Rizzo Bone Mystery - August 1997 part 1
Usually Myself
Search Continues After Lab Confirms Multiple Sets of Human Bones
By Adolfo Pesquera
Express-News Staff Writer
San Antonio police have been told by a Dallas laboratory that bones from
two--and possibly three--bodies are scattered in a Southeast Side
backyard.
The bones were discovered during a search for Monika Rizzo, who
disappeared from her job May 27.
Police said the bones were not those of Rizzo, and that tests were
continuing on additional bones found at the site.
The head of criminal investigation for the Police Department called an
impromptu news conference Friday evening.
Deputy Chief Albert Ortiz announced that there definitely were two sets
of human bones and possibly a third set.
The human bones were found mixed with animal bones during a July 4-5
search of the Southeast Side property of Leonard Rizzo, the husband of
the missing woman. The initial search was conducted after police
received an anonymous call.
Ortiz also said that a search warrant had been obtained Friday and that
police have begun to dig in the Rizzo yard.
Archaeologists from the University of Texas at San Antonio are
conducting the excavation.
Ortiz said no charges had been filed against the husband, who continues
to live at the house.
"He has a story. His explanation is that he doesn't know how the bones
got there," Ortiz said.
David Matlock, a private investigator hired by Rizzo's attorney, said
Rizzo learned of the latest laboratory findings on the evening news.
"He is now free to come and go as he pleases," Matlock said. "He is
cooperating 100 percent with the San Antonio Police Department. He does
not know what happened to his wife, and he's very upset about her
disappearance."
Neighbors expressed shock at the news that at least two bodies and
possibly a third were in the yard.
"Up until today, we just had a missing neighbor," Sandra Kubena said.
"We were starting to get used to it. I really didn't feel unsafe."
Although the dig will begin where two plastic bags of human and animal
remains were found in the backyard of the residence in the 4400 block of
Forest Green, Ortiz said the warrant will allow archaeologists to dig
anywhere on the Rizzo property.
Ortiz said it could not yet be determined whether the humans died
together or on separate occasions, however, they did die within the past
few months.
"There was still some flesh, still some body fluids. Neighbors reported
that early in June they smelled something in the air. It was thought to
be a dead animal," Ortiz said.
Ortiz said that because an attempt was made to conceal the bones and
that the original remains were chopped or sawed into very small pieces
with a mechanical device, investigators are continuing on the premise
that foul play is involved.
Police have not found what was used to dismember the bodies. Ortiz said
investigators searched stores and pawnshops throughout the city,
checking on rentals and purchases of chainsaws and wood chippers.
Neighbors turned out up and down the street, setting up lawn chairs
while children played.
Monika Rizzo, 44, and Leonard Rizzo, 45, lived at the home with their
two sons. They had lived in the residence for eight years and, according
to deed records, received the home as a gift from Leonard Rizzo's father.
The Rizzo's sons no longer live there.
It was the younger son's search for his mother that eventually led to a
missing person's report being filed by her father more than a week after
her disappearance.
Monika Rizzo went to lunch from her job at the Department of Human
Services on May 27 and has not been seen since.
Leonard Rizzo never reported his wife missing and when police first
went to the residence June 5 to inquire about her, he was found in a
comatose state and taken by officers to Southeast Baptist Hospital for
treatment, according to police.
Monika McKinney, Mrs. Rizzo's mother, said she and her husband knew
something new was forthcoming when they drove by the house Friday
morning and found detectives gathered there, waiting for the warrant.
"It's been a nightmare. I get so confused," McKinney said.
In yet another twist, another set of bones were taken as evidence
Thursday at a rural residence in southeastern Bexar County, Ortiz said.
Detectives went to a home on Mustang Lane because the residents are
acquaintances of Rizzo's and they had a compost heap that contained
bones.
However, Ortiz said the family told detectives that it was common for
them to throw their table scraps into the heap.
"At this point, we don't know if we have anything (from that search),"
he said.
Staff Writer Anita McDivitt contributed to this report.
August 3, 1997
Police Say Human Remains at Home Belonged to at Least Two People
By Kelley Shannon
Associated Press Writer
SAN ANTONIO (AP) - Police are searching for more human remains in a
backyard in a middle-class neighborhood in southeast San Antonio after
determining that bones found there earlier this summer belong to a least
two people.
The bones were discovered at the home of Leonard Rizzo, 45, whose
44-year-old wife, Monika, has been missing since May. Police previously
have said DNA tests showed the remains were not those of Monika Rizzo.
