TORCHED MAN WAS A U.S. FUGITIVE

No Ties to Local Gangs Yet, Police Want to Know If He Looks Familiar

Months of speculation ended after RCMP identified the remains of a man
found burned beyond recognition in Langley as that of a U.S. fugitive.

Stephen Robert Guzzo, 31, of Chicago, Ill., and wanted on drug charges
in Texas, was positively identified through DNA analysis after public
appeals for information yielded no clues.

Now that they have a name, police must determine who killed him and
why.

Integrated Homicide Investigation Team spokesperson Cpl. Dale Carr
said RCMP were finally able to get a break in the case after Guzzo's
mother was put in touch with IHIT members by a Vancouver Sun reporter
in January.

After not hearing from her son at Christmas, Guzzo's mother started
searching online for any clues to his whereabouts.

It was then she came across the story of the unidentified body found
in Langley and realized it could be her son.

The discovery of Guzzo's body made headlines across the province after
it was found on Sept. 23 inside a white 1982 Chevy Camaro set ablaze
on the CN Rail track near 208 Street and 96 Avenue in Langley.

Just a few weeks prior to the grisly Guzzo find, police discovered the
badly burned body of Bobby DiGeorgio inside a car in Abbotsford, and
were able to link him to the Red Scorpions.

Because of the way Guzzo's body was found, Carr said police are
actively looking for evidence of links to organized crime.

"We're certainly looking at that area, given his past in Illinois, and
in Texas with his involvement in the marijuana trade, it's not beyond
the realm of possibility he was involved [with gangs]," said Carr.

Guzzo was known to police in the Chicago area and was wanted by U.S.
authorities on an outstanding warrant for marijuana cultivation, Carr
confirmed.

Mounties believe he settled in the Lower Mainland in 2006 after
skipping bail in Austin, Tex.

Carr said Guzzo used multiple aliases while living in Surrey and
Chilliwack and was known only as Gino Portillo or James Woods.

Describing him as "an international man of mystery," Carr referred to
Guzzo as "a chameleon."

Police must now build a profile of who Gino Portillo was, and who he
associated with, said Carr.

"Nobody here knows him as Steven Guzzo - that [police] know of - it
appears so far anyone we've come in contact with knows him as Gino or
James Woods, because he had the identification of James Woods.

"We're hoping people will recognize [photos] of him and pick up the
phone and call us," he said.

Carr said Guzzo's remains would now be transported back to the U.S.
for his family to attend to.