Human remains belonging to “multiple people” have been found at a property in San Diego, California, the former home of a man already in custody as part of a separate murder investigation.
Dwight William Rhone, 74, has been named as “a person of interest connected to an ongoing investigation” at the residence in the Southcrest neighborhood of San Diego, the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office said Wednesday.
The grisly discovery was made by FBI agents from the bureau’s San Diego branch, along with members of California Highway Patrol and the city’s police department, as part of a “cold case homicide” investigation as they executed a warrant at the house at which Rhone once lived as a tenant.
Five blue canopies were erected on the side of the property to conceal the activities being carried out by investigators from public view but they were nevertheless spotted wearing protective gear and digging in the backyard with shovels, emerging with what appeared to be bones, according to NBC 7.
The DA did not give any further details about the remains, which were discovered at the property at 3443 Newton Avenue Tuesday. NBC San Diego reported that “multiple” sets of remains were found at the home.
Rhone listed the property as his address in a 2022 name-change petition and civil court records document a forced eviction and a civil restraining order against him there in 2017, NBC 7 reports.
Judith Estrada Gonzalez, who, along with her sister, currently lives at the property, told the channel: “Two people came up to our door on a Sunday evening when we’re just all relaxing, watching movies as a family.
“And they just come to our door to tell us that we have to leave. A search warrant was approved by a judge, and you have to leave because the search warrant was going to start Tuesday – today – morning.”
The sisters have since been moved into temporary accommodation while the investigative work continues.
“Detectives will be working with the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office to determine the identity of the remains and the cause of death,” the San Diego Police Department said in a statement Wednesday.
Rhone was arrested on December 5 last year on a murder charge over the fatal shooting and immolation of Bernardo Moreno, 54, who was found dead on Interstate 5 near Route 905 on October 18, 2023, his body recovered from his burned out car.
Just days later, the suspect was sentenced to two years in federal prison in another, unrelated case, after a jury found him guilty of one count each of being a felon in possession of a firearm and being a felon in possession of ammunition, according to court records.
Prosecutors in that case noted that Rhone had “a lengthy criminal history,” having notched up at least 33 criminal offenses between 1963 to 2021.
He currently remains in custody without bail at San Diego Central Jail and is reportedly due in court next week over the 2023 killing.