Investigators believe the bones found in the backyard last month were
those of two and possibly three people and a dog, Deputy Police Chief
Albert Ortiz said at a news conference Friday.
The bones were in small pieces as though they had been chopped up, Ortiz
said.
"The remains that we have found have been cut down or chopped down or
sawed down to such small pieces that we would certainly feel that foul
pay is involved," Ortiz said.
Police obtained a search warrant Friday for another search of the Rizzo
home and brought in bright lights, cadaver-detecting dogs and
archaeology students from the University of Texas at San Antonio to aid
in the investigation.
"They've isolated a few areas that will be searched later on," said Sgt.
Ernest Celaya, a police spokesman.
The yard is behind a single-story brick house on a cul-de-sac where the
Rizzos had lived for eight years. Early Saturday, the house and
surrounding yards remained cordoned off with police tape.
The search activity around the house drew curious neighbors Friday, some
standing, some seated in lawn chairs.
Leonard Rizzo has been questioned by police but not been charged with
any crime, Celaya said.
"Mr. Rizzo is not under arrest... so he is free to come and go as he
pleases," Celaya said.
David Matlock, a private investigator hired by Rizzo's attorney, told
the San Antonio Express-News that Rizzo is cooperating with police. "He
does not know what happened to his wife and he's very upset about her
disappearance," he said.
The Rizzos have lived at the house for eight years and received the home
as a gift from Leonard Rizzo's father, according to deed records
examined by the Express-News.
Police said Rizzo did not report his wife as missing until investigators
went to the house June 5 to inquire about her and found him in a
comatose state. He was taken to a hospital for treatment, but no
diagnosis was released.
Neighbors reported smelling a foul odor some weeks ago that seemed to be
coming from a dead animal, Ortiz said. The neighbors said the stench
stopped after a recent rain and they stopped thinking about it.
San Antonio television station KSAT reported that the police have been
searching another location in south Bexar County and have collected
evidence in the case that indicated bodies may have been burned there.
That evidence will be turned over to DNA specialists Monday.
Also, KSAT reported, police have been to at least three businesses and
searched through files to determine whether Leonard Rizzo had access to
a wood chipping machine. It was not immediately known what information
the search of those files turned up
August 3, 1997
Discovery of Bones Leaves Family Puzzled
By Anita McDivitt and Carmina Danini
Express-News Staff Writers
The horror of what police recently discovered in the yard of the home
where their daughter lived for eight years--and the mounting dread of
what may yet be unearthed--kept Bill and Monika McKinney awake
throughout the night.
"I'm just confused, shocked from yesterday," Monika McKinney said. "I'm
miserable. I couldn't sleep all night because I kept thinking what else
could happen?"
On Friday and Saturday, a team of archaeologists aiding police unearthed
more bone fragments in the yard of Monika and Leonard Rizzo's home in
the 4400 block of Forest Green Street. Monika Rizzo, the McKinney's
daughter, has been missing since May 27.
Last month, detectives found chopped human bones, blood and flesh in the
couple's backyard. Monika McKinney said she didn't know what to believe
when police told her Friday those remains didn't match her daughter's
DNA.
The body parts possibly are from three other individuals, according to a
laboratory in Dallas.
"I can't believe all this," Monika McKinney said. "When you hear that
they found bones, all chopped up, you just don't know what to think."
Since June 5, when the couple reported their 44-year-old adopted
daughter missing, they've feared the worst. She is their only child.
Monika Rizzo and her husband have been married 26 years and are the
parents of two adult sons. The younger son, 19-year-old Vincent, last
heard his mother's voice on the day she disappeared.
Around 4 a.m. that day, Monika Rizzo spoke to her son as he was showering.
"He never saw her," McKinney said. "He just heard her voice. That was
the last time anyone (in the family) heard from her."
They reported her missing 10 days later.
When police arrived at her home, they found Leonard Rizzo "overdosed in
the house" and said he may "have possibly attempted suicide," according
to a police report written by Patrolman Rudolph Herrera.
Leonard Rizzo later recovered at a local hospital. Beaumont attorney
Bruce Smith, who represents Leonard Rizzo, said the husband was neither
overdosed nor attempting to commit suicide.
"He has a history of seizures," Smith said of Leonard Rizzo. "It is my
understanding that it's like an epileptic seizure." Although they are
not his wife's remains, Leonard Rizzo was unsettled by the discovery of
additional bones on his property, Smith said.
