Police Chief Mitch Bates told me that it was like a story from Hollywood but it was unfolding in north Garland. Police Dept had been working a case about a disappearance that had developed into a lot more.

Many people noticed the television helicopters over north Garland for the second time this week. This story didn't turn out as well.

The story is in today's Dallas Morning News.

Police say they've unearthed remains of missing Garland man

Body found under slab in victim's back yard; woman held in slaying

 

11:11 PM CDT on Friday, October 19, 2007
By TANYA EISERER / The Dallas Morning News
teiserer@dallasnews.com

 

About three feet down, underneath a small concrete slab, authorities on Friday found what they believe to be the remains of a Garland man who disappeared mysteriously more than a year ago.

 

Michael Giles

Shortly after the discovery of what is thought to be the body of Michael Giles, police obtained an arrest warrant for murder for Kwaneta Harris, 35. She was taken into custody in Detroit.

 

But the discovery of the body and Ms. Harris' arrest leave more questions than answers. Police were saying little Friday about what led them to dig in the back yard of what had been Mr. Giles' one-story home in the 5200 block of Wood Creek Lane in north Garland.

 

Police also were not saying why they believe Ms. Harris killed Mr. Giles, who was retired from the military, or whether Ms. Harris might have had accomplices. The connection between Ms. Harris and Mr. Giles, who was 46 at the time he disappeared, also was unclear.

 

"We're trying to figure out why did she do it?" Garland police spokesman Joe Harn said. "Why is he buried in the back yard? We just now discovered for sure that he is dead."

 

The strange events surrounding the disappearance and apparent death of Mr. Giles began in July 2006 when his sister went by his house in north Garland to check on him. She had not seen him since the month before.

 

"The furniture was gone," Officer Harn said. "A sign was on the front door that the house was for lease."

 

The sister tried to call his cellphone. He didn't answer. Later, she received a text message from someone purporting to be him, stating that he was OK and just needed some time away. For several months after that, the family received e-mails that they believed were from him, police said.

 

Cheryl Evans, a sister of Mr. Giles, told WFAA-TV (Channel 8) that the e-mails family members received were short, with comments that seemed uncharacteristic of Mr. Giles. The last e-mail a family member received was in February, she said.

 

Police say that shortly after his disappearance, the ownership of his car changed hands in Michigan. It was not clear whether the car has been found.

 

Also, Mr. Giles' house was leased out – but not by him. Ms. Evans also said the person who had leased the home had "said he never met my brother, that he rented the house from a female."

 

Suspect: Kwaneta Harris

The people who leased the house also became suspicious when they came home one day and a soft spot in the back yard had been covered over with a concrete pad. Police said the pad was about 3 feet wide and 12 to 15 feet long.

 

The family recently filed a missing persons report with police. Detectives soon found that the home, which Mr. Giles bought through a Veterans Affairs loan, had gone into foreclosure and been sold at an auction. Appraisal district records show he bought the home in 2003.

 

"He was not making payments," Officer Harn said. "His family said that was totally out of character for him because he takes care of his business."

 

Officer Harn said the Department of Veterans Affairs had helped police track financial records. He indicated that some "financial dealings" had helped lead police to Ms. Harris. He also said it was not any one thing that led police to dig in the back yard Friday. "There are a lot of little pieces to that puzzle," he said.

 

On Thursday, Officer Harn said, two detectives went to Detroit to try to find Ms. Harris. About 9 a.m. Friday, Garland police working with an FBI forensics team began digging in the back yard of the home on Wood Creek Lane.

 

Late Friday afternoon, investigators found a body wrapped in something, possibly a carpet, under the concrete slab.

 

"We've got to get statements from her, along with other people," Officer Harn said, referring to Ms. Harris. "By no means is this investigation wrapped up. There's still a lot of work to be done."

 

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