David Villarreal was arrested in March, 1981, after police were tipped off about his involvement in a murder. When in custody David wasted no time in helping police out in their investigations, even offering to take them to the body of his last victim, killed just two days earlier. He also admitted to a couple of crimes police never even suspected him in.

Villarreal said that he began killing in San Antonio in 1974. He then struck again in Dallas around late '78. The Dallas murder was one of a middle aged man that he beat to death with a hammer.

In 1979 he was arrested in connection with the murder of Ernest Garcia. Ernest had been stabbed with an ice pick, then beaten with a concrete block. At the time police had no real evidence to hold Villarreal, so he was released. He now admitted to this murder.

One month after that close call David killed Charles Moya, 30, and Tony Gutierrez, 32. Both victims had their throats cut by the not very loveable Villarreal.

After taking a bit of a break Villarreal took his hobby of murder back up. On March 3, 1981 he beat Joe Duque, 18, to death.

Five days later David struck again. This time hew used a claw hammer to beat a 78-year-old man to death. Robert Manley's body was discovered following the confession of David Villarreal.

According to police the murders were a mixture of sexual satisfaction and robbery.

The Wacky World of Murders

Villarreal, David

A homosexual drifter, 26-year-old David Villarreal was arrested in March 1981, after an informant tipped police to his involvement in a seven-year series of murders around Dallas and San Antonio, Texas. 

Picked up on March 10, Villarreal cheerfully directed police to the body of his latest victim, killed two days earlier, and tacked on confessions for crimes in which he was not yet a suspect. According to statements recorded by Texas authorities, Villarreal claimed his first victim in San Antonio, during 1974. 

Moving to Dallas in late 1978 or early '79, he scored number two, hammering a middle-aged stranger to death. In March 1979, he had been held for questioning in the murder of Ernest Garcia -- stabbed with an ice pick, then beaten with a board and concrete block -- but he was finally released for lack of evidence.

A month later, he staged a double event with the slayings of 30-year-old Charles Moya and 32-yearold Tony Gutierrez, dispatching both victims by slitting their throats. More recently, in San Antonio, he had beaten 18-year-old Joe Duque to death on March 3, 1981. 

On March 8, he used a claw hammer to murder 72-year-old Robert Manley, the victim's body discovered on March 11 as a result of the killer's confession. 

Police reported that "sexual gratification was at least part of the motive" in Villarreal's San Antonio murders, while those committed in Dallas seemed purely mercenary, connected with various robberies.

Michael Newton - An Encyclopedia of Modern Serial Killers - Hunting Humans