"He's obviously very concerned about everything," Smith said by phone.
"The primary thing he is concerned about is finding his wife."
Because his house is "totally under police control," Leonard Rizzo is
staying elsewhere for now, Smith said. Leonard Rizzo, 45, was not taking
calls from reporters Saturday. But his son, Leonard Rizzo Jr., said much
of the reporting about his father is "not true."
"Everything is inaccurate," the 22-year-old said, declining to be more
specific before hanging up. Smith said Leonard Rizzo has been
cooperative with police, but details of some of those meetings only now
have come to light.
According to an affidavit signed July 14 by 144th District Judge Susan
Reed, Leonard Rizzo made a statement that hinted at foul play.
Told by homicide Detective Jimmy Holguin that circumstances surrounding
her possible death did not constitute capital murder, Leonard Rizzo
said, "Maybe I ought to go kill somebody else," according to an affidavit.
The same affidavit states that during a July 4 search of the three-
bedroom Rizzo residence, detectives found a hole in the living room wall
with blood on it.
The McKinneys say they know their daughter probably is dead. Bill
McKinney says, however, that the Leonard Rizzo he knows, the man who
started dating his daughter when she was 17 and married her a little
more than a year later, could not have had anything to do with the
grisly discovery.
"I would hate to see anybody get carried away like that and say he was
capable of doing something like that," Bill McKinney said. "I saw that
on TV. And I can tell you, that is not the guy I know. I'm not building
no defense for him, and I don't like him either. No matter what, he
couldn't do this."
August 3, 1997
More Bones Found
By Melissa Prentice
Express-News Staff Writer
Archaeologists unearthed more than a dozen bone fragments during a
search Saturday of a missing Southeast Side woman's yard, where
dismembered remains of as many as three people have been found.
San Antonio police plan to concentrate their search today in several
areas of Monika Rizzo's yard where search dogs indicated more human
remains may be found.
They are expected to continue examining a trailer home where
investigators removed a mattress and piece of carpet Saturday.
District Judge Raymond Angelini signed a warrant for the search of the
trailer Saturday based on information that chopped-up bone fragments,
a human skull, blood and two trash bags containing "human remains"
belonged to as many as three people, but not the missing 44-year-old
woman.
Police suspect foul play, but had not concluded that the body fragments
were evidence of a serial killer.
"We can assume it is a double or triple homicide because of the way the
bones were cut up," homicide Sgt. Darrell Volz said. "But I wouldn't
label it a serial killing at this point. We don't know where the bones
came from. We can only assume there was foul play."
On July 4, police went to Monika Rizzo's home in the 4400 block of
Forest Green Street after an anonymous caller told authorities they
would find her body in a shallow grave in the backyard. That week,
police found chopped-up bone fragments, a human skull and two bags of
human tissue in the home and backyard.
A team of four archaeologists from the University of Texas at San
Antonio's Center for Archaeological Research began excavating the
backyard Friday after police learned the bone and blood evidence
belonged to at least two unidentified people. Saturday, the team found
the additional bone fragments in the same area along the southern fence,
which borders a vacant lot, and in a backyard barbecue pit.
No blood or bones had been found in the trailer. Tests will be run on
the mattress, carpet and other evidence collected during the 12-hour
search, which was called off at dark.
"The archaeologists found things they say are bone that (police) would
never recognize as bones" because they were chopped into small or
odd-shaped pieces, Volz said.
It was not known Friday if the bones were human or animal.
Volz said the day ended with "no significant findings. It's nothing
that's going to solve a case. I don't foresee an arrest in this case
anytime soon."
Police didn't know whose bones were buried in the shallow grave, which
authorities were alerted to by an anonymous caller.
They had not been able to determine gender, age or any other pertinent
information.
Leonard Rizzo, Monika Rizzo's estranged husband, lived at the home until
the police search began Friday.
His attorney, Bruce Smith of Beaumont, said Saturday that Rizzo was
"very concerned" about the fate of his wife in light of the gruesome
discovery on his property.
Monika Rizzo went to lunch from her job at the Department of Human
Services on May 27 and has not been seen since.
Although tests have determined that the remains do not belong to Monika
Rizzo, Microbiologist Judy Floyd of the GeneScreen Lab in Dallas
determined that the skull, chopped-up bone fragments and two bags of
"suspected human tissue" found July 7 in outside garbage cans contained
human DNA, according to the search warrant.
