Debbie Flores Narvaez's murder: How a Las Vegas showgirl vanished right before her big show
"20/20" speaks with Flores Narvaez's family about the aftermath of her death.
Debbie Flores Narvaez landed a coveted performance spot alongside R&B singer Sisqó in "Fantasy" at the Luxor Hotel, one of the Las Vegas Strip's biggest shows, when she disappeared right before the final rehearsal.
The only clue to her whereabouts was surveillance footage showing the 31-year-old leaving her apartment before vanishing into the night on Dec. 12, 2010. It was a mystery that would end in tragedy.
A new "20/20" episode, "Death of a Showgirl" airing Friday, April 17, at 9 p.m. ET on ABC and streaming the next day on Disney+ and Hulu, examines the case.
You can also get more behind-the-scenes of each week's episode by listening to "20/20: The After Show" weekly series right on your 20/20 podcast feed on Mondays, hosted by "20/20" co-anchor Deborah Roberts.
Authorities investigating Flores Narvaez's disappearance discovered the last person to see her was her boyfriend -- Cirque du Soleil performer Jason Griffith, who went by the stage name Blu.
When questioned, Griffith said that she stopped by his house for a few minutes on the night she went missing, speaking to him from inside her maroon 1997 Chevy Prism.
Days later, police found this car hidden at an abandoned house, containing her black clothing, with the license plate stashed in the trunk.
In an exclusive new interview with "20/20," Debbie Flores Narvaez's sister Celeste Flores Narvaez said that Griffith was unfaithful, and the couple was in a toxic relationship.
"I learned that he was a playboy. He had several girlfriends," Celeste Flores Narvaez said.
Authorities also learned that two months before Flores Narvaez's disappearance, she and Griffith got into a physical altercation that ended in Griffith's arrest for domestic violence and a restraining order placed against him.
However, according to Griffith's roommate Louis Colombo, Flores Narvaez would still come over to their house to hang out with Griffith and watch TV.
Colombo told investigators that Griffith said it was during one of these nights that he choked her from behind during a physical argument, killing her.
After making a deal for immunity, Colombo told investigators that he came home on the night of Flores Narvaez's disappearance to find her lifeless body lying on the floor of their house -- with a plastic bag covering her head.
Colombo agreed to help Griffith hide the body because he had previously supported him financially, he told authorities.
"I was in shock, you know, I was shaking," Colombo told authorities.
Colombo took investigators to the location where he and Griffith hid the body -- an abandoned house where Colombo told them Jason dismembered Flores Narvaez, and together, they encased Debbie's body in concrete.
Almost a month after she went missing, Flores Narvaez was found.
Griffith was arrested for murder and convicted of second-degree murder in 2014, despite pleading not guilty to the crime and claiming it was self-defense. He was not charged with dismembering her body.
He was sentenced to 10 years to life at the High Desert State Prison in Nevada, where he remains after his appeals for parole have been denied.
In an exclusive new interview with "20/20," Griffith apologized for killing Flores Narvaez in a phone call from prison.
"Debbie Flores is dead and she did not deserve to die," he said. "I'm not trying to get out of responsibility. I'm not trying to diminish what this situation is by any means."
Each time Griffith comes up for parole, Celeste Flores Narvaez travels across the country and asks the board to deny Griffith's request for parole.
"I will always be there face to face because I want them to see what I have to deal with. I want you to physically hear my words, see my emotions, and understand the frustration and anxiety and stress and the trauma that I deal with on a daily basis because of what he's given me," she said.
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