By Aaron Burgin, The Porterville Recorder
STRATHMORE - Adele Sanchez said she did not know Grego Flores Sr., or any member of the Flores family in Lindsay.

However, new information about Flores' brutal murder released by Tulare County Sheriff's Department officials Wednesday gives the Sanchez family hope, she said.

Maybe, she said, her family will get a break in the case of the shooting death of her mother, Maria “Mary” Sanchez. “There isn't a day that goes by that I wish that,” Sanchez said Wednesday evening in the home of her late mother. “And yeah, it does give you hope when you hear about such an old case being resolved or in the process of being resolved.”

It has been nearly six months since the elder Sanchez, 69, was shot and killed Sept. 1 in a robbery attempt at the La Tienda Market. Mary Sanchez, a well-known and respected woman, co-owned the store for 40 years with her husband, Fernando, who celebrated a birthday this week.

The shooting rocked the tight-knit community {Strathmore} north of Porterville, and is considered the most high-profile homicide in the town's history. It prompted the Tulare County Secret Witness Program to offer a still-standing $10,000 reward for information leading to a suspect's arrest and conviction.

In the months since the shooting, the Sanchez family worries that the case will go cold. Investigators have not named any suspects or persons of interest. Sheriff's officials have not contacted the family in months, Adele Sanchez said.

The family, Adele Sanchez said, is growing anxious. “Of course there is some anxiety, when the time passes and there aren't suspects named, you get worried if it will be resolved, or if the department has the time to devote to the investigation,” Adele Sanchez said. “We have really thought about hiring a private investigator .... We are not saying that the Sheriff's Department is not doing a good job, we are just concerned that they don't have the time to devote to the case.

The department's Violent Crimes Unit is investigating Sanchez's homicide, one of 20 homicides that occurred in the department's jurisdiction in 2006, Sgt. Chris Douglass said. There have been 50 homicides in Tulare County since 2005, according to department statistics. The length of the investigation can vary based on the specifics.

Violent Crimes has four detectives, Douglass said. “What I can tell you is that they are still investigating the case,” Douglass said. “They don't just work on homicides, though. They also handle all crimes against persons.”

Meanwhile the family, which includes seven siblings and more than 30 grandchildren and great-grandchildren, continues to get support from the community. Neighbors come into the store to keep family members company as they continue to operate the mini-mart without their mother.

There are moments when fear sets in, and others when tears are shed, Adele Sanchez said. “It's not every day, but there are those moments where we cry, we know that it will never be the same,” Sanchez said. “But then we hear about cases like the Flores case, and it does give us hope.”

Sheriff's Department officials announced the arrest of a second suspect, Luis Rocha, in the five-year-old investigation into the death of Flores on Wednesday. They arrested the first man, Rudy Tellez, in 2006, nearly four years after family members found Flores in his Lindsay apartment, beaten to death. Douglass said the new revelation should prompt citizens to come forward with information about cases.

“The county really does rely on the community to provide useful information that can eventually lead to an arrest,” Douglass said. “It also shows that you can always develop new leads, no matter how old the case may be.”

For the Sanchez family, their faith rests on that fact. “We haven't given up,” said Eddie Sanchez, the late Sanchez's son. “And I think that the Flores case shows that justice will be served and sometimes it just takes some time.”

Contact Aaron Burgin at 784-5000, Ext. 1047, or aburgin@portervillerecorder.com.

This story was published in The Porterville Recorder on Feb. 23, 2007