the sofa which then triggered the fire. They ruled his death as accidental and quickly closed the case.
The Gaddy family, however, knew there had to be more to it. They vocalized their concerns before firefighters entirely put the flames entirely out.
Images taken at the scene shows Cecil’s wheelchair sitting on the snow-trampled long, several feet away from the wheelchair ramp. At the time of the incident, up to eight inches of snow covered the chair, meaning that it sat outside long before emergency services arrived. The Gaddy’s claimed that Cecil wouldn’t go anywhere without his wheelchair. It’d be impossible for him to crawl through several inches of snow, up the ramp to then open the door, and somehow drag himself throughout the house, all without assistance. To further complicate the line of events, the fire started in the living room, located in a different section of the house from where the body laid. Cecil could not move from room to another without his wheelchair, and investigators never determined a plausible explanation how it got outside.
The autopsy results supported the theory of a more sinister tale. It revealed no traces of smoke inside the teenager’s lungs at the time of death. The death certificate was officiated before the final autopsy report came in, and because of this, it does not mention the absence of smoke inhalation.
As of now, Cecil Gaddy’s death remains a closed case. Potential physical evidence became lost through time and little information about the events leading up to the fire is known. Investigators spoke with Cecil’s friends, but all claimed to have not seen him that night. Authorities will reopen the case if they receive new, credible information. If anyone has information on Cecil Gaddy’s death, please contact the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Mike Motsinger at 515-725-6010 or FBI Special Agent Jon Moeller at 712-258-1920.
