On May 22, 2011 family members discovered the body of 53-year-old Domingo Flores Jr. inside his residence at 901 E. Dayton St., South Bend, IN.
An autopsy determined he had been shot to death. Police believe the suspect(s) took Flores’ blue Dodge Ram truck with an extended cab, Indiana license plate TK1855.
Family members told police they had lost contact with Flores a couple of weeks prior to discovering his body.
They then began to search for him. Family told police the home was secure when they arrived and that Flores’ truck was missing.
In the backyard, his German shepherds were still secured in their fenced-in area.
Neighbor and friend of the family Maria Lopez said she recalled seeing Flores’ truck in the driveway just last week, and saw him mowing the lawn the week before that.
“He was real nice,” Lopez said of her neighbor.
During the winter months she said he would come and shovel the snow for her and her mother, and plow out the entire street.
“You would see him all the time, in his truck, on his motorcycle or out in the yard,” Lopez said.
In Flores’ side yard, two flags blew in the wind, an American flag and a Harley Davidson flag beneath it.
Frank LaGrone, a neighbor, said it was unusual to not see or hear Flores.
LaGrone said Flores would ride his motorcycle along with his biker buddies who would come driving through the neighborhood.
“He was in too good of health to drop dead,” he said of his neighbor, whom he described as having a very muscular build.
Flores’ body was taken to Fort Wayne where an autopsy is scheduled to be performed.
According to police records, in November 2008, Flores’ 17-year-old stepdaughter hanged herself in the home. The family told police that she had been depressed, and she left a suicide note in the bedroom.
Neighbors said his wife moved out shortly after that.
In recent years Phil Trent, spokesperson for the South Bend Police Department, said police had not been called to the house for any major incidents.
Flores also has a history of arrests in the city dating back to 1972. According to South Bend police records, in 1987, he was sentenced to eight years in prison for dealing cocaine.
The date of his homicide is not specifically known.
Flores’ family has put up a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of his killer. If you have any information on this homicide call at 800-342-STOP or 574-288-STOP.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 22nd, 2011 at 10:28 am and is filed under $5,000+, Indiana, Unsolved Murder. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.