She concluded the blood found inside the Rizzo's home and one garbage
bag of tissue were from the same person.
A second person's tissue was in the other garbage bag.
Some bones and the skull possibly belonged to a third.
The discovery meant little to Monika Rizzo's parents.
"I think these bones are unrelational to Monika. They mean nothing,"
said her father, Bill McKinney. "They may even find a new set of bones
today, maybe even another mixture of bones."
Still, he said, police were no closer to solving his daughter's
disappearance. Her family feels sure she is dead.
Police and the UTSA archaeological team, headed by director Robert Hard,
planned to continue searching the backyard indefinitely, concentrating
on areas picked by search dogs trained to locate human remains.
Police were looking for bones, tissue, hair and other human remains, and
anything that could be used as a deadly weapon or for "cutting or sawing
bones," according to the search warrant.
"We are very carefully looking in parts of the yard for human remains,"
Hard said about his team's work cordoning off areas of the soil and
marking each finding with a colored flag. "It's slow work. The time
frame is open-ended for whatever the police need."
Confusion over their missing neighbor and the possibility of three
murder victims found in their neighborhood caused area residents to
cancel their weekly barbecue Friday evening.
Instead, they mingled with strangers who staked out the police perimeter
of the house at the end of the block where the Rizzos had lived for
eight years with their two sons.
"The whole neighborhood was here, and then some," Lupe Acosta said.
"Ever since this has happened, we've lost all control of our privacy."
Vicki Dear admitted fascination with the 2-month-old mystery that began
when Monika Rizzo's parents reported her missing escalated with the
finding of human bones in the yard. After work Friday, Dear walked to
the police barricade with her 2-year-old daughter and finger food and
camped for six hours, watching the latest details unfold.
"It was a frenzy," she said of the crush of police, media and onlookers.
Neighbors recalled nothing odd about the family, which never joined
their get-togethers.
"They kept to themselves," one neighbor said.
Police did not return Saturday to the southeastern Bexar County home of
an acquaintance of Leonard Rizzo, where Friday they removed a compost
heap that contained bones.
Volz said Saturday that police believed the bones were from animals and
were not connected to the human remains found on the Rizzo's property.
Staff Writers Jaime Castillo, Anita McDivitt, Marty Sabota and Elisa
Schement contributed to this report.
August 4, 1997
Officials Believe Bones of Human Hand Discovered
By Melissa Prentice
Express-News Staff Writer
Bones believed to be from a human hand were among the remains
archaeologists unearthed Sunday in a search that has turned a Southeast
Side backyard into a gravesite.
San Antonio police also uncovered more bone fragments--including what
could be a piece of a human jaw--at Leonard Rizzo's home, where police
have confirmed there may be up to three bodies buried in the backyard.
The bone fragments were uncovered in a shallow grave near several car
tires and an abandoned vehicle behind the Rizzo home.
But it may take three days until police can confirm that all the remains
they discovered are human, investigators said.
Police also are using a metal detector to find fillings that could have
been on the teeth of a skull or jaw found by homicide detectives July 7.
Detectives uncovered the remains after an anonymous caller told
authorities that Rizzo's wife, Monika, reported missing June 5, could
be found in a grave behind the home in the 4400 block of Forest Green
Street.
A Dallas lab, however, has confirmed that the bone fragments do not
belong to the 44-year-old woman who was last seen May 27 leaving her
job at the Department of Human Services for lunch.
Police said tests will be run on a mattress, carpet and other evidence
collected during their search Saturday. Detectives do not know whose
bones were discovered buried in the backyard.
Leonard Rizzo lived at the home until the police search began Friday.
On Sunday, police and archaeologists ended their search for more bones
at 5 p.m. They plan to resume looking for more remains today.
While police and archaeologists from the University of Texas at San
Antonio's Center for Archaeological Research worked behind the Rizzo
home, residents in the neighborhood hosted a "block barbecue" Saturday
night.
"That's something we just do. We're trying not to change the routine,"
said Bob Martin, who lives in a house near Rizzo's.
As police surrounded the Rizzo house Sunday, several residents headed
for church, and others did yard work.
"I wish it would get back to a quiet neighborhood," said a man, who did
not want to be identified, as he mowed his lawn.
"It's got my girlfriend shook-up pretty good," he said.
Hope Mindola, who lives next door to the Rizzos, said she was not
concerned about her safety.
