6. Charlie Flores vs. Charles Don Flores

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Because you know what's going to happen. In 2016, the killing of Missy Beavers shook the Dallas metro area. Police are trying to figure out why somebody dressed as a police officer ambushed and murdered a fitness instructor mother and fitness trainer Terry Missy Beavers was murdered inside a middle of the inn church. She was a great woman, a great wife, a great mother, a great friend.

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Back in October 2025, I drove about 4 hours to the Polansky unit. It's the prison where men on death row are held in Texas. It's an atown called Livingston. The drive is beautiful, but sometimes harrowing. On multiple occasions, I've been caught in sudden thunderstorms that force everyone on the road to slow to 10 miles an hour or risk veering off the two lane highway into the pine woods.

I was going to meet Charles Flores for the first time. I had already done a good deal

of research and reporting on his case, but I was essentially a random person off the streets. He didn't know much about me, but I knew a lot about him. I knew what he was accused of, and I'd read about his criminal history and time on the run. The man who sat across for me was not at all who I expected, but then again, people rarely are. Well, I'm just messing with you, giving a heart attack.

At this point, Charles had agreed to talk with me once, but he didn't know what I wanted to do with the podcast. Still, he was forthcoming. Even when I asked him about some of the more embarrassing aspects of the case, like his eventual arrest at the hands of the FBI, after he tried to scale offense, you want to know all the dirt. Prisons in Texas only give reporters an hour to visit, and you can only visit the same person

once every three months, so time is precious. Even so, Charles was relaxed.

As we chatted, he asked me what I was reading. It happened to be the third book in a fantasy series

that he'd already read. He told me to let him know when I was ready to pick up the fourth one, so he could read it at the same time. He wanted to talk about it, have a sort of mini book club. He'd roast me a few months later when I visited again, and I still hadn't finished the third. I understand that people are complicated and layered, that people can do harmful things

“and still be perfectly pleasant to be around. I think there's a myth that criminals are a type of”

person, a separate category from those of us who generally abide by the law. But every single one of us has the capacity to do harm, to break the law, whether intentionally or not. I know that and I think about it every single day. But still, I'll admit, I was surprised by the Charles of Met and Person. This was the same guy from the 1998 Dallas Morning News Articles, who was beating through streets on police chases and fighting officers on the side of the road.

Now, he was telling me about how he deals with discomfort through laughter. But really, that's ostensibly one of the main points of our prison system. Your rehabilitate and reformed people whose major reaction is anger, or violence, or deceit, or vice, to make someone almost unrecognizable after spending time behind bars. You might think I'm naive. I went into expecting coldness or wearing us from Charles, and instead

I was met with warps and candor. Of course, I was going to be disarmed. But I'll say this. A lot of parts of reporting this story were difficult. I detract on sources and haggle for documents, can mince people to talk to me, thrive around Dallas, unsuccessfully knocking on doors. But the easiest part by far was finding people who wanted to talk about who Charles

is today. Jolly, like that's the first thing that comes to mind with him, is just the word Jolly.

That was Charles's friend Skyler. Here's his friend, Ali.

laughing. You'll hear people refer to him as Charlie. It might be easy to think of Charlie

“and Charles Donflara's as different people. Easier than reconciling what you know about his past,”

and what you might believe he did in 1998, with what you'll hear in this episode. Today, we're talking about Charles, more so than his innocence case. It's possible that the state was right in 1999 when they argued that he was there on Bergen Lane the morning-rich child shot that he black. That would make him legally culpable under Texas's law of parties. Even if that's true, and Texas law worked the way it was supposed to, what does it mean

that Charles, who didn't pull the trigger, is still facing the possibility of execution. From free-range productions and the Texas Observer, this is season five of the unforgotten, writing shocked on. I'm your host, Michelle Pitcher, and this is episode six. Charlie Flores versus Charles Donflara's. Life on death row in Texas is monotonous. Charles has been living that monotonous since 1999.

