MURDERED: Teresa Flores & Martha Mezo

The gist

Five-year-old Teresa "Terry" Flores and four-year-old Martha "Marty" Mezzo disappeared from Mission Street in San Miguel, California on May 17, 1980, while running errands before a birthday party. Their bodies were discovered 12 days later, buried in the Salinas Riverbed—both strangled with ligatures, one sexually assaulted. The initial investigation was hampered by poor investigative practices, a wild-goose chase involving confessed serial killer Henry Lee Lucas, and evidence that was either mishandled or inadequately pursued, allowing the case to go cold for decades.

Key takeaways

• The crime scene: Terry and Marty were found on May 29 in a shallow, sandy burial beneath a bridge, along with a green trash bag containing their clothes, a blue towel with unknown hairs and blood, and black thong underwear with semen that yielded the first full DNA profile in 2009.

• Early mishandled suspects: Greg Hickey, a volatile 16-year-old with access to both girls who fought with Terry's mom's boyfriend Frank that morning; Roy Hash, a documented child predator who knew the girls and owned a van; and Richard Benson, a serial child molester—all had weak investigations despite red flags.

• The Henry Lee Lucas disaster (1982-1984): Confessed serial killer Lucas claimed responsibility and was brought to San Miguel; investigators spent nearly two years pursuing this before discovering his alibi (work receipts in Florida) made it physically impossible for him to have committed the murders, wasting critical investigative time.

• DNA breakthroughs (2006-2009): The semen from the black underwear yielded a full DNA profile suitable for CODIS; ligatures and clothing contained unknown DNA unsuitable for database matching but usable for direct comparison; unknown hairs from the blue towel were tested but later "lost" by the lab for 19 years.

• Detective Clint Cole's 2018 reassignment: The same detective who solved Kristin Smart's case came out of retirement to pursue this cold case with modern investigative techniques, systematically swabbing known suspects (clearing Mario Escalante, Greg Hickey, Richard Benson, and others) while pursuing genealogy work on the DNA profile.

• Genealogy reveals new suspect pool: The semen DNA belongs to a man who is 75% Black; genealogy work found no connection to Eugene Capers (a former military man who was emotionally suspicious at the time), suggesting the perpetrator may not have been on the original suspect radar—possibly someone who frequented Camp Roberts Military Base or Greg's sister's "party house."

• Critical evidence resurface: In April 2025, the lab discovered the hairs from the blue towel—missing for 19 years—and sent them for retesting; Cole also ordered retesting of the underwear for non-sperm DNA and is awaiting results that could identify the killer.

• Urgent timeline: Terry's sister Christina, who has worked for decades trying to get attention for the case through billboards and fundraising (seeking $10,000 for Highway 101 billboard and $25,000 reward), was recently diagnosed with terminal illness, adding pressure to solve the case while family members are still alive.

Notable quotes

• Detective Cole: "Even an untrained dog would have smelled surface burial there after four to five days... This tells investigators that whoever killed Terry and Marty likely killed them early on and then held on to their bodies for at least a couple of days before taking them to the riverbed."

• Sergeant Hobson's 1984 report: "After watching and listening to Henry Lucas's confession in San Miguel and at the bridge area, there is no doubt in my mind that he is responsible for the death of Terry Flores and Martha Mezzo... I request that a criminal complaint be filed."

• Christina (Terry's sister): Speaking about her terminal diagnosis and why the case matters now: "She hates that her mother and both of Marty's parents died before they ever got answers about what happened. Her hope is that no one will be able to say the same about her."

Worth a full listen?

True crime enthusiasts and cold case followers should listen to the full episode for the detailed timeline of investigative failures, the chilling details of the crime scene, and to hear directly from Detective Cole about the DNA work currently underway—plus contact information to provide tips that could finally solve this 45-year-old mystery while Christina is still alive to see justice.