SAN DIEGO, Calif. — A suspected serial killer has been charged with four murders committed over a span of three decades and investigators are trying to determine if he may be linked to more cold cases.
Dwight Rhone, 74, sat in a Chula Vista courtroom Wednesday with a walking cane as San Diego County Deputy District Attorney Jalyn McNee outlined the four murder charges against Rhone, who’s spent most of his life in and out of prison.
“Some of these crimes are decades old. It's been a very long investigation, but our office is committed to justice and finding the truth and however long that may take and doing a thorough investigation,” she told reporters after Rhone’s arraignment.
Rhone pleaded not guilty to all the charges. He made headlines last December, after the District Attorney’s office announced Rhone was a person of interest after human remains were found in a crawl space underneath his former home on Newton Avenue.
On Wednesday, the DA officially charged Rhone with murder for that case. The victim was Michael Brown. No age was provided by prosecutors.
Accused of using victim's debit card
Rhone has been in custody since 2024 awaiting trial for the 2023 murder of Bernardo Moreno who was shot in the head and then lit on fire near the Interstate 5 and State Route 905 interchange.
Prosecutors allege Rhone killed the man after Moreno stabbed his dog to break up a dog fight.
Team 10 has learned the FBI was able to crack the case after agents started wiretapping Rhone’s jail calls.
After the murder, Rhone used Moreno’s debit card at a smoke shop in the Webster neighborhood, court documents say.
2002, 1993 cold cases
The two other murders Rhone is now accused of committing happened in 2002 and 1993.
In 2002, Ronald Johnken died from blunt-force trauma to the head. His body was discovered in Chollas Creek near the 3300 block of National Avenue, according to the DA.
Heriero Ruiz died in 1993 from strangulation and was found dead in an alley near the 3500 block of Acacia Street.
Neighbor vanished in 2021
McNee said the investigation is ongoing, and officials are still working to determine if Rhone may be linked to other cold cases, including two where they are asking the public for information.
Danice Galloway was found dead in 1989 in an alley on Main Street underneath two shopping carts. An LA Times article from that year said the woman was partially disrobed when she was found in the Logan Heights area.
The second case investigators are asking for the public’s help with involves Antenogenes Gomez Velasquez who was last seen in 2021 and lived on Newton Avenue, the street where Rhone once resided and Brown’s remains were found.
Last year, Team 10 reported extensively on Rhone’s criminal past. Court records show he’s spent more than 30 years behind bars for a long list of crimes including armed robberies, perjury, firearms offenses, sodomy of a fellow inmate and failing to register as a sex offender.
“Dwight’s not a savory character. He’s a unsavory character,” Rhone’s brother, who did not want to be named, told ABC 10 News Executive Reporter Adam Racusin last year.
