Did you ever love something so much that you started a collection? When I was younger, I started collecting bells. I only had 20-25 and now currently only have 15 due to some breaking over the years. As I got older, I discovered my love of books, shoes, purses, pens (yes...I'm a pen hoarder), and more books.
Have you ever had an obsession with something that you collected over 15,00 items of what you love? I'm talking about inanimate objects...not a dead body count...just to be clear.
I would like to introduce you to Darlene Flynn, 58, who lived in Menifee, California. After going through a divorce in 2001, Darlene started collecting shoes, shoe accessories, shoe figurines, shoe paintings...anything shoe related she could find. She had some shoe shaped furniture. Darlene also got a shoe tattoo. Darlene was known as "the shoe lady" or "the queen of sole".
In 2006, Darlene got into the Guinness Book of World Records with a shoe collection of 7,765 items that she owned. By 2013, Darlene broke her own record with a collection of 16,400 pairs of shoes, accessories, and other shoe items - her overall collection was estimated to be worth $500,00. It's said that out of her whole collection, she could actually only wear 100 pairs of the shoes. Darlene wanted to own her own shoe museum.
Darlene traveled to over 22 countries and even had a shoe exhibit in Hong Kong. She was also featured on the TLC show, My Collection Obsession.
I'm sure my husband would say I've spent way too much money on books and that I probably have 20,000 or more books, but that is not true. I'm still under 1,000 books - and many of them were free. Anyway........
Darlene was dealing with the aftermath of her divorce, collecting a lot of shoes and the like, living her new life. One evening, Darlene decided to go out for the evening and wore her "sexy light up shoes". She went to the local Ponderosa where she caught the eye of a worker named Justin Smith. Justin later said that the light up shoes caught his interest. At the time of their meeting, Darlene was 58 and Justin was 29. I'm not judging the age...love who you love...just adding it in here as it may explain a bit of Justin's behavior.
Justin ended up moving in with Darlene and did pretty much nothing but live off of Darlene. He kept borrowing money from Darlene, he would take whatever he wanted of hers. At one point in time, Justin sold Darlene's car without her knowledge. I'm not saying this is the behavior of all 29 year olds, but the age difference between Darlene and Justin just didn't seem like a great fit.
Justin sold her car in 2012 and Darlene called the police. Justin went to court and got three years probation. Even though many people told Darlene to kick Justin to the curb, she just couldn't do it...she felt bad for him. So Justin continued to live with Darlene.
In early July 2013, Darlene finally decided that they were no longer a couple. Justin basically lived at her place as a roommate. On July 21, 2013, Darlene and Justin got into a fight over him taking $50 of Darlene's for gas money. I guess the guy just couldn't stop taking things that weren't his.
The next day, Darlene and Justin got into a loud enough fight that their neighbors called the cops. The cops arrived at the home around 2:00 p.m. No one answered the door and the cops started looking around the grounds. They ended up finding Justin in the garage among lots and lots of shoe boxes...and he was naked. Oh my...
Justin must've been literally 'naked and afraid' because he took off running when he saw the cops. He didn't get very far, though, as the cops caught up to him pretty quickly. Perhaps running naked is not very aerodynamic???
Shortly after catching up to Justin, cops found a body in the pool in the backyard. The body was later identified as Darlene Flynn. Her cause of death was blunt force trauma. Justin was arrested for her murder.
Justin later said that he had "blacked out" and "just lost it" after the fight he and Darlene had. He claimed that Darlene hit him in the chest with her fists and he snapped. Now, I personally feel this version of Justin's story could be somewhat believable if the situation was that they got into a fight and he had killed her right then and there. I'm not saying I condone the murder, just that I could maybe understand the "snapped" part. But...the investigation showed that Darlene had been sitting by her pool and Justin was in the house. He grabbed the baseball bat that was in the front room (in case of intruders) and went out to the backyard. He went up behind Darlene and hit her 5-6 times in the back of the head. Darlene got up and tried to walk away and Justin hit her some more until the bat actually broke. That doesn't feel like a heat of the moment/snapped situation to me...but that's my opinion.
After Justin killed Darlene and threw her body into the pool...he called 911. Just kidding! Justin actually went into the house and ate lunch. The asshat actually made himself lunch after killing his ex-girlfriend who allowed him to continue to live with her after all the crap he did. I have no words!!!
Eventually Justin stood trial and was found guilty of second degree murder. I guess the jury believed his pleas of "I didn't mean to do it". Justin Smith was sentenced to 16 years to life. Rot in Hell, dude!
After her death, Darlene's shoe collection was auctioned off. Among some of her famous items are a replica of the Disney Cinderella glass slipper, Dorothy’s red shoes from the Wizard of Oz, an array of Betty Boop shoes, and a vast collection of miniatures. She even had two dogs named Shoesy and Bootsy...which I think is adorable.
I hope Darlene is resting in peace enjoying a heavenly shoe collection.
Photo by: Guiness Book of World Records
Photo by: Daily Mail
Sources:
The Sydney Morning Herald - Jessica Wright, July 25, 2013
Bailey Sarian - Murder, Mystery & Makeup
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