AMANDA McCOY/SUN HERALD A news clipping from 1973 offers a reward for information on Delorise Gonzales, a Gulfport woman who went missing on June 23, 1973. A press conference held on Thursday, April 23, 2015, by the Gulfport Police Department announced that remains found more than 40 years ago in Alabama were identified as Gonzales'. AMANDA MCCOY — SUN HERALD |Buy Photo
BUTLER, Ala. -- An Alabama prosecutor disagreed Friday with investigators' conclusion that a Mississippi man killed his wife and left her body in a rural dump decades ago.
Recent DNA testing showed remains found in rural Choctaw County in 1974 were those of Delorise Diane Gonzales, 17, who was last seen alive in June 1973 in Gulfport. No one was ever charged in her death.
Police in Gulfport told reporters Thursday they believe the woman's husband of two years, Robert Gonzales, killed her, based on statements he made to others before his 2007 death.
But Choctaw County District Attorney Spencer Walker said he doubts the conclusion.
The couple had no known ties to the Alabama community, Walker said, and the body's location at an illegal dump frequented by area residents made it appear someone local was involved.
"I have a hard time believing Robert Gonzales drove all the way to that site in Choctaw County to dump the body," Walker said. "It just doesn't make sense."
Besides, Walker said, although Gonzales did claim to have killed the woman, he said he'd buried the body in Mississippi.
"So I know he lied about that," the prosecutor said.
Choctaw County is on the state line.
Gulfport Police Chief Leonard Papania said the evidence and witness statements indicate Robert Gonzales was responsible for his wife's dis
appearance and he would be a prime suspect in her death if he were alive.
The case was revived in late 2012 after workers found the woman's remains filed at the Alabama Department of Forensic Science and realized they hadn't undergone DNA testing, Walker said.
Walker said he and investigators gathered information that led them to information about Delorise Gonzales in a missing-persons database, and DNA samples submitted by her relatives matched the remains found by a man dumping yard debris in 1974. The woman had been shot twice in the head.
"He actually picked up the skull and heard the bullets rattling around," Walker said. "He's the one who called police."
The woman's death remains an open homicide case, but Walker said it is unlikely to be solved because of the time that has passed.
"It takes a team of people working together to make a case like this come together," Walker said. "Our goal was to reunite the family with the remains of their loved one. That goal has been accomplished."
Robin Fitzgerald, Sun Herald reporter, contributed to this report.
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