The San Diego County District Attorney’s office said Friday the three-day search at a home in Southcrest has recovered “what is believed to be the remains of one human being.”
The DA’s office said an autopsy will be conducted to confirm the identity of the individual found at the property on Newton Avenue, near National Avenue and 35th Street, after a lengthy, multi-agency search involving the FBI, NCIS, California Highway Patrol, and San Diego police.
The search began on Tuesday after the CHP became privy to information regarding human remains while investigating a separate murder case from October 2023. The suspect in that case, 74-year-old Dwight Rhone, previously lived at the property and was named a person of interest in the human remains investigation, according to the DA’s office.
While dozens of investigators scanned the property on Tuesday, law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation told NBC News that investigators are looking into Rhone in connection with the deaths of multiple people, after multiple sets of human remains were located there.
NBC 7 followed up with the DA’s office on Friday to get specifics, but the agency said no other details will be released at this time.
Much of the backyard was dug up where a person of interest once lived. NBC 7’s Dave Summers tells us there were more mysteries to uncover once the caution tape was torn down.
On Wednesday, SkyRanger 7 spotted investigators with shovels digging in the backyard, collecting what appeared to be bones. And on Thursday, NBC 7 crews saw more than a half-dozen holes in the Newton Street backyard where investigators dug for clues. The holes were filled before investigators left on Thursday.
At least part of the investigation led police outside the property boundaries to a location about 100 yards from the house, under the Interstate 15 overpass. NBC 7 observed a 10-foot circle that was refilled with soft dirt. It was not clear what, if anything, was found there.
The person of interest in the case has a lengthy criminal history, NBC 7 Investigates learned through several court documents. Rhone was already in custody in connection with the Oct. 2023 death of Bernardo Moreno, who was found shot and burned in a brush fire along Interstate 5 and state Route 905 near the U.S.-Mexico border.
NBC 7 Investigates pulled court records that show dozens of other criminal cases against Rhone and at least 12 felony convictions since 1970, including several as a juvenile. He lived at the Newton Avenue home with his sister-in-law and previous owner of the home, Ernie Monia, who later filed a restraining order against Rhone. After it expired in 2022, Rhone returned to the property until he was evicted by the current landlord in 2023.
Around the same time in June 2023, Rhone was pulled over by San Diego police. Already a convicted felon several times over, San Diego police arrested him for what they said were two loaded handguns found in his pockets. He was charged and released on bail. Rhone is accused of killing Moreno while out on bail.
NBC 7 Investigates reached out to some members of the Rhone and Monia family, who declined to comment. A request to visit Rhone in jail was also declined.
Multiple sources familiar with the investigation say this went from remains being found to the bones of “multiple people.” NBC 7’s Dana Williams reports that although law enforcement have left the neighborhood, many questions remain.
Dwight Rhone has dozens of criminal cases against him, dating all the way back to 1963. NBC 7’s Shelby Bremer details Rhone’s criminal history.