MURDERED: Teresa Flores & Martha Mezo

Summary of MURDERED: Teresa Flores & Martha Mezo

by Audiochuck

59m•November 10, 2025
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Overview of MURDERED: Teresa Flores & Martha Mezzo

This episode (Audiochuck’s Crime Junkie) revisits the unsolved 1980 abduction, sexual assault, and murders of 5-year-old Teresa “Terry” Flores and 4-year-old Martha “Marty” Mezzo in San Miguel, California. It summarizes the original investigation, the many suspects and missteps over decades, recent forensic testing breakthroughs, and the renewed, urgent push by San Luis Obispo County Detective Clint Cole to solve the case while family members are still alive.

Key facts & timeline

  • Date missing: Saturday, May 17, 1980 — Terry (5) and Marty (4) disappeared from Mission Street in San Miguel around 11:30 a.m. after being left briefly to walk to a nearby market and to Marty’s house.
  • Massive search began immediately and continued for days; bodies discovered May 29, 1980 in the Salinas Riverbed (surface buried on Camp Roberts property).
  • Autopsy findings (sensitive details handled with family’s privacy): both girls died of asphyxiation by ligature; one sustained severe head trauma; one showed evidence of sexual assault. Ligatures were maroon-colored cloth.
  • Items recovered near scene: a green trash bag containing the girls’ folded clothes and other items (potted plant, grocery bag), a blue towel with hairs and a bloodstain, a black thong-style pair of Fredericks of Hollywood underwear with semen, an empty wine bottle (later found to be unrelated), and a rock (not linked to injuries).

Community context

  • San Miguel was an ~800-person unincorporated town where everyone knew one another. It had a reputation for transient military personnel from nearby Camp Roberts and for a notable presence of sex offenders or people who harassed kids.
  • The Elkhorn bar on Mission Street was a local hangout where adults and kids mixed; the girls stopped there shortly before disappearing.

Investigation — major leads, suspects, and procedural problems

  • Early investigation: huge initial search (National Guard, helicopters, cadaver dogs), but investigators made procedural choices now considered questionable (warrantless home searches, inconsistent follow-ups).
  • Early suspects and persons of interest included:
    • Michael Flores (Terry’s estranged father) — quickly cleared.
    • Greg “Crazy Greg” Hickey — local teen with ties to both families and suspicious behavior; repeatedly investigated but never charged. Later allegations (from his girlfriend) suggested he and a friend disposed of a bloody carpet in 1980; the friend’s car later burned.
    • Mario Escalante — Elkhorn regular; likely bought the girls their Cokes according to bartender but repeatedly denied knowing them.
    • Eugene Capers — ex-military, lived near the Mezzo family, showed extreme emotion at discovery; interviewed but not thoroughly investigated; deceased before modern testing.
    • Roy Hash — known child predator in the area; interviewed only briefly and not fully pursued.
    • Richard Benson — serial child molester in the region; heavily considered later but ultimately could not be placed in San Miguel and DNA did not match.
    • Henry Lee Lucas — confessed in 1983 but timeline and travel receipts proved he could not have been there; investigators spent significant time on his false confession.
  • Procedural failures noted: incomplete follow-up on leads (e.g., blue towels at Greg’s sister’s house), loss/misplacement of evidence (key hairs), limited cooperation from Camp Roberts (no roster provided), and long distractions from false confessions.

Forensic breakthroughs & recent developments

  • 2006–2009: Modern testing produced mixed results:
    • Semen on the Fredericks underwear yielded a full DNA profile and a CODIS-compatible sample — no CODIS hit initially.
    • Ligatures and some other items produced only trace/partial DNA for many years.
    • Hairs on the blue towel were tested in 2006 and found not to belong to the girls, but were later reported as missing by the lab.
  • 2018 onward (Detective Clint Cole assigned):
    • Cole re-opened and aggressively re-investigated, swabbing living suspects and relatives, and retesting evidence.
    • The CODIS semen profile narrowed ancestry to about 75% Black (genealogical work is ongoing but has been hampered by difficulty getting reference samples).
    • Retesting of ligatures and victim clothing produced an unknown DNA profile (suitable for direct comparison) that does NOT match the semen profile — meaning there may be multiple adult contributors.
    • Many living suspects (including Benson, Escalante, etc.) were excluded via DNA comparison. For some deceased persons (Eugene Capers, Cal Owens) DNA could not be obtained without exhumation; both are deceased.
    • In April 2025 the lab located the hairs previously thought lost and sent them for new testing — results were pending at the time of this episode.
  • Detective Cole views the case as possibly involving multiple people (a kidnapping that escalated) rather than a single opportunistic predator; he believes the neatly folded clothes and the dump-site location (on base property) point toward someone familiar with the area and maybe military connections, but he is keeping an open mind.

Current status & urgency

  • Detective Clint Cole is actively working the case and has made it his highest priority. Additional advanced testing (genealogy, reanalysis of semen and ligature DNA, hairs) is underway.
  • The case has taken on renewed urgency because Terry’s sister, Christina, has been diagnosed with a terminal illness and wants to see justice while she can. Family members continue to seek media attention and public tips.
  • Community effort: Christina is raising funds (GoFundMe mentioned in the episode/show notes) to put up a Highway 101 billboard and to create a reward for information.

How to help / contact

  • If you have information about the May 17, 1980 murders of Teresa “Terry” Flores and Martha “Marty” Mezzo, contact Detective Clint Cole:
  • The episode also notes a GoFundMe set up by family to raise funds for a billboard and reward (link available in the show notes).

Main takeaways

  • The original investigation was massive but hampered by missed opportunities, incomplete follow-up, false confessions (Henry Lee Lucas), and lost/mismanaged evidence.
  • Modern DNA testing created real leads in the 2000s and especially since 2018 under Detective Cole, producing at least one CODIS-quality semen profile and a separate unknown DNA profile on ligatures — pointing to the possibility of multiple involved adults.
  • Critical evidence (the hairs) was recently rediscovered after being reported lost and has been resubmitted for testing — results could be pivotal.
  • The investigation is active and urgent; Detective Cole is soliciting public tips and genealogical reference samples and is hopeful the case will be solved.

Notable quotes / observations

  • Detective Cole: “This case is my highest priority.”
  • The episode underscores how modern science (DNA, forensic genealogy) combined with dogged detective work can revive extremely old cold cases — but also how procedural errors and distractions can delay justice for decades.

Sources and further info: the episode references source material available at crimejunkie.com; the show notes include the family’s GoFundMe and Detective Cole’s contact details.