Boyfriend of Guinness Record Holder for Shoes to Be Arraigned for Her Death
Police found 58-year-old Darlene Flynn's lifeless body in a backyard pool.
July 25, 2013— -- The boyfriend of a Guinness record holder who was found dead in her pool this week is expected to be arraigned later today in connection to her death.
Officials say they found the lifeless body of Darlene Flynn, 58, in the backyard pool of her Menifee, Calif., home Monday. She held a Guinness World Record for collecting more than 15,000 shoe-related items.
Flynn's body had signs of blunt-force trauma, officials said. Police said Flynn's boyfriend, Justin Smith, 29, was arrested after allegedly attempting to flee the scene.
After neighbors reported a fight, police arrived at Flynn's home, discovered the body and saw a shirtless man running away from the backyard. Police said they later caught up with the man, whom they identified as Smith.
Neighbor Steven Danford says the couple had a rocky past.
"I'd hear her yelling. They'd be fighting a little bit, every couple of months or so," Danford told ABC News station KABC-TV. "He'd be fighting with her, and he'd take off, and come back a couple hours later. They just did not get along real well … but he kept coming back."
Flynn led an eccentric life and decorated her modest home with shoe-shaped furniture, lamps, jewelry, ornaments and even had a chair in the shape of a shoe.
Her shoe-fixation not only landed her in Guinness World Records, but also a spot on TLC's reality-TV show "My Collection Obsession."
"I have spent so much money on my collection over the years, a couple hundred thousand. I work 60 to 80 hours a week and I barely make my house payment," Flynn said in the episode.
Smith also appeared on the show and served breakfast shaped like a shoe to Flynn. Smith discussed the tension over her shoe obsession.
"Darlene and I sometimes argue about her shoes," he said in the show. "Sometimes I think she gets too many shoes, but I learned to just deal with it."
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