"We live here. It's OK," Mindola said.
Monika Rizzo's parents waited outside the home Sunday as police and
archeologists continued to search for more body fragments.
The missing woman's mother, Monika McKinney, cried as she sat on an
American Red Cross cooler behind yellow tape that police use to control
access to a crime scene.
McKinney said she was still hoping for any information about her
daughter's whereabouts.
"I am so baffled. I am so confused," she said. "I was shocked when we
heard about it."
McKinney last saw her daughter during a birthday dinner for Monika in
January.
She gave Monika jade earrings and a ring as a birthday gift. Bill
McKinney believed his daughter had fled the city when she was reported
missing, but later found her passport, driver's license and Social
Security card in June at her home.
"It's a waiting game," he said.
Staff Writer Elisa Schement contributed to this report.
August 5, 1997
More Bone Fragments Deepen S.E. Side Mystery
By Melissa Prentice
Express-News Staff Writer
The question of whose bones are scattered just below the dirt in a
Southeast Side backyard continues to puzzle police investigating what
they have called the "most bizarre" case in decades. During the fourth
day of tedious excavation, archaeologists Monday continued to unearth
dozens of chopped-up bone fragments--so small or oddly shaped that
previously they had been overlooked by police officers.
Most were found just under the surface, covered only by a thin layer of
dirt, leading officers to believe that whoever discarded the bones in
Monika and Leonard Rizzo's backyard took little effort to conceal them.
Charred remains left in a barbecue pit indicate that the grill recently
had been "used extensively," perhaps "to destroy body parts or conceal
them," Deputy Chief Albert Ortiz said. "Some very hot fires have been
burned in there."
Yet, despite collecting hundreds of pieces of evidence--including a
piece of a jawbone and what appears to be a human hand--police Monday
had more questions than four days ago when the dig began.
"This ranks up there with the most bizarre, the most mysterious and
certainly the most complex case I have seen," said Ortiz, a 25-year
department veteran.
DNA experts told police Friday that human bones and garbage bags of
"human tissue" were from at least two, possibly three, people--but not
from Monika Rizzo, who last was seen May 27 when she left for lunch
from her job at the Department of Human Services.
The bones unearthed this weekend also are thought to be human. Body
tissues and fluids found among the remains indicate the deaths were
recent, possibly weeks or months ago, Ortiz said.
Still, police are left pondering just whose remains are scattered
across the backyard. Were they men or women? Young or old? When were
they killed, and by whom? Did they leave families behind?
"We are pretty much at a loss for who these remains belong to," Ortiz
said.
Authorities used reverse DNA testing to determine that the remains were
not Monika Rizzo's. In the test, DNA was taken from her husband and one
of her two sons to determine her DNA profile.
But it is impossible to perform the time-consuming, costly test against
each of the 500 to 700 people reported missing in the San Antonio area
each month, Ortiz said.
Such a test would be ordered only if there was reason to suspect that a
missing person was a relative or friend of the Rizzos, or had spent time
at the home, Ortiz said.
At this point, police have no one who fills that bill.
Homicide detectives suspect foul play, although Ortiz said police don't
have sufficient evidence to conclude that a killing took place. Monika
Rizzo still is considered a missing person, he said.
San Antonio police called for DNA experts at the GeneScreen Lab in Dallas
and archaeologists from the University of Texas at San Antonio, after the
case surrounding her disappearance became more complex.
Nearly a month after Monika Rizzo's parents reported her missing, an
anonymous caller told police July 4 they would find the 44-year-old
missing woman's body buried in a shallow grave behind her home.
That week police found blood in the home and two garbage bags of a
"mushy" combination of human tissue and animal remains. A human skull
and chopped-up bone fragments littered the backyard.
The UTSA team--called in out of concern that a police dig may damage or
overlook evidence--began a four-day, dawn-to-dusk excavation of the
half-acre yard Friday after police learned the dismembered remains
belonged to at least two people.
By nightfall Monday, more than 100 bright pink flags marked spots where
archaeologists had unearthed bone fragments or trace evidence. Three
flags marked inspected areas in a vacant lot just outside the Rizzo's
backyard. The others were clustered in areas pinpointed by dogs trained
to detect human remains. Only a handful of fragments and several intact
"thin bones," possibly fingers or toes, were found Monday, police
spokesman Sgt. Ernest Celaya said.
