A bakery owner has been accused of stabbing a well-known artist to death before proceeding to burn the victim's body, immediately after a live-streamed interview with the man on Instagram along Kings Highway in Texas.
Manuel Tellez, 45, a local businessman, has been charged with the murder of artist Anthony Moreno, 52, after officers found the victim's burned and unrecognizable body in an alley behind the 1300 block of Kings Highway, just three blocks away from the suspect's Maroches Bakery establishment, on Sunday, April 3, Law & Crime reported.
One day before the body was discovered, on April 2, Tellez reportedly interviewed Moreno at his Maroches Bakery on Instagram Live. During the talk, they conversed about sugar skull art that Moreno had for sale inside the bakery. The accused and the victim were allegedly in the establishment alone together at that time.
Once the Instagram interview was cut off, Moreno reportedly texted his wife telling her that he would be home soon. However, Tellez allegedly proceeded to stab Moreno multiple times in an alley about two blocks from the bakery. Tellez then left the scene and changed his clothing. He returned sometime later, poured gasoline on Moreno's body, and lit his body on fire.
After Moreno did not return home on Sunday, April 3, his family members immediately reported to police that he was missing. Moreno's son Tony Moreno said that he spent all Sunday looking for his father in Dallas. However, when he was unsuccessful in his search, the son tried again the following day, looking for his dad in the city of Keller, WFAA reported.
“It wasn’t until I heard there was a body found and, unfortunately, I prayed it wasn’t him," Tony Moreno said. "It turned out, it was.”
In CCTV footage officers obtained from a neighbor's backyard near the crime scene, Moreno's body can be seen lit on fire by an unidentified suspect. Cellphone records and subsequent surveillance footage from a nearby gas station confirmed that Tellez was in the area on the night of the murder.
In that CCTV video, Tellez can be seen wearing a white glove while filling a gas can. Officers reportedly found a similar glove at the crime scene. Surveillance footage allegedly also shows Tellez walking back toward the bakery right after the killing.
Tellez was seen wearing a surgical mask and baseball cap to keep his identity hidden. The suspect's SUV, which has large rust spots on the roof, could also be seen in the surveillance video.
Even though the motive behind the murder remains unclear, it was reported that the crime happened because the two men had a "romantic interest" in the same woman.
Following the incident, Tellez has been charged with murder and remains in the Dallas County jail as of Friday, April 8, with his bail set at $1.5 million.
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