Sacramento Man Gets Life Without Parole for Attacks on Homeless People

A homeless camp near Jibboom Street behind a motel in Sacramento, as seen on April 8, 2024, before it was swept by local authorities. Travis Gillmore/The Epoch Times

An ex-convict was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after a jury convicted him of targeting local homeless people during a 2023 murder and crime spree, the Sacramento County district attorney’s office announced Jan. 22.

Diego Cordova Flores, 50, of Sacramento remained in detention Friday, according to inmate records.

He was convicted on Dec. 17 of two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, first-degree burglary, arson, and four counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The jury also approved special circumstances for multiple murders and the use of a firearm. The finding added to the severity of Flores’s sentence.

Prosecutors said Flores tried to murder Darryl Thomas, a transient living in the city, by shooting him twice on March 16, 2023. The man survived, according to the district attorney’s office.

Flores was also convicted of burglarizing a homeless woman’s trailer four days later. When police responded to the burglary, he threatened to kill the woman, identified in the court complaint as Tina Mack, for calling law enforcement, according to prosecutors.

The next day, the Sacramento Fire Department responded to a report of a fire at the burglarized trailer and found the woman’s body inside. Police determined she died from a gunshot to the head.

The investigation revealed Flores committed the murder and arson, according to the district attorney’s office.

Later that day, prosecutors said Flores tried to murder another homeless man by shooting him four times, including once in the head. The man, Joel Ortiz, survived.

Then on March 31, 2023, the body of another homeless man, Earl May, was found in a shallow grave on the grounds of a local golf course. Prosecutors said the victim appeared to have been shot in the back of the head. Witnesses identified Flores as the shooter, according to police.

Items seen Aug. 27 near the old site of Camp Resolution in Sacramento after the homeless camp was swept the day before. Travis Gillmore/The Epoch Times

All of the victims were homeless and living in tents or trailers.

Sacramento police detectives arrested Flores on Aug. 28, 2023.

Flores was on parole during the 2023 crime spree. He was convicted in 2011 of first-degree burglary, a felony, according to the court record.

In April 2016, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office sent a letter to a parole board arguing against Flores’s early release. “Mr. Flores has been sentenced to prison on no less than three occasions and continues to commit crime after crime after each release,” the letter stated.