Human remains found at a San Diego house

A quiet San Diego neighborhood was rocked to its core Tuesday after a terrifying multi-agency task force unearthed human remains buried on a residential property, blowing open a suspected years-old mystery.

Federal agents and local police descended on a home in the Southcrest neighborhood of San Diego to execute a search warrant Wednesday, following a tip that a body was hidden on the premises.

The grisly discovery was made at a house on the 3400 block of Newton Avenue. The California Highway Patrol (CHP), which had initially developed the lead, teamed up with the FBI and the San Diego PD to comb through the property.

According to NBC, the San Diego District Attorney named 74-year-old Dwight Rhone as a person of interest in the investigation. Documents show that Rhone lived at the Newton address in 2020, and his record includes dozens of previous arrests spanning decades, starting in 1978.

In an unrelated case, Rhone is connected to the 2023 murder of Bernardo Moreno on Interstate 5 at State Route 905, and setting his body and vehicle on fire. 

He was arrested on Feb. 26 by the San Diego Sheriff’s Office for that case, and is currently being held at the San Diego Central Jail. 

Rhone was charged with first degree murder, attempted robbery, vehicle theft and fraudulently using  another person’s personal information, and will appear in court on Dec. 10.

Chopper video’s showed investigators — some in hazmat gear — digging with shovels in the yard and searching a crawl space before confirming their findings.

When officials initially showed up on Sunday night with the warrant, the family currently living in the house, who moved in last year, was instructed to vacate and was given a stipend to pay for a hotel. The search warrant had nothing to do with them, but was linked to the prior resident, and investigators were specifically looking for remains underneath the house.

In a Dec. 2 statement, the FBI San Diego said: “Working through our Evidence Response Team, the FBI provided expertise through evidence collection and processing, including the use of forensic canines. As human remains were located on the property, SDPD has jurisdiction for any further investigative work.”

The San Diego Medical Examiner is now working to identify the remains and determine how the poor victim met their end. Authorities are keeping tight-lipped, and have not yet released details on the suspect in custody or how long the remains have been there.