Woman says alleged killer's reputation partly stopped her from going to police

A witness who said she was in the car when Jessica Flores was fatally shot said she didn't go to police in part because she thought Drew Carter might kill her.

“He told me Jessica wasn’t the first person he killed that day,” she said.

The Post-Tribune is not identifying him out of fear for his safety.

Carter, 46, of Gary, is on trial this week for the shooting death of Flores, 36. Authorities believe she was shot and killed on February 24 or 25, 2019. Her skull and vertebrae were found in Brunswick Park in Gary in April 2020.

He is charged with murder, kidnapping while armed with a deadly weapon, criminal confinement while armed with a deadly weapon and criminal confinement with bodily injury.

The woman's confession on the stand took place Wednesday afternoon. Defense attorney Mark Gruenhagen filed an in limine motion before the trial that jurors make no mention of prior crimes.

Assistant District Attorney Infinity Westberg successfully argued to Judge Natalie Bokota that Gruenhagen had figuratively opened a door to discuss it when the woman said Carter told her he didn't like leaving the ” details pending.”

After barely being allowed to elaborate, the woman told Westberg that Carter said he went to a drug house to kill a woman she knew by the street name “Little Debbie.” The witness's arrival with Flores disrupted the situation when they briefly argued and Flores punched the witness in the face. Carter was angry that the other woman was able to walk out the door.

The witness did not speak to police for 12 days after Flores' death. She later said she was afraid that if she told the cops it would get back to Carter. What were you trying to do while running from the cops, Westberg asked.

“Stay alive,” the woman replied.

She testified for several hours Tuesday and Wednesday.

During cross-examination Wednesday morning, the woman told Gruenhagen that she and Flores were going back and forth to various locations drinking and using more crack cocaine to stay high.

Gruenhagen questioned parts of his story – including his admitted drug use and false information. You had no problem lying to the police, he asked. About “little things,” she replied.

“I wouldn’t lie about murder,” the woman said.

The woman admitted that some details – the order of different stops or the length of time spent at each location – were unclear. His memory was “cloudy,” partly due to heavy drug use.

When you spoke to the police, did you expect anything in return?

“No,” she said.

At one point, at the drug house, Flores dragged the witness into the bathroom, telling him that she had dated Carter and still loved him.

After she, Flores and Carter left the house, the two bickered “constantly,” she said. The woman tried to get out of the car. It was locked.

“Can I (have sex with) her,” Carter asked Flores.

The witness was looking at his phone. When Flores answered no, the witness saw a gloved hand holding a gun, a flash, then “boom.” Flores collapsed onto her side and the witness said she thought the woman had been shot in the chest. A bullet hole was later discovered in Flores' skull.

“I still don’t know where, I think on his chest,” the witness said when asked where Flores was shot. “I thought (if it was) his head, I would have been hit.”

Would you have had blood on you, Gruenhagen asked.

“Yes,” she said, later telling Westberg that she was “absolutely” surprised and “grateful” by it.

The witness got out and tried to run away before saying Carter grabbed her and took her to her aunt's house. There, the witness said he rolled down the windows and left Flores' body in the back seat. It was in a dead end street, near a wood.

“It sounds crazy, doesn’t it,” she said.

There, he took her to a bedroom, gave her crack and the gun, which she placed on a window sill. She smoked a cigarette with the aunt and went back to get shoes and things, making sure Carter was fully asleep before escaping.

She admitted to lying to a firefighter at a nearby station. At a gas station, she didn't ask for help.

“I wish I had,” she said, her voice cracking with emotion.

Do you know how to “play a role” and lie to get what you want, Gruenhagen asked.

“Do drugs, don’t cry on command,” she said.

A NIPSCO employee drove her to a friend's house. The friend gave him ice for his leg and crack cocaine. He didn't believe her, thinking the story was “crazy,” she said. The woman then went to a relative's apartment.

The woman said she never called an anonymous hotline. Carter said he didn't leave any “details hanging,” the woman said.

You later told the cops you didn't want to get into something you couldn't get out of, Gruenhagen said.

Those are my “exact words,” she said.

In his argument, Westberg said authorities learned during the Flores investigation that Carter “said he killed other people” and that “little Debbie” was a “hangover.”

A Gary police spokesman did not immediately respond to questions about whether Carter was a suspect in other murder investigations.

Assistant District Attorney Eric Randall is also appointed. Co-counsel David O'Donnell is assisting Gruenhagen.

[email protected]