More than five years after Jessica “Heaven” Flores went missing, her family faced Drew Carter, the man convicted in her 2019 murder.
“Today is a day of reckoning,” Flores’ sister Marianna Perez told him.
The case continued in fits and starts.
There were fruitless searches, before Flores’ body was found more than a year later in Gary’s Brunswick Park. The original murder case was dismissed on the eve of trial. When it picked up, Carter was released on bond just after Christmas 2022 when prosecutors took too long to bring him to trial. Then, he fired his lawyer after the trial.
Judge Natalie Bokota sentenced Carter, 46, of Gary, who appeared in a jail uniform, to the maximum 101 years Wednesday — 65 years for murder, 16 years for kidnapping Flores’ friend and 20 years for a gun enhancement.
She noted Flores was killed in “cold blood.”
He denied it, and said he would appeal.
Carter killed his former girlfriend, Flores, 36, of South Chicago Heights, after they argued in a car after leaving a Gary drug house on Feb. 24 or 25, 2019, according to documents. Carter asked if he could have sex with her friend, who was with them. When Flores said no, he turned around and shot her in the head. He chased and tackled her friend, the eyewitness, before taking her to another house, until she later escaped.
Flores is survived by six children.
The friend — the state’s star witness — told the court via video chat she and Flores were both trapped by addiction. She was left with survivor’s guilt for the rest of her life. The Post-Tribune is not naming her to protect her safety.
“I don’t know why he let me live,” she said.
Since Carter was released on bond, the witness said she has moved out of state and has been terrified for her family’s lives. Carter was taken into custody after his June conviction.
“Today, he is no longer in control,” she said, adding it was “only the beginning (for Carter) to be held responsible for everything he had done.”
Sources with knowledge of the investigation have long said Gary Police consider Carter a potential person of interest in six other murders around the time of Flores’ death.
According to court filings by prosecutors, Carter was arrested nine times outside of Flores’ case, including three times for murder or attempted murder. Eight of those arrests led to either dismissals, or no charges, it said.
In court, Carter disputed a 2009 Gary arrest for murder.
Ebony Peel, Flores’ sister-in-law, said the family was “screaming from the mountaintops” for justice and struggled everyday that they couldn’t give her a proper burial.
Even as Flores struggled with a crack cocaine addiction, her life was stolen, and her family was left to pick up the pieces, Peel said.
“This is a somber win, but a win nonetheless,” she said.
Adela Perez, Flores mother, echoed Peel, saying she was left guilt-stricken as a mother that she “didn’t do enough” to protect her from Carter. Her daughter was full of life, loving and “bold” to stand up to Carter, for her friend.
“Jessica died a hero,” she said.
Flores’ family roundly praised the star witness for her testimony and courage, which was central to the case.
Deputy Prosecutor Eric Randall — co-counsel with Infinity Westberg — said it was a “horrific night for those two ladies,” with Flores killed in an “execution.” The witness was “running for her life” when she escaped the car, he said. At trial, her “emotion” and “terror” were real.
He asked for 101 years.
Defense lawyer Adam Tavitas — co-counsel with Joseph Curosh — noted they were Carter’s original public defenders, before he hired lawyer Mark Gruenhagen for the trial.
Carter said “he didn’t do this,” Tavitas said.
He had no violations since he was put on GPS monitoring in January 2023. Carter also kept a steady job as a laborer and forklift driver at the Port of Indiana until his conviction, the lawyer said.
He asked for a minimum sentence.
“I’m innocent of this,” Carter said in court. “The evidence basically speaks for itself.”
Carter disputed his conviction, saying his cell phone put him elsewhere. Bokota rejected this later, saying the star witness’s trial testimony was “extremely credible.”
Some of the biggest factors on her sentence were Flores’ children, past convictions and arrests, the judge said. Her family was left only with Flores’ “skull” and “partial vertebrae” to cremate.
A hearing on Carter’s pending gun case is set for Oct. 23.
“Rot in your little jail cell,” Genesis Flores, Jessica’s younger sister, yelled as the hearing started to clear out.
Bokota told her to come forward.
“I’m sorry for my outburst,” Flores said tearfully. “It’s been a long time. I couldn’t help myself.”
The judge let her go.
There was “so much energy” they put into the case, Genesis Flores said after court. She didn’t give a victim impact statement to start the process to move on.
“We’re not giving up on the other families,” she said.
Carter was only formally charged in Flores’ death.
Four people — Tracy Valentine, 48, Timothy Snow, 55, Jimmy Valentine, 55, and Wayne Valentine, 69 — were killed within a week of each other in February 2019.
Two others — Pam “Little Debbie” Crider, 43, and George “Sax” Heath, 55 — were both found shot to death after Flores’ disappearance.
After the hearing, Gary Police Det. Kris Adams said it was possible police would reexamine the Crider and Valentine murders.
Anyone with information can call Gary Police at 219-881-7300.
