A Dallas police officer is in custody and faces two counts of capital murder for the unrelated death of two people, a man and a woman murdered in separate months in 2017.
Dallas police said Thursday afternoon that police officer Bryan Riser, a veteran of the force since 2008, was arrested Thursday morning and was awaiting trial at the Dallas County Jail.
Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia said a witness appeared and implicated Riser in the murder of 30-year-old Lisa Saenz, a woman who was shot several times before her body was found in the Trinity River in March 2017.
In September 2017, NBC 5 reported that three people had been arrested and charged with Saenz’s murder: Kevin Kidd, 28, Emmanuel Kilpatrick, 31, and Jermon Simmons, 35. So far, none of the men have been on trial and the court record shows that Kidd has two murder charges pending, while Kilpatrick and Simmons still have three murder charges.
On August 14, 2019, the witness told police that he kidnapped and murdered Saenz at Riser’s address.
Garcia said the witness also told police that Riser instructed him to kidnap and kill Aubrey Douglas, who was missing in February 2017. Garcia said witnesses said Douglas had been kidnapped and murdered in the same place as Saenz.
Garcia, he said, has not found Douglas’s body.
An affidavit of arrest will be issued in the afternoon detailing the investigations into the murders.
“Although he is under arrest, he is on administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal affairs administrative investigation,” Dallas police said in a statement.
In May 2017, Riser was arrested after being charged with domestic violence with delicate assaults causing bodily injury. An investigation into internal affairs was then conducted, although the results of that investigation are not yet known, and Garcia declined to share any additional details about the outcome of that investigation Thursday afternoon.
Dallas police said Riser has been in the department since August 2008 and had been assigned to the South Central Patrol Division. Garcia said they will study Riser’s arrest record in light of the charges against him.
Garcia said the department was conducting an administrative investigation into Riser and was moving toward completion.
“This guy doesn’t have any company wearing this uniform. That’s not for me to say that, as a police chief, I guarantee you that all men and women who wear this uniform who do this job honorably don’t want anyone to mess with the our insignia, ”Garcia said.
Garcia defended his department and officers, saying Riser does not represent the many men and women who watch the city daily.
“We hire individuals of the human race and when we find individuals like this, we should be judged by the actions we take afterwards,” Garcia said. “We will hold ourselves accountable to the highest levels.”
“The actions that have been investigated do not in any way reflect the actions of the men and women who wear this uniform with pride and certainly do not reflect the heroic, professional and dedicated sacrifices I have witnessed since I arrived,” he said. dir Garcia. “However, make it clear to me in a promise to our city and to our men and women who serve daily with honor, that we will not allow anyone to defile this insignia. As we all know, the actions of a few affect many, I, we are committed to you removing the criminal element from the streets of the city of Dallas, to relentlessly following anyone who harms that city and including the walls of this police department. “
The amount of the bail has not been confirmed and it is unclear whether Riser has obtained a lawyer.