Woman Is Charged in Strangling
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A woman who befriended an elderly man living in the same hard-luck downtown Los Angeles hotel has been charged with strangling him, police said.
Sheryl Fleming, 43, a longtime resident of the Alexandria Hotel in the 500 block of Spring Street, was arrested April 30 on suspicion of killing Enrique Garnica, 73, a bullfighting fan and retired bartender. Hotel employees found the man’s body April 9 on the floor of his fifth-floor room with a bedsheet around his neck.
“They had a close, friendly relationship. He was an old man, and she assisted him,” said LAPD homicide Det. Emmett Badar. “Helped him with his cleaning, things like that.”
Fleming has told police that she did not kill Garnica, Badar said. She is being held at County-USC Medical Center’s jail ward because of a medical condition. Detectives continue to search for a motive for the killing, Badar said.
Police said Garnica lived in the hotel for at least five years. Employees, tenants and friends described Garnica, known as “Kiki,” as amiable.
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