Time, new information, complicates the portrait of a Davenport man murdered 20 years ago
Whenever Dora Reyna moves to a new home, her portrait of Jorge L. Gutierrez comes with her.
On a recent October day, the picture had a prominent place on the wall of her new living room. For people walking through the front door, it's one of the first things they see.
The portrait depicts a heavyset man in a grey shirt and a dark blue ballcap adorned with the Cowboys football team star logo. It captures a time when he was smiling and happy.
"He's been in every house, in every apartment," Reyna said of the portrait.
She and Guiterrez had dated for years and had three children together.
Someone beat the East Moline man to death in 2004. Guiterrez went missing on Oct. 17 of that year, and his body was discovered two days later in the back of his pickup truck in the 3400 block of South Concord Street, on the far, southwest end of Davenport.
The case remains open.
Time made the loss of Gutierrez a scar Reyna carries with her and complicated the portrait of the man who loved his family above all else.
Time has forced Reyna to remember a more complete, if complex, portrait of a man who had an alternative life. She has also had to face the haunting fact that Gutierrez's murder may have been committed by a person she dearly loved.
Louie and Bear
Originally from Texas, Gutierrez was an avid fan of the Cowboys, and Reyna remains a fan of the team to this day. The Rock Island native said loving the Cowboys was one of the common threads that tied their lives together for decades.
They met in Moline in the 1970s and began dating, she said. She was 15. He was 20.
"He was very charming," Reyna said.
They dated. They had children. They never married. Eventually they separated.
After they broke up, she and Gutierrez stayed friends and their lives never really untangled from each other, Reyna said. Even when they were dating other people, for instance, there would be cookouts and other activities.
"We did birthdays for the grandkids in his back yard," she said.
He doted on those grandchildren and was always there for them and Reyna's nephews, she said. He helped everyone.
If Reyna got a flat tire, Gutierrez would find someone and send them over to fix it, she said.
They had their arguments, but those blew over and their routine would return, Reyna said.
People called him Louie. He called her Bear.
"He's a big man, but I'll come at you, too," she said.
Gutierrez told her she was like a bear.
"So that was my nickname."
The other Louie
Gutierrez worked construction. In the spring and summer, he worked in the Quad-Cities. When winter approached, he drove down to Texas and worked there.
Work was not the only thing that took Gutierrez to Texas.
"He had another family," Reyna said. "He was married and had a wife and had other children.
"I knew about it and she eventually knew me. He got divorced, but he called his children in Texas every morning. He loved all his children and his entire family. But there was another Louie."
Gutierrez had other women, too, in the Quad-Cities. Reyna said she thinks she knew them. One was a cousin. Another was a neighbor.
It took longer for Reyna to admit more about Gutierrez. She made her reveals over the course of almost three hours.
"Louie loved Walmart," she explained. "He went there almost every day. He would buy those DVD players, and then he would sell them."
Reyna went to Louie's house after he disappeared. She had a key and let herself in.
"Everything was there," she said. "The DVD players, the leaf blowers. No one took anything."
After a time, Reyna had to admit that Gutierrez may have been trafficking in stolen items. She made other admissions.
"Louie did drugs, was involved with drugs," she said. "He bought things from people who stole things, I believe. He did not allow us (Reyna and her children) into that side of his life.
"We were never allowed to be around when he had men over. That was his business."
Gutierrez buying things, like "six to eight" cars at an auction a short time before his death, was not unusual, according to Reyna. He had been injured on a construction (site), and she said he received a "large settlement."
Eventually Reyna admitted Louie "may have been" transporting cocaine from Texas to sell in Davenport. She also said her brother, Hector Reyna, may have been involved with Gutierrez in the use and sale of drugs.
Hector Reyna died of natural causes a few years ago, she said.
The admissions about two men Reyna dearly loved left her visibly deflated.
"I loved Louie," she said. "And I loved my brother very much. I will always support Hector."
What Reyna first revealed about Gutierrez and her brother were the painted-over parts of a dark secret.
Louie found dead
Reyna learned of Gutierrez's death as she was leaving the East Moline Police Department. She was there because she knew Guitierrez was missing.
When she finished at the police department, she planned to go out with a friend to look for Gutierrez herself, she said.
