Famed 'Shoe Lady' Case: Accused Killer Faces 26 Years in Prison

By City News Service:

RIVERSIDE, CA - Trial proceedings got underway Monday for a Menifee man accused of fatally beating his 58-year-old girlfriend, a world-renowned footwear collector found dead in her backyard swimming pool.

Justin Charles Smith, 32, could face 26 years to life in prison if convicted of the 2013 killing of Darlene Flynn, whose vast collection of shoes and related products landed her in the Guinness Book of World Records in 2006.

Smith is charged with murder and a sentence-enhancing allegation of using a deadly weapon -- a baseball bat -- during the commission of a felony.

His case was assigned Monday morning to the courtroom of Riverside County Superior Court Michael Donner, who began hearing pretrial motions from the prosecution and defense.

Donner is expected to summon several panels of prospective jurors to the Riverside Hall of Justice Tuesday for screening as to their availability and qualifications.

Jury selection is likely to last until Thursday, with opening statements that afternoon or Friday.

The defendant is being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Southwest Detention Center in Murrieta.

Deputies were called to the victim's residence in the 28800 block of Stone Lane about 2 p.m. on July 22, 2013, after receiving calls about a domestic disturbance involving a man and woman screaming at one another.

Deputies knocked on the front door of the house repeatedly but received no response, sheriff's Sgt. Todd Torrenti said. As they were determining how best to get inside, the deputies noticed a shirtless man running from the rear of the home, he said.

A perimeter was established, and Smith was found hours later near the intersection of Briggs Road and Highway 74 and arrested without incident.

Back at the house, deputies pulled Flynn's lifeless body out of her pool. According to sheriff's homicide Investigator Robert Stites, the woman had been struck at least five times with a baseball bat.

Flynn, dubbed "The Shoe Lady" and the "Queen of Sole," had amassed more than 16,000 shoes and shoe-related products. The possessions, including heels, sneakers, boots, stockings -- even pillows shaped as shoes -- had an estimated value in excess of $500,000, according to published reports.

Smith was living with Flynn at the time of the fatal assault. The two had been profiled together months earlier in a television show about her collection.

The defendant has a prior misdemeanor conviction for grand theft from September 2012, for selling Flynn's car without her permission. Smith was sentenced to three years probation in that case.

(Image via YouTube)