DALLAS — A Dallas police officer was arrested Thursday on two counts of capital murder in two unconnected 2017 killings that weren’t related to his police work, authorities said.
Bryan Riser, a 13-year veteran of the force, was taken into custody Thursday morning and brought 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 connection with two unconnected killings after a witness implicated him in August 2019, police Chief Eddie Garcia said during a news conference. He said the deaths were related to Riser’s off-duty conduct, not his police work, and that the witness told investigators that Riser had instructed him to kidnap and kill the two victims.
“We received information through a witness that implicated Riser in both murders,” Garcia said.
Police identified the victims of Liza Saenz, whose body was pulled from water in Dallas on March 10, 2017, with several bullet wounds, and Albert Douglas, who was reported missing that year and whose body hasn’t been found.
Riser joined the department in 2008 and was working as a patrol officer before his arrest. Police said he has been put on administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal affairs investigation.
“We’re going to expedite our process so this individual is no longer with the department,” Garcia said.
“We will not allow anyone to tarnish this badge,” the chief said, noting that the FBI was assisting in the investigation.
Riser had not been booked into the jail as of early Thursday afternoon, a sheriff’s spokesman said.
A spokeswoman for the Dallas County district attorney’s office said her office didn’t have information on the case.
