Murder Suspect Says His Mother Committed The Crime
June 17, 2003
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A mother and son are accused of murder. Tuesday, the son went on trial in Volusia County.
Andrew Manos (photo right) says it wasn’t his fault. He claims his mom planned the crime. 
This case will really depend on whose image of Andrew Manos the jury buys: the state’s martial arts killer or the defense’s weakling fending for his own life. What do you see when you look at Andrew Manos? 130-pound runt or martial artist ready to take on an abusive old man. “He said he was good with his edged weapons,” explains Det. Gregory Beaver, St. Johns Co. Sheriffs Dept. Someone used an edged weapon on William Flanders, stabbing him eight times. Andrew Manos says it was his biological mother, Amy Jo Flanders (photo left).
He says he came home from the store in July of 2001 to find his stepfather dead, murdered and his mother was looking for someone to blame. In a statement to police, the 17-year-old said, “She came out and asked me if I would take the fall for it.” Incidentally, Amy Jo had just returned from jail. She was arrested for beating her husband. Andrew also talks about how they tried to get rid of Bill Flander’s body in the Intracoastal Waterway in Saint Johns County by tying a cinderblock to his body. The courtroom is filled with theory. But in this abuse-laden household, it could prove difficult for the jury to sort out who is the victim and who is the abuser.
This will be a tough one for the jury to sort through. Andrew Manos has a history of lying during police interviews. As a matter of fact, for the first couple of days during interrogation he had police convinced he was 20 years old, not 17, and a martial artist since the age of 4.