Man Guilty in Torture-Killing of Girlfriend’s Daughter, 8

A catering truck owner was convicted Friday of the 1989 torture-murder of his live-in girlfriend’s 8-year-old daughter, who was beaten, raped and strangled before her body was set afire and dumped at a San Pedro park.

A Los Angeles Superior Court jury also found Alejandro Lara, 30, guilty of forcible lewd conduct and inflicting physical injuries on his 50-pound victim, Alba Flores. Lara was also convicted of molesting Flores’ younger sister, who was a witness at the trial.

“We were convinced right away,” jury forewoman Maria Garcia said outside court. The jury deliberated Thursday afternoon and for a short time on Friday before returning their verdicts to Superior Court Commissioner Florence-Marie Cooper.

Lara faces a maximum sentence of 42 years to life at sentencing, set for Sept. 28.

Flores’ still-smoldering body was discovered May 11, 1989, in Alma Park in San Pedro. An autopsy revealed that the girl had two broken arms, massive head injuries and bruised lungs. She had been raped and sodomized.

The younger girl testified her sister’s arm was broken because she would not take out the trash.

“This is a man who ties up and rapes little girls,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Ryan Rainey argued to the jury on Thursday. “This is a man who beats children with various objects.”

Initially, the girl’s mother, Natividad Flores, 27, told police her daughter had disappeared after she refused to give her money for ice cream. Later, she changed her story, telling police Alba was punished for “misbehaving” and refusing to take a bath.

A week later both Flores and Lara were charged with murder.

At an earlier trial, Flores was acquitted of murdering her daughter, but convicted of child abuse. The jury deadlocked on manslaughter and lewd conduct charges.

Rainey said jurors said afterward they just could not conceive of a mother torturing and killing her child so brutally. She will be retried on the manslaughter and lewd conduct counts.

The prosecution said the girl was tortured and murdered at the family home on 34th Street near USC. Rainey said evidence of blood was found on the bathroom wall, bathtub and drapes.

The younger sister testified that the last time she saw Alba, Lara was tying her up in the bathroom and that her mother was present.

Rainey said the girl was “hog-tied” then systematically beaten, and “violently raped” by Lara, then strangled. Because he could not prove whether Lara or the mother delivered the lethal blow, special circumstances that could have led to the death penalty could not be charged.

Defense attorney Ray Clark argued to the jury that the mother was the guilty one and Lara “couldn’t control her.” Clark said he was disappointed with the jury’s verdict.

After the girl died, her body was put in plastic bags. The family, including the other two children, got in the car and went for an aimless ride before stopping in San Pedro at tiny Alma Park. Gasoline was poured over the girl’s body and she was set afire.

In a taped statement, Lara admitted some of the beatings and told of the ride and the gasoline, but insisted he did not know how Alba died, Rainey said.

The victim had been sent from El Salvador to live with her mother just eight months before her murder. Rainey said the child suffered months of physical and sexual abuse before her death.

The mother had a baby while in custody at Sybil Brand Institute, where she is still being held. The baby and two other children are in foster care.