On April 18, 1979, 32-year-old Tony Natal Gutierrez was brutally murdered in his Dallas, Texas apartment. Gutierrez and 30-year-old Charles Edward Moya shared the residence. The assailant, later identified as David Villarreal, entered with the intent to kill both men and attacked Gutierrez in the main room, stabbing him in the chest, slashing his throat, mutilating his face, inserting a teaspoon into his nose and stabbing near both eyes, then covering his head with a pillow.

Villarreal then encountered Moya in the hallway, slashing his throat and burning Moya’s right eyelid with a match. Investigators described the level of brutality and disfigurement in both killings as suggesting a deeply personal and sadistic motive. Villarreal was later linked to multiple murders of gay men in Texas between 1978 and 1981; authorities were able to conclusively connect him to five murders, including Gutierrez and Moya, after his March 10, 1981 arrest. He pleaded guilty to the charges and received multiple life sentences; he is incarcerated at the James V. Allred Unit in Wichita Falls, Texas.

Are there details about Gutierrez’s life or connections in Dallas that could shed light on why he and Moya were targeted?