Investigators also spent the day logging and preparing bones and other
evidence found over the weekend. The evidence is to be sent to a Dallas
DNA lab or to forensic archaeologists at UTSA. A mattress and piece of
carpeting found in a backyard trailer will also be tested.
Preliminary lab results are expected in as few as three days. The
archaeologists expect to continue the excavation through the end of the
week.
August 6, 1997
Dallas Gene Lab Studying Remains
By Melissa Prentice
Express-News Staff Writer
Bones and other remains collected from the backyard of Monika Rizzo's
Southeast Side home are being sent to Dallas for DNA testing because
Bexar County doesn't have the most up-to-date equipment, officials said
Tuesday.
Deputy Chief Albert Ortiz said the Dallas lab was chosen because it
offered the "quickest return time" for test results.
Preliminary results on evidence collected this weekend by a team of
archaeologists could be available in as few as three days.
Dr. Vincent DiMaio, Bexar County's chief medical examiner, said the
crime lab has requested about $150,000 to purchase the equipment needed
for a new form of DNA testing now available only in private labs. The
funding has yet to be approved.
San Antonio police said they could not estimate what it will cost to
have the Dallas GeneScreen Lab perform DNA tests on the human remains.
The chopped-up bones and trace evidence of other human remains were
found during a five-day excavation at the Rizzo home. Monika Rizzo has
been missing since May 27. Her husband, Leonard Rizzo, is living
elsewhere while the excavation continues.
Forensic experts want to know if the hundreds of fragments--including
finger bones found in a backyard barbecue grill--are human bones and if
they match blood and human tissue found July 4 at the Rizzo home in the
4400 block of Forest Green.
The medical examiner's office also has hired a forensic archaeologist
from Texas A&M University who this week will attempt to reconstruct a
human skeleton from the fragments.
Several additional bone fragments, each between 1 and 2 inches long,
were found during the fifth day of the dig Tuesday, police said.
Archaeologists from the University of Texas at San Antonio used weed
cutters to trim debris from areas on the north side of the yard that
previously had not been searched.
Evidence is forwarded to the Dallas lab as it is collected.
Bexar County medical examiners currently are capable of performing two
traditional, less-complicated DNA tests. One takes about six to eight
weeks and the other takes several days, but is considered less accurate,
DiMaio said.
The newest method is quicker and more accurate than either of the other
tests.
"This test will make the other two obsolete," DiMaio said.
The advanced DNA tests could be performed in Bexar County as early as
next summer if funding is approved in the next few months, DiMaio said.
August 5, 1997
Remains of up to Three Bodies Found in Backyard of San Antonio Residence
SAN ANTONIO (AP) - Bones believed to be from a human hand and possibly
part of a jaw have been found in a grave behind a San Antonio home where
officials last month found other skeletal remains.
The bones were unearthed Sunday by archaeologists and police. Officials
spent the weekend digging through a shallow grave behind Leonard Rizzo's
home where there believe as many as three bodies may be buried.
Archaeologists from the University of Texas at San Antonio's Center for
Archaeological Research continued their work in Rizzo's backyard Monday.
Detectives first uncovered bones, including a human jaw, after an
anonymous caller told authorities in early July that Rizzo's wife,
Monika--who was reported missing June 5--could be found in a grave
behind the home.
A Dallas laboratory confirmed that the bone fragments it has examined do
not belong to Mrs. Rizzo, 44.
She was last reported seen on May 27 when she left her job at the
Department of Human Services for lunch.
Investigators said police may need three days to confirm that all the
discovered remains are human. Detectives say they don't know the
identities of the bodies.
Police are using a metal detector to find fillings that could have been
on the teeth of a skull or jaw found July 7 by homicide detectives.
Police said tests will be run on a mattress, carpet and other evidence
collected during a search on Saturday.
Rizzo lived at the home until Friday, when police returned to search for
more bones.
Monika Rizzo's parents, Bill and Monika McKinney, waited outside the
residence Sunday as police and archaeologists continued to search for
more body fragments.
Mrs. McKinney cried as she sat on an American Red Cross cooler behind
yellow tape that police use to control access to a crime scene.
She said she's desperate for information about her daughter's
whereabouts. Mrs. McKinney said she last saw her daughter at a birthday
dinner in January when she gave Mrs. Rizzo jade earrings and a ring as
gifts.
McKinney said he believed his daughter had fled the city when she was
reported missing, but then found her passport, driver's license and
Social Security card in June at her home.
"It's a waiting game," he said.
