DALLAS — A Dallas police officer was arrested Thursday on two counts of capital murder after a man told investigators that he kidnapped and killed two people at the officer’s instruction in 2017, authorities said.
Bryan Riser, a 13-year veteran of the force, was taken into custody and taken to the Dallas County Jail for processing, according to a statement from the police department. A lawyer for him couldn’t immediately be identified.
Riser was arrested in the unconnected killings of Liza Saenz, 31, and Albert Douglas, 61, after a man came forward in August 2019 and told police he had kidnapped and killed them at Riser’s direction, Police Chief Eddie Garcia said during a news conference. He said investigators don’t know the motives for the killings, but that they were not related to Riser’s police work.
Garcia did not explain why Riser was arrested more than a year after the witness came forward, and police did not immediately respond to questions about the timing or whether the person who implicated Riser has also been charged. The chief stressed that his homicide division and the FBI were still investigating.
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“We will not allow anyone to tarnish this badge,” Garcia said.
Saenz’s body was pulled from the Trinity River on March 10, 2017, with several bullet wounds, the chief said. Douglas was reported missing that year and his body hasn’t been found.
The murder charges are not the…
