DALLAS — A Dallas police officer charged in an alleged murder-for-hire scheme was fired Tuesday amid questions about why he continued to patrol the city while under investigation for the 2017 killings.
Police Chief Eddie Garcia fired Bryan Riser for “adverse conduct,” according to a statement from the department.
After Riser was arrested last week, former Dallas police Chief U. Reneé Hall said he was “first identified as a person-of-interest in 2019” and was kept on the job to avoid tipping him off to the investigation. But in 2017, a Dallas police detective testified in court that Riser was the “subject” of an investigation into the killing of 31-year-old Liza Saenz, according to a transcript of the proceeding.
Riser was charged with two counts of capital murder in the killings of Saenz and 61-year-old Albert Douglas. He is being held on a $5 million bond and his attorney, Toby Shook, said the 36-year-old officer is innocent.
During the September 2017 court hearing, the detective also said Saenz lived with Riser’s father and that before her death she had been a witness in another murder case. The testimony, which was first reported by the Dallas Morning News, came during a detention hearing in a federal drug case against Riser’s dad, Byron Riser.
Shook previously said Saenz lived with the elder Riser at one point, but that his client “didn’t have a relationship with” her.
‘We will not allow anyone to tarnish this badge’:Dallas police officer…
