Authorities have confirmed that a body found in western Colorado last week was that of a missing woman from Berthoud.
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The Mesa County Coroner’s Office ruled Doolittle’s death a homicide.
Flores is expected to be transferred to the Larimer County jail in the near future, he said.
Doolittle should have returned home at 7:30 p.m. on June 9-instead, 25 minutes later, her family reported her missing to the LCSO.
Through interviews with Doolittle’s family, deputies discovered she had recently ended a one-year relationship with Flores – who apparently had gone missing around 3:30 p.m. Thursday.
Searchers began looking for Doolittle and Flores “at first light” Friday morning in the area near where her vehicle was found the previous day.
A neighbor of the teen’s grandfather contacted authorities to report that “she could see a male who she thought to be Tanner Flores outside of the house near the white truck parked in the driveway”.
Court documents also reveal Flores’ father told a Larimer County sheriff’s deputy that his gun, a.22-caliber revolver, was missing from his gun locker at home.
“She saw that the male had opened all the doors to the truck and pulled out what looked to be a bundled-up blanket from the back seat of the truck and set it on the ground”, the affidavit said.
In the arrest affidavit, Flores said the shooting took place near Carter Lake in unincorporated Larimer County. Investigators also believed Flores to be armed.
The teen shot her twice in the head and then drove her body five hours away to his grandfather’s house in Collbran where he cleaned up the corpse and hid it in the back of his truck, according to a police affidavit. He told investigators his son knew where the key was and that Flores may be headed for the unoccupied ranch in Collbran.
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Flores hasn’t been formally charged yet.
