Firefighter Is Charged in Slaying

Prosecutors on Tuesday charged a veteran Los Angeles fire captain with the slaying of a female acquaintance who was found naked and bloody on an Eagle Rock street, with authorities providing new details about how she died.

Coroner’s officials said Tuesday that detectives believe David Jaime Del Toro, a 23-year fire department veteran, killed the woman at his home on Vincent Avenue on Aug. 16. Sources close to the investigation said Del Toro then placed her body in the back of his Toyota truck.

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the detectives believe that the body of Jennifer Teresa Flores, 42, fell out of the truck while Del Toro was driving and may have gotten caught on a wheel and been dragged for some distance.

Detectives suspect that Del Toro dumped the body in the middle of a street three blocks from his house and may have tried to clean up blood around his house, sources said.

But detectives were able to link Del Toro to the body by following a trail of blood from Flores’ body to Del Toro’s home.

A coroner’s report unsealed Tuesday concluded that Flores died of strangulation and a blow to the head.

The strangulation was done either with hands or using a ligature to compress the neck, and her head was struck with a “blunt object,” said Ed Winter, a county coroner’s investigator.

Officials said the trail of blood is shaping up to be a key piece of evidence. Detectives found a bloody tire track as well as a faint trail of blood that zig-zagged across the street.

The sources said police found Flores’ blood in Del Toro’s home and his truck.

Detectives are calling Flores an acquaintance of Del Toro’s but have not released any further information about their relationship.

Del Toro was released on $1-million bail and could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

A neighbor, Marilyn Koehn, said no one has been to his home since last week.

Del Toro, 50, was the supervisor of Fire Station 1 in Lincoln Heights, and according to a 2002 court declaration, trained fellow firefighters in the prevention of sexual harassment.

Fire officials said Del Toro was also involved in Critical Incident Stress Management and firefighter peer support groups.

Del Toro was the subject of a temporary restraining order in March 2002, a month before he was charged by the Los Angeles city attorney’s office with four counts of misdemeanor violence against a girlfriend.

In court papers, Del Toro was accused of threatening the girlfriend with “extreme bodily harm.”

The woman also alleged that Del Toro left marks on her back and legs, that he bit her, threatened her with a knife and put his hands around her neck.

Del Toro, in a sworn court declaration, called the accusations “outlandish.”

He denied that he “kicked, pushed or threatened” the woman or menaced her with a knife or bit her.

Records show, however, that the city attorney’s office dropped the criminal case, citing a lack of evidence.

Officials at City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo’s office have declined to discuss details of the case or the reasoning behind their decision.

If convicted of the killing, Del Toro faces a maximum of 25 years to life in prison.

Fire department officials said Del Toro is now on administrative leave.