Back when death row was first moved to the Pulansky unit. I've been here for what the

“26 years, I believe. 28? Yeah, it's a blur. You know, I can't wrap my mind around being here that long.”

On men's death row, each person is housed separately, effectively in solitary confinement, for 23 hours a day. There are very few pleasures. Charles's favorite food is melted cheese, but here, hot food is a luxury. Grill cheese is just an unmelted craft single between two pieces of bread. Charles has a few lifelines. He spends a lot of time on the phone. The limited hours he has phone privileges are packed with scheduled calls. Multiple times a week he talks to his friend Dan Simon.

He's a doctor of sociology in Colorado who connected with Charles in 2021. I also spoke with Dan on the phone recently. You talked to him more than I talked to some of my best friends. What do you all talk about? What have you all bonded with? Yeah, yeah, it's fun. I mean, I talked to him more than I talked to a lot of my best friends. So now, yeah, he is one of my best friends, I guess. Dan found Charles through a penpal group. It just was not expecting Charles. I don't know what I was

expecting, but I was expecting Charles when I signed up. I had no idea that I might be matched with someone that I would come to think is like genuinely innocent of the crime that put them there. After connecting his friends, Dan took more of an interest in the case. I didn't realize that Texas would put people on death row that were just convicted under the law parties. So it's like, okay, I match with Charles. He wasn't even convicted as being the person that killed someone.

“Wow, that's crazy in my head. That's what I'm thinking. Like, that's pretty messed up. And then,”

oh yeah, also the case is super sketchy. The witness was hypnotized. All these things. I was like, oh my gosh, what did I get myself into? Now, I've got to like advocate be more than just a friend. Now, now I'm like, okay, we got to save this person. Charles also talks to Ali Nichols, an Austin woman in her 30s who connected with him in 2019 to a friend who was doing prison outreach.

Ali and Charles met in person for the first time in 2021, along with their mutual friend.

I remember my friend really hyped me up for like, this is going to look exactly like it looks in the movies. He's going to be in a literal cage. There's going to be glass between you. You're going to sit in this uncomfortable chair and you're going to have to hold this phone next to your face for four hours. There's no guarantee that you will even be able to have your visit that day. The guards could turn you away. If they don't like the clothes that you're wearing,

if there's not enough guards to actually like move the inmate to where they need to be. Ali made her way past the massive barbed wire fence that cuts off the prison from the rest of Livingston. Her the prisons rules for visitors. She only had her ID and a plastic bag full of quarters for the Benny Machines in the visitation area. She sat and talked with Charlie for four hours. It was an extended visit, allowed by the warden because they'd driven a long way.

Ali said she was surprised how easy it was to have a conversation with him. Not about the horrors of prison or details of the case, but about things like books. Things she talked with any of her friends about. But she stayed aware of the fact that Charles was in a box about the size

up his hands, the guards could unlock his cuffs. He'd need his hands for you to hold the closer

“good phone. I remember the first visit I asked my friend like how long he had to stay there”

because they told us to leave, but you know he clearly is staying there and she's like he stays for a little while just until they have time for somebody to move him. But she had said like you actually don't really want to see that. It's pretty like traumatizing to see. It's sort of just you've had this time with your friend catching up and it's hard to say goodbye and you have a long drive home and to see almost like the humanity leave the situation so instantly is really tough.

So she was kind of like you're lucky if you get to leave before he does. After the visit, Ali and Charles started a book club in 2022. They talked for about an hour each week. Usually it's on Mondays, but during football season, it's Tuesdays, so Charles can update Ali on how the Dallas Cowboys did that week. Football is big for Charles. He was actually featured on the podcast Pablo Torrey finds out where he talked about his undying love for the

Dallas team, which as a Dallas native I should mention is my team too and America's. It occurs to me that you spend 23 hours a day in solitary. And so you have an hour with me and I am really grateful that you're taking the time. Thanks so much for caring and for coming down here and for taking interest in my situation and you know because it's not just about me, it's about all the guys down here. I'm just one person out of almost 200 people down here.

