The Daily Beast
Paul Flores charged with Kristin Smart’s murder 25 years later: sheriff
The Daily Beast / Public Domain Nearly 25 years after Cal Poly freshman Kristin Smart disappeared after a freak party, a California man named as the main suspect in her disappearance was arrested and charged with her murder. Paul Flores, who walked Smart home from the party and was the last person to see her alive in 1996, was arrested Tuesday in San Pedro, California, and booked into San Luis Obispo County Jail. Flores’ 80-year-old father, Ruben Flores, was also arrested and is allegedly charged with accessory. Authorities again issued a warrant at the Arroyo Grande home in Ruben on Tuesday. “During our investigation, Paul Flores remained a person of great importance,” San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson said at a news conference Tuesday in which he announced the charges against Flores and his father. . Parkinson did not want to give details about the new information that led to the arrest, but said authorities obtained new evidence after monitoring Flores’ phone and text messages. The arrests come just one month after Sheriff Flores was identified as ‘the main suspect’ in Smart’s case, which has been attracting national attention for decades. Parkinson confirmed that authorities have not yet recovered Smart’s body – but the search will continue. “It’s not over yet and we are committed to not stopping until Kristin is restored … We are committed to that,” Parkinson said. said and added that he had spoken to the Smart family who felt a little relieved. “We’ll find Kristin.” The sheriff added that throughout the investigation, authorities carried out 41 warrants at 16 locations and compiled 500 police reports. He said physical evidence was found linking Flores to the disappearance in at least two homes. Flores, 44, is denied bail, but his father could get out of jail on a $ 250,000 bond. Both are expected to appear in court on Thursday. Is Kristin Smart buried in this backyard? Neighbors and a miracle dog say yes Four women say the man suspected of the murder of a student who sexually assaulted them The smart family has always believed that they identified Flores, a fellow student, as Kristin’s alleged killer. The Smarts even filed an unlawful death lawsuit against Flores, claiming that he “murdered” and “killed” Kristin, who was in a “intoxicated state” when he found her. However, the civil case has stalled due to the ongoing criminal investigation: “The news of arrests in connection with the case today brings sadness, but also some relief and hope for a solution,” said Jeff Armstrong, president of Cal Poly, during the press conference said. .Smart was 19 and a first-year student on the San Luis Obispo campus in California at Polytechnic State University, when she disappeared on Memorial Day weekend in 1996. The student attended an off-campus party and later found himself exhausted at 2 on the lawn of a neighbor drunk. According to an FBI agent’s private investigation and report from 2000. 30 hours, while some students came in to wake Kristin, it was Flores who walked into her house – and who became the last person to keep her alive see. As The Daily Beast reports, Flores, who also attended Cal Poly, later told police that Kristin was “walking very slowly” and that he was hugging her waist to keep her warm on the cold walk to her dormitory in Muir Hall. Flores told authorities he returned to his room in Santa Lucia Hall after dropping her off, but one month later cadaveric dogs led police to Flores’ mattress, which was to the left of his dormitory. The dogs again warned in the same area, even after the mattress was collected as evidence and removed from the building. Derrick Tse, Flores’ roommate at the time, told police Flores admitted to killing Kristin. “Yes, I killed her and brought her to my mother and she is still there,” Flores allegedly said according to Tse’s statement to police. Flores had cuts on his knees and a black eye when prosecutors questioned him. He claimed he got the blinker during a basketball game the day after Kristin disappeared, but his friends told authorities he already had the injury when he showed up to play. In another interview, Flores admitted that he lied about the black eye and said he actually bumped on the steering wheel of his truck while doing repairs. During the depositions in the Smart family’s lawsuit, Flores pleaded fifth on all questions except for his name and date of birth. Meanwhile, the sheriff’s deputies searched the homes of Arroyo Grande of Flores’ parents, who were divorced but apparently came up empty-handed. A neighbor of Flores’ mother said he alerted police to strange activities he saw around the time Kristin disappeared. The neighbor said he saw Flores and another young man in Susan Flores’ backyard digging and pouring concrete late at night. He claims the men also dragged a rolled-up rug that apparently carries something heavy: “I’ve never seen these guys before,” the tipster told The Daily Beast. “And they were digging in this woman’s garden at this time of day, and the kind of digging they did plus the concrete just didn’t make sense.” A second neighbor, Lauri Quinn, said she witnessed ‘ongoing construction work’. “In the garden of Susan Flores who” cut newly built concrete planters in the existing cement in the backyard, “reads the FBI agent’s report in 2000. Susan’s backyard was also of interest to a world-famous cadaver dog named Buster, who discovered remains of about 200 people, including World War II soldiers and others who had been missing for decades, before dying in 2016. In the summer of 2014, Buster warned twice at Susan’s fence after moving through her neighbor’s backyard. “Believe me, there is human decomposition (decomposition) in that soil,” Buster’s handler, retired police officer Paul Dostie, told The California Register, an independent newspaper that has since expired. In November 2016, The Daily Beast reported on the accusations of four women who say that Paul Flores sexually assaulted them. One of the accused alleges Flores and a friend drugged and raped her in 1994 when she was a sophomore in high school. A second woman, who attended Cal Poly, said Flores touched her during a Halloween dance party in 1995, and that he tried to rape her in the bathroom the same year during her birthday party in the bathroom. In response to The Daily Beast’s exclusive report, Kristin’s parents issued a statement thanking the women for their arrival. “These new allegations against Paul Flores are very worrying and deserve to be thoroughly investigated,” they said. “We are grateful to these brave women for having the courage to talk about their experiences, and we ask anyone who has information that they believe may be helpful to contact the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff. “Any little information or memories can make the difference in the recovery of our beloved Kristin.” In January 2020, Kristin’s mother told The Record, a daily newspaper in Stockton, that a retired FBI agent had warned her to prepare for a major burglary in the 23-year-old cold case. “Be right. It’s really going to be something you do not expect. We want to give you the necessary support,” said the agent, apparently Denise Smart, Kristin’s mother. But the retired lawmaker did not say exactly when this bomb would fall Shortly after Denise’s claim made headlines nationwide, the Smart family dropped back, saying there was no impending announcement: ‘Once the sheriff’s investigation is complete, they will notify us all if there is news to. Thank you for your understanding and our shared interest in the ongoing investigation. ”The notice of the retired agent has brought hope to Kristin’s parents, who have dealt with a rollercoaster of emotions over the years and have so far amounted to minor developments in the investigation, including an excavation by the sheriff’s department at the university in 2016. It is unclear what was discovered from the excavation. Read more at The Daily Beast. Do you have a tip? Send it here to The Daily Beast Kry every day our top stories in your inbox. Daily Animal Membership: Beast Inside delves deeper into the stories that matter to you. Learn more.