On the morning of Friday, March 17, 2017, 26-year-old Hispanic female Sandra Flores was likely searching for a job, a task she had been dedicated to for weeks. Her search brought her to the Westway Plaza Shopping Center in the 2500 block of South Seneca in Wichita, Kansas, an area not far from her mother's home. Tragically, what began as a day of hopeful ambition ended in an unsolved mystery that continues to haunt her family and investigators.
At approximately 7:40 a.m., a passerby
discovered Sandra lying unresponsive and alone in the shopping center's parking lot, near a public sidewalk and an H&R Block. A 911 call was made, and paramedics arrived to pronounce her dead just five minutes later. The cause of death was a single gunshot wound. An investigation revealed she had been struck by a bullet to the back of the head, possibly fired from a high-powered rifle, which suggests the shooter could have been some distance away.
When police arrived, they found that none of Sandra's personal belongings had been taken, and her identification was still on her person. There were no immediate outward signs of a struggle. This lack of a clear motive complicated the investigation from the very beginning. In the days following her death, police had no leads and no suspects. Her death was classified as the city's fifth homicide of the year.
Years later, the case of Sandra Flores's death remains cold. According to the Wichita Police Department, the investigation was hampered by uncooperative witnesses. No arrests have ever been made, and no suspects have been publicly identified, leaving her family with unanswered questions and a profound sense of loss for the vibrant and outgoing young woman who was taken from them far too soon. The case is now listed among the unsolved homicides being handled by the Wichita Police Department's Cold Case Unit.
