Brent was a resident advisor in Murdough Hall at Texas Tech. One day, Brent got involved with a student mediation between two students, "William and Jerry." William* told Brent that he was planning on paying another student, a big kid nicknamed "Big Tony" to hurt Jerry*. Brent actually knew Tony because he was a frequent weightlifter from the gym. Brent spoke to Tony, who suggested that the two of them attack Jerry. Fearing that he would actually hurt Jerry or try to drag Brent into the violent situation, Brent decides to go to the police.

Texas Tech University

Brent went to the police and wrote a three-page affidavit. “I consider Tony to be a dangerous person,” Brent wrote. He described "Big Tony" talking about his involvement with drugs and guns and an incident in which Tony pointed a handgun at him. Friends would later speak with Ranger Tony Bennie about this incident, sharing with him that they theorized "Big Tony" had come back to enact some kind of revenge, but there's a lack of physical evidence to prove this theory.

By the summer of 1995, Brent and his girlfriend at the time, Sara Martwig, were together almost a year. Sara made plans to work as a nanny in Dallas to be near Brent, regardless of the fact that their relationship had been on the rocks. Suddenly, the day before she was going to Lubbock, Texas, Brent shocked her by breaking up with her over the phone without reason. It was later discovered that Brent wanted to break up with Sara and get out of the neighborhood because he feared retaliation from "Big Tony."

After fleeing Lubbock, Brent enrolls in community college at the University of Texas at Dallas.

University of Texas at Dallas

The Gutheinzes remember 1996 as a pleasant period in their relationship with Brent. He thrives at his new school and gets an apartment with three other guys, and makes fast friends with others.

In the fall of 1996, Brent had dated Rosalie Castillo. “He wanted to get serious,” Rosalie told reporters. “He wanted more commitment than I did.” Rosalie broke off the relationship, but they stayed friends.

In February of 1997, Brent's Dad Jerry had asked his son to take a delivery to his accountant's office in Plano, Texas. Jerry said the new secretary, Chanel Banks, was really attractive, even though he knew she was planning her own wedding. Despite this, Brent immediately tried to date Chanel the same day, telling Jerry that she was "the most fantastic-looking girl I've ever seen. Even after Jerry said that Chanel was engaged, Brent retorted and said that they were having lunch together the next day. Just eight days later, Chanel broke off her engagement and moved in with Brent.

In March, Brent took his first full-time job making about $22,000 a year as a manager of SimFighters, a start-up in Dallas at Preston and Belt line roads, that was designed to give people time in fighter-jet simulators.

Brent tells his family that he and Chanel are getting married. At the same time, his family discovers that Brent bought Chanel a 1997 Mustang. It's at this moment that the family says Brent needs to take responsibility for his own finances, so they transfer the title of his college car into his name so he could start paying the bills for it.

On May 15, Brent and Chanel leased their own apartment. Brent's family watched helplessly as the new couple went on a manic spending spree, buying a $1,200 car stereo, a $1,000 TV system, a $2,500 computer, $500 in bedding, $600 in appliances and hundreds of dollars worth of clothes for Chanel.

On Mother’s Day, when Brent and Chanel had dinner with Brent's parents at a local Macaroni Grill, Diana was so upset with her son’s spending that she cried through most of the meal. They would later discover Brent owed creditors about $64,000.

Brent calls his mom and said Chanel had left him. The next two weeks, his parents watched Brent ride a roller coaster of emotions. Chanel moved out of the pair's shared apartment, then back in again over and over. “One minute [Brent] would be in love with her, and the next he’d despise her,” Stephen, Brent's brother, told Glenna Whitley.

Chanel reveals that she's pregnant, and Brent’s reaction is to forgive her for the turmoil of the last few weeks, to marry her, and to raise the baby together. “He was excited about being a dad,” Stephen, Brent's friend, says. “Even though it wasn’t under the best of circumstances, he loved kids.”

Chanel moves back in with Brent, but almost immediately leaves again. Brent later told his parents that they fought because Chanel said she wanted an abortion, and Brent confessed to his dad that he had spit in Chanel's face, called her names, and nearly threw her down the stairs after hearing her talk about wanting an abortion.

Brent and Rosalie Castillo stop by over at Brent's parent's house. Brent's father Jerry said their last conversation was over an overdue bill for Blockbuster where he wanted his name and Diana's name off the account. Later that night, Rosalie spends the night at Brent's apartment — specifically noting that it was platonic.

