Police digging for homicide victim find body part in Kingman backyard

KINGMAN, Ariz. — Crews digging in a north Kingman backyard for a possible murder victim found a body part shortly after 6 p.m. Monday.

Chief Mohave County Sheriff’s Deputy Rodney Head said public works and Sheriff’s Office personnel, who had planned to break for the day and pick up the search Tuesday would continue into the evening.

The coroner was called to the scene to help coordinate the rest of the dig for the remains of a homicide victim who might have been buried there more than a year ago, Head said.

A saw cut through concrete and jackhammers busted pieces into rubble much of the day. Most of the work was obscured from public view.

The searchers used an elongated motor home parking area on the western side of the home to access the rear of the property in the 3700 block of Lass Avenue. Kingman is 103 miles southeast of Las Vegas.

“Not too bad,” one neighbor said earlier Monday of the noise that emanated from a normally quiet and remotely located neighborhood about 1.5 miles from the Kingman Airport.

“All day long we’ve heard it,” said another neighbor whose backyard abuts the backyard where the dig is underway. She said the Sheriff’s Office asked her not to speak to the press and that reporters had knocked on her door throughout the day hoping to use her backyard to take pictures of the dig.

The same woman, wishing to remain anonymous, said she was not “creeped out” that a murder victim might be buried within 100 feet of her home.

“Not at all,” she said smiling. “I worked at a morgue for more than 20 years. This stuff doesn’t bother me.”

After a failed suicide attempt in Laughlin on July 9, 63-year-old Richard Polaski told authorities he had stabbed to death his friend John Holland, 65, during an argument in late June 2015, court records state. Polaski said he put Holland’s body in a hole and encased it in 3 feet or more of concrete, the records state.

Court records show that Polaski also said an accomplice helped forge documents that were used to gain power of attorney and control over Holland’s trust account, residential properties, vehicles and other assets. The Sheriff’s Office and the attorney prosecuting Polaski have said that woman has not been charged and that the fraud and theft components are part of the continuing homicide investigation.

The owners of the Lass Avenue home where the dig continues and Polaski’s defense attorney have declined comment.

Polaski is being held in the county jail in Kingman, awaiting trial on first-degree murder charges.