Tyson, Angela - Memorial

Angela Tyson

2/17/69 - 06/29/89

Angela's Memorial Site

Miguel Flores was convicted of the June 28, 1989 kidnapping, rape and
stabbing of an Eastern New Mexico University student. Flores went to death row in 1990 for the slaying of Angela Tyson, a beauty queen and outstanding college student in Portales, N.M., who was working over the summer at a video rental store in Borger in the Texas Panhandle. Flores rented a movie from the store, went home and began watching it but apparently became fixated on Angela, and returned a short time later to await the store's closing time. Flores abducted Angela at knifepoint as she was closing the store and forced her into her car. He drove her to a remote area outside Borger, where he sexually assaulted her. Angela's parents knew she would not be late coming home so her father went out looking for her. After the rape, Flores drove Angela to a spot where they were seen by the victim's father. He approached the driver's side of the car and Flores pushed Angela to the floorboard, then tried to run down Angela's father with her car. Angela's father tried to chase them, but lost track of the fleeing vehicle. Flores drove back to Borger, where he parked the car and talked to Angela for several minutes. When Angela began screaming, Flores stabbed her with a pocket knife. She was stabbed 6 times in the chest and 4 times in the back. Her body was found in the front seat of her car about 1 a.m. June 29, 1989. Flores confessed to the murder and led police to the rape site for additional evidence. Flores came within days of being executed in 1995. On Aug. 5, 1995, Flores received a stay of execution from U.S. District Judge William Wayne Justice. Attorney John Jay Thorpe asked that the court appoint him to represent Flores at the federal level and to put off the execution. Justice granted Thorpe's request and gave him 180 days to prepare the petition that would challenge the constitutionality of Flores' conviction and death sentence. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals upheld Flores' conviction and death sentence in December 1993 and denied an application for relief on July 28, 1995, court documents show.