But the other reason I'm here, of course, is you're the Pablo Torrey finds out official Dallas

Cowboys correspondent. That's right. And so the first question that I have for you is how about

them Cowboys? Oh man, how about them Cowboys? That episode of Pablo Torrey's podcast was nominated for a Peabody Award. But Ali isn't much of a football person, so they talk about their lives. I appreciate he's pretty open about how stupid he wants. It's like a young guy and you know, grip I think in a hard environment but also made bad choices and I don't think many people

“unless you're in a situation like this where you have to talk really openly about every bad”

choice you made. Most people don't have to confront that and I guess I'm proud of him for handling it the way he does. When I spoke with Ali, she actually brought up Ben Spencer's case. The one you heard about at the end of episode five. Remember Ben is the Dallas man who spent

34 years on prison for a murder he didn't commit. He was finally exonerated in 2024.

Ali had read Barbara Hagrid's book about Ben's wrongful conviction, bringing Ben home. There's a line that she had in there and it was something like, if Ben Spencer finds relief, it's not through the system. It's because individuals took an interest in his case and pursued it further and that was probably the most sobering fact that I read of that book and I think when I meet most people that have met Charlie, it often feels like a similar feeling where like they

learned more about his case and couldn't believe it. I also spoke with Charlie's friend Skyler Stevens, a lecturer at the University of New Mexico Gallup. She found Charles through Book Club too. This one launched by the Texas Coalition to abolish the death penalty in 2020. I just thought I would add Charles and Wright Charles and then kind of hilariously I added him as a contact and then forgot to write him and I just got busy and I said, oh, even I sent him a book

but I didn't introduce myself. So he gets a book from a random person and he sees that I've added

him as a contact on, you know, security. And he's like, who is this person? And so he wrote me first.

Just kind of being like, um, who are you? And I maybe thank you for a book. Skyler's weekly phone appointment with Charles is on Sundays. Every time he calls and the phone goes through, he goes to low-hello and then just starts castling and then laughing and he's so positive. I don't know. It's like things get him down

“obviously but he's just overwhelmingly like positive and forward thinking, I think if him too is”

a really kind? They talk for about an hour or so about books and cars. He's past couple of years have been really rough for Skyler and they spend a lot of time talking to her issues too. He kind of would just sit there and listen to me and help me with dealing with that, which I know sounds kind of funny like I'm calling my friend on death row and he's talking me through my family crisis but he was really kind about it.

Charles being supportive is a common theme. Here's his friend Stephanie, talking to me from

felt bad, it was there for me, but he's the same with everyone because Charles feels a lot

“helpless in solitary confinement and I think he wants to help the overload. It's something really”

really important for him is to be able to help the overload, you know. And his cousin Quinn. He truly is one of my biggest cheerleaders and just helping me my everyday life. But most of all, people love his laugh. Here's his friend Michael. With summer in Texas right around the corner, I've been thinking a lot about my wardrobe. How do I stay cool while also looking cute. Wearing linen dresses in the summer time has become my

whole personality. So I was really excited to pick up another dress from Quinn's, specifically the

fit and flare midi dress and I can't wait to wear it. The weather is turning warmer by the second

and it looks cute. I feel great and it just feels nice to wear high quality fabrics when the weather is hot.

“Quinn's also has lightweight linen pants, dresses and tops that start at $30 and they are effortless,”

breathable and easy to wear on repeat. Refresh your everyday with luxury you'll actually use head to quince.com/unforgotten for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's qu-i-n-c-e.com/unforgotten for free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com/unforgotten. Another lifeline for Charles has been his faith. He talks about how his parents were involved in their church community but he didn't really buy in until he got to prison.

