Duke Flores

Six-year-old Duke Flores (who has autism spectrum disorder) was last seen on April 14, 2019 in Apple Valley, California. At the time of his diappearance, he lived with his mom, Jackee Contreras, his aunt, Jennifer Contreras (Jackee's twin sister) and his father.

Jackee and Jennifer told Duke's father and other family members that Duke was committed to a psychiatric hospital; however, they became suspicious about their claims because the women couldn't provide any paperwork to support their claims.

On the evening of April 25, 2009, several of Duke's extended family members went to confront Jackee and Jennifer about his whereabouts. There was a physical altercation, and Jennifer kept cursing & screaming, "It's too late. He's never coming back." The police were notified about the altercation. Duke's father and his grandparents told a police officer that Duke hasn't been seen by anyone in 1 to 2 weeks. Duke's paternal grandfather showed the officer an area in the backyard where the earth appeared to have been recently disturbed.

Jackee later admitted to the police officer that Duke had been missing for nearly a week. She said that she and Jennifer searched the neighborhood for about an hour, but they couldn't find him, so they went home and carried on as usual. Jackee was arrested for child neglect for failing to report Duke's disappearance. On April 27, 2019, she and Jennifer were charged with murdering him.

According to Jackee's statement to the police, she and Jennifer saw Duke attempting to smother Jennifer's 9-month-old daughter with a pillow. Then, the women put plastic over Duke's head, wrapped two power cords around his neck and Jennifer strangled him to death. Afterwards, they wrapped up Duke's body in a blanket, placed it in a bag and buried it in the backyard at first, but they moved it when the family dogs kept digging at the grave, partially exposing Duke's body.

On the evening of April 21, 2019, Jackee and Jennifer put Duke's body in a wagon and went around the neighborhood, taking Jennifer's two young daughters with them .They placed Duke's body inside of a dumpster located three blocks south from their home.

According to Jennifer's statement, she said that after she and Jackee caught Duke trying to smother her daughter, Jackee took Duke outside in the backyard while Jennifer stayed inside the garage. When she went back outside later, Jackie told Jennifer that Duke wasn't there and she didn't ask her what happened to Duke. Later, Jackee asked Jennifer to take out three bags of trash and Jennifer said that she assumed that Jackee killed Duke because his body was in one of the trash bags.

Although Jackee and Jennifer have been charged with Duke's death and are awaiting trial, his case is still classified as an endangered missing person due to the circumstances involved.