ICE Dallas arrests Mexican national, citing brutal and fiery 2022 killing
ICE Dallas arrested a 48-year-old Mexican national after determining he was removable from the U.S., citing a 2022 case in which he stabbed a man seven times and set his body on fire, the agency reported this week.
Manuel Tellez, who was arrested on March 4 in Dallas, was initially charged with murder but pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2023 and was sentenced to eight years of community supervision.
Tellez, who owned Maroches Bakery in Dallas, remains in ICE custody pending immigration removal proceedings.
According to the affidavit for the arrest warrant from April 7, 2022, Moreno texted his wife at about 12:15 a.m. on April 3 and said he was headed home. Tellez and Moreno were alone inside Maroches Bakery at 1127 W. Davis St. in Dallas and had completed an Instagram Live on sugar skull art that Moreno had for sale inside the bakery.
In addition to sharing an interest in sugar skull art, Tellez and Moreno had a "romantic interest in the same female," the affidavit said.
The two men walked to a nearby alley behind 1330 Kings Highway, about two blocks from the bakery, where Tellez stabbed Moreno multiple times, killing him, according to the affidavit.
Authorities say Tellez left the crime scene, changed clothing, and returned to where he poured gasoline on Moreno and lit his body on fire. Moreno's charred remains were found the morning of April 3, 2022, in the alley.
Josh Johnson, acting field office director of ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Dallas, described Tellez as an "egregious offender."
"We are grateful for our federal partners within the Justice Department and U.S. Customs and Border Protection for helping us remove this high-priority target from our communities," Johnson said.
Described as an art vendor and "family man who loved his family wholeheartedly," Moreno was survived by his wife, two sons, daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, and six grandchildren.
At the time, a GoFundMe established in Moreno's honor said he was "a great man who always put his family first; always trying to help his family not only financially but emotionally, spiritually, and mentally."
