Norman Flowers

Norman Flowers
Mugshot
Born	Norman Keith Flowers (1974-03-15) March 15, 1974 Compton, California, U.S.
Motive	Rape
Conviction(s)	Murder (×3)
Criminal penalty	Life imprisonment without parole (×3)
Details
Victims	3
Span of crimes	March 24 – May 4, 2005
Country	United States
State(s)	Nevada
Date apprehended	June 6, 2005
Imprisoned at	High Desert State Prison

Norman Keith Flowers (born March 15, 1974) is an American serial killer who killed three women by beating and strangling them in their Las Vegas apartments from March to May 2005. DNA left at each crime scene eventually linked him to the killings and he was arrested. Flowers was tried in 2008 and convicted, receiving a life sentence without parole. He entered an alford plea for the remaining charges in 2011 and received a two more life sentences.

Early life

Flowers was born on March 15, 1974, and raised in a dysfunctional family in Compton, California, an area known for poverty and violence. He experienced physical and sexual abuse and was once abandoned. In 1993, Flowers was convicted of burglary, robbery, and an arson-fire that killed a dog. In 1999 he was convicted of the unlawful use of a deadly weapon and burglary, crimes for which he was later released for in 2003.

Murders

Over the span of 41 days in early 2005, Flowers burglarized three Las Vegas apartments and attacked the occupants, all of whom were women. He would then excessively beat and rape them, then afterwards strangle them to death. He had connections to all of his victims through his two girlfriends.

In 2004, Flowers met Debra Quarles, who he formed a relationship with. From there he met Quarles daughter, Sheila, 18. He fathered a boy around this same time. They did however break up at some point. On March 24, 2005, Sheila stayed home from her job at a Starbucks, while Debra left for her job. Sometime during that day, Flowers let himself into the apartment and attacked Sheila in the apartment bathroom. He beat, raped, and strangled her to death. He left her body face up in the bathtub which was full of hot water. He then took her cell phone, bankcard, and jewelry. Flowers left the apartment, and Debra found the body later that day. Police collected male DNA found in Sheila's vaginal area. In the weeks following, Flowers comforted Debra in the wake of her daughter's murder and recommended her to take counseling. Flowers started dating another woman, Mawusi Ragland.

On May 4, Flowers killed his last two victims within 8 hours of one another; he burglarized the apartment belonging to Marilee Coote, whom he bludgeoned, assaulted, and strangled her to death. Hours later, he knocked on the door of Juanita Curry, but she failed to answer. A few more hours later Flowers burglarized another apartment, that of Rena Gonzalez, whom he raped and strangled with a telephone cord. Later that same day, Flowers attempted to kiss a woman in the same apartment complex, but she felt uncomfortable and refused to kiss. Flowers was interviewed about the murders a few days later but denied committing them.

Arrest and legal proceedings

With the help of DNA, Flowers was arrested on June 6, 2005, and charged with the murder of Marilee Coote. After his arrest, the string of murders suddenly stopped, and Flowers became the prime suspect in the two other murder cases, and, with DNA testing, he was linked to them and was charged. DNA belonging to a second man was found on Sheila's body, but it was later found to have matched a man named George Brass who came forward and stated that he was a friend of Sheila and that the sex was consensual.

Flowers went to trial for the murder of Sheila Quarles in 2008, Prosecutors sought the death penalty against him. In October 2008, the jury found him guilty of Sheila's murder. In the sentencing phase of the trial Flowers' mother Eleanor pleaded for the jury to not sentence him to death and argued that the son she knew was a caring, loyal young man. The jury dismissed the death sentence afterwards, and instead sentenced Flowers to life imprisonment without parole.

He was scheduled to head to trial for the murders of Coote and Gonzalez. In June 2011 Flowers entered an Alford plea, which allowed him to admit prosecutors had enough evidence to convict him without him having to confess. In August 2011, he was imposed two more life sentences. He is currently serving his sentence at High Desert State Prison in Clark County, Nevada.

2004 cold case investigation

In February 2023, Las Vegas police said they had found DNA evidence linking Flowers to another murder: the October 2004 killing of Keysha Brown, 28. Investigators believe Brown was Flowers' first victim.

See also

• List of serial killers in the United States