Man to be tried in death of one of two slain women

By Matt Pordum

Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2005 | 9:54 a.m.

A man accused of raping and strangling two women on May 4 will stand trial for only one of the killings, Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Tony Abbatangelo ruled Tuesday.

Abbatangelo said although there were similarities in the deaths of 45-year-old Marilee Coote and 25-year-old Rena Gonzales, there was not sufficient evidence against Norman Keith Flowers for Flowers to face charges related to Gonzales' murder.

Coote and Gonzales each were found sexually assaulted and strangled in their apartments at the Silver Pines apartment complex at 6650 E. Russell Road, near Boulder Highway.

Abbatangelo, however, did rule that enough evidence existed to try Flowers in the murder of Coote for Flowers so Flowers is to be arraigned on those charges on Aug. 30.

Deputy Public Defender Joe Abood successfully argued the charges as they related to Gonzales must be dismissed because the DNA evidence produced by prosecutors excluded Flowers as the perpetrator.

To demonstrate this Abood used a chart that showed that some of the DNA collected from Gonzales' body, two cigarette butts, a burnt piece of paper and the phone cord used to strangle Gonzales came from someone other than Flowers.

"It (the man who killed Gonzales) could be anyone in the phone book, but not Norman Flowers,"Abood said.

During the first day of Flowers' preliminary hearing on June 23, Metro criminalist Tom Wahl testified that Flowers' DNA was found inside Coote and on the carpet where her body was discovered by police.

Wahl, however, said there was no DNA evidence linking Flowers to the death of Gonzales. He said that in Gonzales' body he found a "mixture of DNA" that consisted of Gonzales' DNA and a "trace" amount of an unidentified male DNA.

Wahl also said the blood found on the phone cord used to strangle Gonzales had the same DNA mixture.

The defense attorney said if Abbatangelo were to have determined Flowers should face charges in connection to Gonzales' death "an unknown male out there will be given a free pass."

Deputy District Attorney Lisa Luzaich Rego argued the lack of Flowers' DNA evidence at the scene of Gonzales death simply showed Flowers learned from his mistakes during the Coote killing and made sure not to leave behind any evidence after killing Gonzales.

Luzaich Rego said it was no coincidence that two rape victims, both of whom knew Flowers, were found strangled with similar injuries in the same apartment complex.

"There are absolutely remarkable similarities between the two," Luzaich Rego said. "What are the chances two women will be choked in the same way in the same apartment complex within 12 hours of each other?"

The prosecutor also pointed out that a female neighbor to the victims testified to seeing Flowers near both of the victims' apartments and also that Flowers tried to kiss her in her apartment during the morning of the killings.

Luzaich Rego refused to comment on Abbatangelo's ruling and also would not speculate as to whether the district attorney's office would choose to indict Flowers for the murder of Gonzales.

Abood, however, said there he had "no doubt" the district attorney's office would bring Flowers before the grand jury.

The defense attorney said he was impressed with Abbatangelo's decision, which he deemed as the "right decision."

"It took a lot of courage on a murder case to do the right thing," Abood said. "I commend Judge Abbatangelo for acknowledging that the state's evidence showed it wasn't Norman Flowers who killed Rena Gonzales."

Abood said he understood that the ruling must have been devastating to Rene Gonzales' family, but the evidence was clear Flowers had nothing to do with her murder.

"They (Gonzales' family) have my condolences, and they have a right to know who did this," Abood said. "As much as they would like to believe Norman Flowers did this, the evidence doesn't support it."