A man linked to the disappearance of college student Kristin Smart in 1996 was arrested on Tuesday on a charge of murder, according to the California government.
At a news conference Tuesday, San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson announced that Paul Flores had been arrested and charged with one murder in connection with Smart’s disappearance.
The 44-year-old Flores was arrested in San Pedro, California, in Los Angeles County and transported to San Luis Obispo County, Parkinson said.
Paul Flores’ bail is being set at ‘zero’, meaning he is not currently eligible for bail, San Luis Obispo sheriff Ian Parkinson told a news conference on Tuesday.
Kristin Smart, who was a 19-year-old student at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo in 1996, disappeared after going to a party. Flores, who was Smart’s girlfriend, apparently walked her home from the party.
Smart was never found and pronounced dead in 2002.
Flores’ father, Ruben Flores, 80, was also arrested Tuesday. Elder Flores was charged with possession of an accessory after bail was set at $ 250,000.
A Flores lawyer, Sarah Sanger, told NBC News their firm would not comment on pending cases. Harold Mesick, attorney for Ruben Flores, declined to comment because he has not yet been able to contact his client.
Flores has long been seen as a ‘person of interest’ in the case, receiving renewed attention as the subject of the true crime podcast Your Own Backyard.
“During our investigation, Paul Flores remained a person of great importance,” Sheriff Parkinson said at Tuesday’s press conference.
An area near the Cal Poly campus where Smart was a student was excavated in 2016. In 2020, a Flores home in Los Angeles County was searched, reports NBC News, as well as other locations on the West Coast.
Parkinson revealed on Tuesday that his office interviewed more people in 2019, saying that many came to light thanks to ‘the podcast’.
Sheriff Parkinson served another warrant in March 2021 in Arroyo Grande at the home of Ruben Flores.
“As a result of this evidence, a San Luis Obispo judge in the Supreme Court has signed two warrants for arrest and two additional search warrants,” Parkinson said.
The father and son were arrested early Tuesday in Los Angeles County and San Luis Obispo County simultaneously.
“We did not recover Kristin,” Parkinson said, adding later that he had committed to Smart’s parents that “we are not going to stop until Kristin is recovered.”
Cal Poly president Jeffrey D. Armstrong told Parkinson’s sheriff: “Our thoughts and prayers remain with Denise and Dan Smart, all of Kristin’s friends and family as this process continues.”
CORRECTION (13 April 2021, 18:05 ET): An earlier version of this article incorrectly put the victim’s name in the heading. This is Kristin Smart, not Kristin Scott.
