DALLAS — The 16-year-old whose body was found in a creek near Oak Cliff on Monday was allegedly dating the 22-year-old man charged in her murder, according to an arrest affidavit from Dallas Police.
Venus Rodriguez was found with multiple gunshot wounds just after 10 a.m. on Jan. 16 in the 1700 block of Brookhaven Drive. The affidavit said that Rodriguez's body was found underneath a blanket that would later be tied back to the suspect, Arturo Flores.
Dallas Police said after Rodriguez was identified, officers spoke with her family, who said she had run away with her boyfriend, Flores, back in September 2022, when she was 15. Police learned that Flores lived just over 350 feet away from where Rodriguez's body was found.
During their investigation, officers found a photo that Rodriguez had posted on her social media account that showed her dog and a blanket that looked similar to the one found covering her body on Jan. 16.
Police spoke with a family member who confirmed the blanket seen in the photo and found at the scene was one that Rodriguez and Flores used for their dog. The family member said that Flores "frequently shoots his gun" and fought with Rodriguez.
Witnesses in the neighborhood told Dallas Police that Flores had chased Rodriguez down the street during a fight and that he had physically assaulted her weeks before her murder.
When interviewed by police, Flores "showed no emotion and seemed indifferent" about his girlfriend's murder, the affidavit said.
While he was being interviewed by police, a family member was seen leaving Flores' home and was pulled over by Dallas police. The family member told police that he had two guns in the vehicle, both of which belonged to him. Dallas Police said two guns were located but it was unclear if one of them was the murder weapon. The vehicle was towed for additional crime scene processing.
After getting a search warrant for Flores' home, Dallas police found a "brand new air mattress" inside his room. The affidavit said a witness told police that they saw a family member loading up a mattress into a truck and driving off on Jan. 12. Crime scene technicians processed the area underneath the air mattress in search of blood that might have been cleaned up. After utilizing forensic tools, the affidavit said police found evidence of blood in the carpet under the bed that had been cleaned up.
Flores was booked on Jan. 21 into the Dallas County Jail on a murder charge.
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