SAN DIEGO - Prosecutors added a special circumstance of murder for financial gain Monday against an Ocean Beach man accused of killing his estranged wife and disposing her body about a week before he was to start paying child support.
The added charge means Henry Lisowski, 67, could face the death penalty if convicted of murdering 50-year-old Rosa Lisowski, whose body has never been found.
The defendant pleaded not guilty to the charges Monday and had his preliminary hearing rescheduled to Feb. 2.
District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis will decide later whether Lisowski will face the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted.
Deputy District Attorney Nicole Cooper said at Lisowski's Sept. 10 arraignment that Rosa Lisowski vanished March 24 after walking her young son to Barnard Elementary School, near her home in the Midway-Loma Portal area.
The victim's 19-year-old son reported his mother missing and police began looking at Henry Lisowski and a person of interest in her disappearance, Cooper said.
The Lisowskis were embroiled in a heated divorce battle, and she had just been awarded custody of their two children and two other children from a previous relationship, the prosecutor said.
The defendant was supposed to start paying the victim $1,100 a month in child support beginning April 1, and a court hearing had been scheduled so that he could prove he wasn't underreporting his income, Cooper said.
The prosecutor alleged that Lisowski had threatened his wife as far back as last year.
"He told her that he could make her disappear," Cooper said at Lisowski's arraignment.
Several witnesses saw the defendant with fresh scratch marks on his face and arms the day after his wife went missing, Cooper said.
She said the victim's blood was found on a kitchen counter in his home and in the cargo area of his vehicle. The defendant's blood was found on the inside of the passenger door of his Lexus, the prosecutor said
In early September, police received a tip alleging that the defendant had disposed of his wife's body in a Dumpster in an alley in the Mount Hope area, but officers were unable to locate the Dumpster, Cooper said.
The prosecutor said Lisowski has access to large amounts of cash and traveled to Costa Rica in the midst of the investigation into his wife's disappearance.
Lisowski told people he would like to "grab his kids and leave the country," the prosecutor said at the defendant's arraignment.
