Texas Father's Killing of Child Molester Ruled Homicide

The Shiner, Texas case in which a young father beat the molester of his five-year-old daughter has now been ruled a homicide.  The dead man has been identified as Jesus Mora Flores, 47, of Gonzales, Texas, an alleged acquaintance of the father who had been hired to care for the horses at the father’s barn.

The evidence, according to an attorney’s statement, states that the 23-year-old father was working on a horse and was barbecuing shortly before 3:43 p.m. on the day of the incident, when someone alerted him that his daughter had been abducted. The father heard the girl scream, ran toward the sound, and found Flores on top of his child. The father yanked Flores off his daughter and started beating him in the head and neck.

The sheriff’s statement revealed that someone called 911, and paramedics arriving found Flores’ body lying in a pasture near the barn with his underwear down. They performed CPR, but Flores was pronounced dead at the scene by a justice of the peace at 4:50 p.m.

The Travis County medical examiner’s office found that Flores died from “blunt force head and neck injury,” and the death was ruled a homicide.

The Texas Rangers investigating the incident performed a physical exam on the young girl as well as interviewing her. Lavaca County Sheriff Micah Harmon said the evidence he had gathered and witnesses’ statements matched the father’s account of the incident. He said the father was “distraught” and “very remorseful.”  He also stated that the father said he did not intend to kill Flores.

All the statements aside, the case is still being ruled a homicide.  But local officials backed Harmon’s non-arrest of the father. Lavaca County Dist. Atty. Heather McMinn said, “Sheriff Harmon made the right decision in not arresting the father at the time of the incident.”

Harmon released a statement saying:

This case has been very traumatizing on the child, her father and his entire family. I’m thankful the investigation is complete and that the district attorney will be presenting it to a grand jury.

Harmon said a grand jury will consider this week what charges the father will face.

One can be grateful that this case did happen in Texas, not some blue state. The father actually can hope that sympathy will lie with him and the daughter and not the monster who committed the crime.