August 7, 1997
Police Tipster Says He Has No New Data
By Bill Hendricks and Cynthia Klekar
Express-News Staff Writers
A tattooed man, whose chilling story led police to find human body parts
at the home of a missing Southeast Side woman, said he now fears that
investigators consider him as a suspect in her disappearance.
"Now, I've got them (police) against me, and I've got everybody else
against me," Robert Hakala, 36, said in an interview at his Blanco Road
apartment.
Hakala said detectives are demanding to hear more details about his
relationship with Leonard and Monika Rizzo.
Officers obtained a search warrant July 4 and found human bones, hair
and body fluids at the Rizzo home in the 4400 block of Forest Green
Street after talking to Hakala.
That grim discovery turned into a search of the residence and property
that continued Wednesday and is expected to go on all week.
The search, including methodical excavation of the Rizzo couple's
backyard, has uncovered small bone fragments that investigators believe
are from humans, as well as animals.
Monika Rizzo, 44, vanished several weeks ago and left her car, clothing
and personal items at the residence she shared with her husband of 28
years.
But DNA tests performed at a private laboratory in Dallas thus far haven't
identified any of the remains as those of the missing woman or anyone else.
Investigators have confirmed that the body parts include the remains of
at least two humans.
No one has been charged with a crime, and police officially say no person
has been singled out as a suspect in Monika Rizzo's disappearance.
Police add they haven't even established that a crime took place. In an
affidavit attached to a warrant police obtained July 14 to seize body
parts for testing, a detective stated that Hakala "is friends with both
Monika and Leonard Rizzo Sr. and has known them for some time."
According to the affidavit, "Hakala stated sometime around the end of
May or (the) beginning of June he went to (the house in the 4400 block
of) Forest Green and spoke to both Monika and Leonard Rizzo Sr.
"About three days after speaking to Monika and Leonard Sr., Hakala
returned to the residence and smelled a strong odor that he associated
with a dead animal.
"Hakala then observed a small dog in the yard of (the house) playing
with what appeared to be a human jawbone.
"When he examined the bone, he saw the front lower teeth on the jawbone
overlapped and stated... 'I remember seeing Monika's front lower teeth
and they were overlapping just like the teeth on the jawbone."
Unofficial reports have been circulating for several days concerning
possible links between the missing woman, her husband and members of
the Banditos motorcycle gang.
Deputy Police Chief Albert Ortiz discussed the reports on the record
for the first time Wednesday at a news conference.
Ortiz said Banditos leaders described Leonard Rizzo as being someone who
aspired to join their ranks but hadn't been accepted.
Detectives are concerned, Ortiz told reporters, because Banditos have a
history that includes violence and drug trafficking.
Rizzo hasn't responded to reporter's questions, and reportedly had been
staying with one of the couple's two sons while police search his house.
"We've made no remarkable progress," Ortiz said of the tedious six-day
excavation.
Dozens of 1-and 2-inch bone fragments, including pieces that look like
fingers or toes, have been found scattered across the yard and in a
barbecue pit.
Archaeologists from the University of Texas at San Antonio plan to
finish the excavation of the top levels of the yard by Friday and will
decide then whether a "full-scale" dig is needed, police said.
Chopped-up bones and other human remains collected early last month have
been sent to the Dallas GeneScreen Lab for testing, but none has been
identified as Monika Rizzo's. Remains gathered since then are expected
to be sent early next week.
Police said they plan to search adjacent yards for bones that may have
been tossed over fences.
Meanwhile, Hakala said he wonders whether he is suspected in the case
and whether he needs a lawyer.
Hakala had a small, green, tropical bird perched on his shoulder Tuesday
when he answered a knock on his door.
At first, Hakala said he didn't want to discuss his role in the Rizzo
investigation, but before he could close the door, his pet bird flew
outside.
After retrieving his feathered companion and ordering the bird into its
cage, Hakala said he'd already told police everything he knew.
"I don't know anything else," said Hakala, a stocky man with thinning
hair and arms decorated with tattoos. "I was the one who called (police)
trying to help out on this case."
Hakala said his cooperation with investigators led to his being "roughed
up" Tuesday night at the same tavern where he claims to have met Rizzo
and his wife.
He described the tavern as catering to "bikers," a term for streetwise
motorcycle enthusiasts.
Later, a tough-talking young woman and an older woman told an inquiring
reporter to leave the establishment.
"This is a biker bar, and they don't want you in here," the older woman
explained.
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