Officers stopped her and told her Gutierrez's body and truck had been found.
"I was devastated," she said. "It still hurts."
South Concord runs along the Mississippi River, for a time parallel to Credit Island. It is sandwiched between the river and an extensive railroad right of way to the north.
There are some houses out there and a few sprawling city facilities, but on Concord itself, with belts of trees crowding both shoulders, there is a sense of isolation.
On the day Reyna reminisced about Gutierrez, days before the anniversary of his death, those trees were mostly still green, though there were hints of fall colors blooming up and down the road.
She said Gutierrez knew that area.
He visited a salvage yard there, Reyna said. Gutierrez would fix up cars to sell; he knew someone at the yard and could get good deals there.
He also liked to drive around in his truck and that area was one of the places he drove through when he did.
"He loved to show that truck off," she said.
The day he went missing, Gutierrez planned to cruise around, Reyna said.
The prime suspect?
A family member first revealed Reyna's darkest secret. The person was interviewed in Reyna's presence and asked to remain anonymous because of the nature of the information offered.
While Davenport detectives worked to solve Gutierrez's murder, one prime suspect emerged: Hector Reyna.
The family member said detectives told her to "keep Hector close" and they believed he murdered Gutierrez or played a part with the individuals who did.
The Davenport Police Department said in response to an inquiry about the case that there have been no arrests and no charges filed in relation to Gutierrrez's killing.
The department is "dedicated to ensuring justice for crime victims, their families, friends, and everyone affected by this and all violent crimes," the response said.
The newspaper asked for other details – possible suspects and motive, but the department's response did not include those details.
Anyone with information about Gutierrez's death or other investigation can contact Davenport's police detectives at 563-326-6125.
They can also contact Crimestoppers at 309-762-9500 or use the P3 Tips app.
The family member and Reyna said Hector Reyna was the last suspect the detectives ever mentioned to them.
"The feeling of the detectives changed over time," the family member said. "(Gutierrez) was buying and selling stolen goods. And he had bought a bunch of cars with a dealership that turned out to be doing some kind of fraud.
"But the suspects were a white man, at first, and then (members of another family). I know they served search warrants, but there were no charges."
The family member said there was a "big dry spell" after the initial investigation.
"Then the detective calls and says Hector Reyna, (Dora Reyna's) brother, was the No. 1 suspect. It was him and another person."
The family member said detectives told her Gutierrez's killer was someone who knew him well.
"They smashed his face in and then they put his hat back on and they put him in a sleeping bag in the back of his truck," the family member said. "And they put that truck somewhere where his truck was seen a lot, on that road to the junkyard."
Reyna said Gutierrez and her brother did come in conflict in the days leading up to the murder.
"Louie was mad at me and talking about me," Reyna said. "He was with Hector and he called me a slut and a whore.
"Hector was my little brother. He protected me. He didn't want to hear Louie saying those things."
Reyna said she asked her brother "many times" over the years if he had any involvement with Gutierrez's murder.
"I asked him," she said. "My mother asked him. He would always get really mad and say 'How can you ask me?' I believed him."
The family member said Gutierrez's unsolved murder and questions that swirled around Hector Reyna put a great strain on Reyna's side of the family.
"(Dora Reyna) never wanted to think about her brother killing (Gutierrez). And I guess it's just too much, to lose (Gutierrez) and her brother," the family member said.
Reyna said she made her choice.
"If he did it, I won't believe it. I side with Hector."
Love Lost
Whatever Gutierrez did in his "other life," didn't change who he was to his family, Reyna said.
"I led two lives," she said. "I had my private life, and then the life I shared with the family I love.
"Louie loved his family. And we loved each other, in our way. He was good to his children and his family and his friends. I'm so sorry for what he has missed."
Births, weddings, other milestones of family life have all happened since someone killed Gutierrez.
"He missed it all," Reyna said.
Back at her new place, Reyna has other pictures in her living room. There are prayers and uplifting sayings, but many of the pictures are family portraits.
In one of these, Reyna holds and kisses a baby — one of many grandchildren and great grandchildren who will never meet Louie.
That is one of the reasons her portrait of Gutierrez is up on the wall in a place where it is hard to miss.
"That's why I take him," she said. "So they know."
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