REDLANDS, Calif. (KABC) -- A murder in Redlands in February has been tied to a 10-year-old rape case through DNA evidence. Now police have a composite sketch and hope it will lead them to the suspect. <\/p>\n
The murder victim's family made a plea for justice in Redlands Thursday. <\/p>\n
Holding his wife's hand, Robert Flores remembers his daughter Sylvia. The 23-year-old, who was working as a prostitute, was murdered earlier this year. Her body was found in a Redlands orange grove on February 26. <\/p>\n
\"She was a very sweet girl, very nice, very kind to people. She went the wrong way, but she loved life and she loved people,\" said Flores. <\/p>\n
Until recently Redlands Police had very little to go on. But Thursday they announced that DNA found on the victim's body matches DNA found on another victim from a crime committed more than 10 years ago. <\/p>\n
In that April 2003 case the victim got into the car of an unknown man on Baseline Street in San Bernardino; he then raped her. Now that there's a DNA match, police contacted the victim in that case to put together a composite sketch of the suspect. <\/p>\n
At the time of the crime 10 years ago, he was driving a small car, either burnt orange or dull orange in color, possibly a two-seat hatchback, with black interior. <\/p>\n
\"What's going to need to happen is people are going to need to come forward to tell us that they might know someone who looks like this or owned a car like that, somebody that's frequented the area, something that's bragged about these things that they've done, and bring that information forward,\" said Redlands Police Chief Mark Garcia. <\/p>\n
The only other possibility is that the guy gets arrested and submits a DNA sample. That would automatically alert the DNA database and give detectives the suspect's name. <\/p>\n
Regardless, the family wants justice for Sylvia Flores. <\/p>\n
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More: REDLANDS, Calif. (KABC) -- A murder in Redlands in February has been tied to a 10-year-old rape case through DNA evidence. Continue reading
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