He was part of the inaugural class of the Texas Prison Systems Faith Base Program on Death Row, which lets prisoners live in a special housing area and participate in group religious studies. It's a big departure from the standard isolation on death row. He told me that if he gets out of prison, he wants to come back and help other people find their faith. He's already helped his cousin, Quinn Gregory. Here's Quinn. My cousin is probably one of my biggest supporters. He is one of my

biggest supporters. So we talk about Jesus. We talk about God. We talk about prayer. He taught me how to pray and how to read my Bible in a better way so that I have like better understanding through it. I was going through a divorce recently and he even wanted to help me get through those hard times. His faith and sharing it with other people has helped Charles make sense of the emotions that ruled his life when he was younger. It's kind of crazy because it's like the devil wore my ass out

into the point where I just couldn't take it anymore. It's just everything was go wrong, everything,

“everything and I'm like, you know what? I've had enough. That's the key to like when you have”

an addiction, when you're dealing with these kinds of things, you gotta get sick and tired of being sick and tired. And then that's when you realize, man, I've got to change something has to change. And then of course the change begins within you. And then you can really start doing things different, saying things different, thinking different. Charles has changed a lot behind bars, but most of his family didn't get to see it. Charles's parents didn't live to see Charles except the faith that

they tried to raise him with. His cousin Quinn, whose mom, his Charles's father's sister, said that even so they remained some of Charles's biggest supporters until they died. That's the thing his God loved in so much and he was one of the ones that will proclaim his innocence to everybody. His dad was one of his biggest supporters and his mom too, and they both proclaim to the innocent. They both truly believed in their hearts that he did not do that. He told them that he

did not do that, and they truly believed that. One of the best things that I can say about myself now

was that I've finally grown into the man that my parents raised me to be, a mother and their

memory. And I'm being the guy, the man that they wanted me to be. And so that makes me feel good. Because I know a lot of guys back here, and most of them are guilty, but this is something that I tell them that if you are blessed to get to a point in your life where you realize that in the end all that really matters is your relationship with God and how you live and you start living the way that he would want you to. That's a great victory. You salvage that much of your life, you know,

loss and in the darkness. As of April 2026, there's an appeal in Charles's case pending with the U.S.

“Supreme Court. It asks justices to look at whether Texas courts are upholding the state's own laws”

that are meant to help people convict it based on sketchy science. The first sentence of the appeal pulls no punches. Charles's lawyer Gretchen Swan writes, quote, "Overwhelming evidence shows that Charles Don Flores is innocent, and that his trial was irreparably tainted by junk science and official misconduct. We don't yet know whether the court will decide to look at the case."

Also, as of April 2026, there are still unanswered questions. Why did the police never

“interview Charles after his arrest? Why rely solely on the stories of Rick Childs and Jackie Roberts?”

What Charles Flores have been convicted without Jill Bargainer's in court ID, which came after she underwent hypnosis, after she'd seen a minofoto lineup, and after she had seen his face in the news for months? Why were farmers branching narcotics police so insistent that Charles Flores was their guy? When homicide detectives were looking for someone who fit a completely different description. Who did the gun at the crime scene belong to? Why did one test indicate it belonged to a

family member of Rick Childs, and another suggest it was consistent with Bill Black, who claimed at the time of the crime it wasn't his. What's the deal with Homerol Garcia? One of the men who said that Charles had confessed to him. He avoided criminal charges, and he was strangely enough, involved in another Gallus area case around the same time that put another man on death row. Was the robbery and murder truly a spur of the moment decision, or had Rick been thinking about it

for weeks? After all, his ex-girlfriend testified that he had mentioned the money weeks before the murder, and that he felt it was owed to him. Why did the court of criminal appeals shoot down the claim based on the use of hypnosis? What does justice really even mean? Particularly when it comes

“to the law of parties? Is such an imbalanced outcome really what anyone wants from the justice system?”

And why are state leaders so eager to kill Charles Forrest?

And finally, will a court look at his innocence claim before it's too late?

Thank you for listening to the Unforgotten, a free-range production. Season 5 writing shotgun was created in association with the Texas Observer, and the season is written, reported, and hosted by Michelle Pitcher, a staff writer for the Observer, editing by Aslan Gattis, audio engineering, and sound design by Austin Sysler with E-Side Studios. I'm Executive Producer West Ferguson. Stay up to date with us when you sign up for our newsletter at

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