Two men found dead inside a burned Northeast Dallas apartment early this morning were a gay couple, Dallas police confirmed this afternoon.
The two victims, whose names are being withheld pending notification of their families, were found inside their first-floor unit at the Villa Joya Apartments, 11210 Woodmeadow Parkway, near Ferguson Road and LBJ Freeway.
After responding to a fire call at about 4:10 a.m., Dallas Fire-Rescue crews extinguished the flames before finding the victims — a 59-year-old black male and a 61-year-old white male — inside the apartment. Authorities say the men appeared to have died in a violent attack before the fire was set in an attempt to destroy evidence from the murders.
Sr. Cpl. Kevin Janse, a spokesman for DPD, told Instant Tea that detectives have no reason to believe the murders were a hate crime, but he added that the motive is unknown.
“Yes, it does appear that they were in a relationship together, but that does not appear to have anything to do with this case,” Janse said. “It is not being investigated as a hate crime or anything like that.”
According to the Dallas Morning News, neighbors said the older victim was disabled and the other was his caretaker. Neighbors also told the DMN that the victims’ apartment had an alarm and surveillance system and that the younger man would never open the door for someone he didn’t know.
Other news reports also indicate that the suspects likely knew at least one of the victims. Authorities believe one of the victim’s vehicle is missing. Patrol officers are searching for it and hope to find the suspects in it.
Stay tuned to Instant Tea for updates. Below is a report from CBS 11.
WHY is this not being considered a hate crime?????
Seems rather shoddy police work to exclude the possibility of a hate crime in any case.
Um, because it helps to find the people who did it first?
not everytime a gay person gets murdered or beat up makes it a hate crime peeps….I use to live in northeast Dallas and it aint no walk in the park…they’ve got some major crime issues over there which is why I left…but believe me, the community will be keeping their eye on this
The report states”violent” I would think the neighbors in an apartment complex would hear the “violent” noise and respond. I know in high crime areas you get used to the noise from certain neighbors… This couple was eldery and I’m sure were quite, so it would have been odd for loundness at that time of the night.
See my theory is this: Investigate “possible hate crimes” as hate crimes until proven otherwise. But you would have to live in a state that actually treats people in the GLBT community as people first.
I have not seen any updates on this story. Have the police ever found the couples car or solved the murder? The Voice is as quiet on this as the Lisa Stone mystery…..
The police found the two men that murdered this gay couple and they are now in jail until their trial date it appears that it was not a hate crime.