In the morning, Brent takes Rosalie to class, which is the last time he is seen by a reputable source. As Brent leaves, he says he's going to the bank. Glenna Whitley finds that Brent had left SimFighters at around 5:00pm, joined 24 Hour Fitness at 5:30pm, and bought something at Sugarless Delight at 5:50pm. These times would later be disputed, but it is clear Brent missed his 6 p.m. class at UTD. He simply disappeared.

Sugarless deLite, Inc.

At 11:30am on Sunday, June 22, a fisherman found Brent Alan Gutheinz’s body on the banks of Squirrel Creek, in a rural area between Van Alstyne and Sherman in Grayson County. His body had been burned and mutilated: Brent’s lower jaw had been removed and was missing, as were his upper teeth, his spleen and one kidney. His body had been doused with a solvent and set ablaze.

Squirrel Creek

Ranger Bennie and a CSI team search Brent's apartment. Jerry was briefly present, expressing to Glenna Whitley how angry he was that at least a dozen people were trampling through the apartment. They finished processing the scene at 10:30pm. The next day, on June 27, Jerry went back to the apartment and found what investigators left behind: wet towels and a pair of women’s panties in the washer, a hammer and Brent’s golf clubs. They also found his shoes, which Rosalie has said that she saw Brent wearing the night she last saw him.

Ranger Bennie discovers by talking with Scott Garret that Brent went to a car dealership and obtained the 1997 Mustang through a "straw purchase" — using someone's name and credit to purchase a car for someone unrelated, which happens to be Chanel. To do this, the dealership sold Brent a credit life insurance policy that would have paid off the SUV in the case of his death.

Ranger Bennie discovered several phone messages left on Brent's answering machine where the person on the other end asks for a "present" saying that Brent owed the caller $400 for the gift. Investigators speculated that the present was a code-name for drugs, and it's believed that it's for a March "cycle" of steroids.

Brent’s Mustang was discovered in late July parked in front of a motel in Plano, only a few feet from the Denny’s where Brent often studied late at night. The keys were missing, and caliche still clung to the tires. The manager of the motel said he’d noted all the cars in the lot on July 4, two weeks earlier, and the Mustang had not been there. 

General Location of where Brent's Mustang was found

In August of 1997, Jerry was going through Brent's belongings when he discovered a VHS tape and a vacuum cleaner full of wall plaster and glass. Upon looking at the VHS tape, Jerry discovers that it's a homemade video of Chanel — provocative footage apparently taken without her knowledge. Scott Garrett later tells Jerry that Chanel learned about the tape, and she had been negotiating with Brent to get it back after the pair broke off their relationship.

After Chanel gets back together with Craig, the pair quickly get married roughly a year later.

The Gutheinzes hire attorney Kevin Keith to help them get further along with the investigation compared to where the Texas Rangers were able to take it.

Kevin Keith, after spending the last two months diving into Brent's case, sends a letter with 20 to 30 points that still needed to be investigated to Ranger Tony Bennie, Ranger Lieutenant Richard Sweaney, Ranger Captain W.D. Vickers, Grayson County Sheriff Keith Gary, and several deputy sheriffs and a Grayson County assistant attorney. While Kevin was not allowed to attend the closed-door meeting about Brent's case, investigators later contacted Jerry Gutheinze and said they were being too critical of their investigation, and that he needed to stop obsessing.

Jerry and Diana Gutheinz meet with Dr. Joni McCain for the first time regarding Brent's murder. During their three hour meeting, the family discovers just how violent Brent's killing was, and also how poorly his remains were forensically processed. First, Dr. Joni McCain shares that Brent's body arrived wrapped in a gray blanket which can't be traced back to whose it was, or if it was clean. Brent's hands were not bagged with brown paper bags, as is a standard forensic procedure to preserve material under the fingernails. Also, in transportation, Brent's remains became detached from the pelvis down, possibly creating false injuries. - note inconclusive testing, and evidence in bags.

Dallas County Medical Examiner Institute

Seven years after Brent's murder, an investigative journalist at the Dallas Observer picks up the case, and outlines the most in-depth timeline and case overview that's been published to date. In the article, Glenna Whitley notes that in 2004, little progress has been made in Brent's case — mainly uncovering that investigators still failed to follow up on testing evidence and questioning possible witnesses and suspects.