Murder Suspect Is Returned From San Joaquin Valley

A suspect in the murder earlier this month of a 23-year-old Escondido woman was returned to San Diego on Sunday from the San Joaquin Valley community of Kingsburg, where he was captured Friday.

Filomen Huerta, 23, of Escondido was wanted on a arrest warrant, with bail set at $1 million, in the slaying of Sylvia Flores, whose decomposing body was found along San Pasqual Road near the San Diego Wild Animal Park on Sept. 16. Flores died from a blow to the face with a blunt instrument, the county coroner’s office said.

Huerta’s automobile was spotted in Kingsburg on Friday by law enforcement officers, who arrested him without incident.

San Diego police homicide detectives returned him to San Diego on Sunday. His arraignment is expected early this week.

Police spokesman Dave Cohen said investigators no longer believe that Flores’ slaying was related to a series of murders of young women, many of them prostitutes, over the past several years.

Huerta was identified as a suspect in the Flores murder by a joint investigation conducted by San Diego and Escondido police and the Metropolitan Homicide Task Force, which is investigating the more than 40 unsolved murders.

The suspect and victim were acquainted, Cohen said, but no motive has been found for the murder. Huerta is not a suspect in any other killings, Cohen said.