The Riverside Press-Enterprise reports 58-year-old Darlene Flynn was found dead at her Menifee home on Monday. She had suffered blunt-force injuries.
Sheriff's deputies answering a report of an argument found her body in the backyard pool and saw a shirtless man run from the property.
Twenty-nine-year-old Justin Smith was later arrested near a highway. He remains in jail Wednesday.
Acquaintances tell the Press-Enterprise the couple had frequent arguments and had broken up.
The Guinness Book of World Records says Flynn had nearly 15,000 shoe-related items, including shoe-shaped furniture, lamps and jewelry.