Paul Flores was Given 25 Years to Life for the 1996 Death and Disappearance of Kristin Smart

Kristin Denise Smart was born on February 20, 1977, in Augsburg, Bavaria, West Germany. When Smart was still a  child, her family moved to Stockton, California.

In 1996, Smart got admission into California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, in San Luis Obispo, California. On the night of May 25, 1996, she went to a birthday party at a frat house where she didn't know anyone;  she walked to the party alone.

Smart was found sleeping on a neighbor's lawn at about 2 a.m. by Cheryl Anderson and Tim Davis, two other students who had just left the party. They helped Smart get up, and then they decided to walk her back to her dormitory, which was close by,  Paul Flores, another student at the party, joined them and offered to help them get Smart back to her dorm room.

Flores told the police that he walked Smart as far as his dormitory  and then let her walk back to hers on her own. This was the last time she was seen. When Smart went missing, she didn't have any money or credit cards.

At first, the University Police Department thought that Smart had taken a trip without telling anyone, so it took them a while to tell local police that she was missing. Even though her family had already called the police, she wasn't reported missing for a week.

Even though her body was never found, a tenant at the house where Paul Flores's mother used to live found an earring that might have belonged to Smart. This earring wasn't marked as evidence, so the police have since lost it.

Between 1996 and 2007, there were a number of searches for her remains and other clues. Some of these searches were done with cadaver dogs, which are trained to find the smell of dead bodies. Some of these searches were done on properties owned by the Flores family. For almost 20 years, no useful leads were found.

The Search Goes On

On April 22, 2020, a search warrant was brought to the San Pedro, California, home of Paul Flores. During the search, it was said that many "items of interest" were successfully found. Date rape drugs and film clips of Flores sodomizing and raping young women were among the things that were found during the search.

On March 15, 2021, a search warrant was issued to look through Ruben Flores's house. Cadaver dogs and ground-penetrating radar were used to do this. After cadaver dogs checked out Ruben Flores's older Volkswagen, the car was towed away.

Arrest and Trial

On April 13, 2021, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Department arrested Paul Flores and his father, Ruben Flores, in connection with the case. Paul Flores was charged with murder, and Ruben Flores was charged with being an accomplice.

During the trial, people said that she got to the Crandall Street house party around 10:30 p.m. Others who were there said she never smelled like alcohol, but after hanging out with Flores, she was seen with one drink just before midnight. After that, she fell asleep for two hours on a lawn. Peuvrelle said that her behavior suggested that someone had drugged her.

Witnesses said that when she and two other students were getting ready to leave, Flores came out of the darkness to help her walk home. Prosecutors said that Flores killed Smart while trying to rape her in his dorm room after her drugging her with date drugs.

Two women claimed Paul Flores raped them decades after Smart's disappearance, lending credence to the prosecution's argument that he sexually violated the girl, then murdered and buried her body.

On October 18, 2022, at the Monterey County Courthouse, two separate juries found Paul Flores guilty of first-degree murder and his father, Ruben Flores, not guilty.

On March 10, 2023, Paul Flores was given a sentence of 25 years to life.

References and Further Reading:

Paul Flores sentenced to 25 years to life in prison without parole for 1996 murder of Kristin Smart

Paul Flores convicted of killing Kristin Smart after 26 years of suspicion