Paul Flores found guilty of 1996 murder of Cal Poly student Kristin Smart; father Ruben not guilty
SALINAS – Paul Flores was found guilty of first degree murder Tuesday in the death of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo freshman Kristin Smart 25 years ago.
The verdict ends a mystery of what happened to Smart, who disappeared from the Cal Poly San Luis Obispo campus in 1996.
Prosecutors successfully argued that Flores, now 45, killed the 19-year-old during an attempted rape on May 25, 1996 in his dorm room where both were first-year students.
Paul's father Ruben Flores was found not guilty of being an accessory after the fact by a separate jury.
The elder Flores' verdict was reached on Monday, but the court waited until both juries had reached their verdicts to announce what was decided.
Now 81, Ruben Flores allegedly helped bury the slain student behind his home in the nearby community of Arroyo Grande and later dug up the remains and moved them.
"Without Kristin, there's no joy or happiness in this verdict," Smart's father, Stan Smart, said at a news conference after the hearing. "After 26 years, with today's split verdict, we learned that our quest for justice for Kristin will continue."
He described the case as a long, agonizing journey and said he was grateful to the two juries for their diligence.
Paul Flores had long been considered a suspect in the killing, but prosecutors only arrested him and his father in 2021 after the investigation was revived.
San Luis Obispo Sheriff Ian Parkinson acknowledged missteps by detectives over the years and he credited a popular podcast about Smart's disappearance called "Your Own Backyard" for helping unearth new information and inspiring witnesses to speak with investigators.
Smart's remains have never been found and the mystery of how she vanished from the scenic campus tucked against a verdant coastal mountain range was central to the trial.
Investigators have conducted dozens of searches over two decades, but turned their attention in the past two years to Ruben Flores' home about 12 miles south of Cal Poly in the community of Arroyo Grande.
San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson told reporters at a news conference that the investigation won't end until Smart's remains are found.
"This case will not be over until Kristin is returned home, and we have committed to that from the beginning," he said. "We don't take a breath. We do not put this aside."
Behind lattice work beneath the deck of his large house on a dead end street off Tally Ho Road, archaeologists working for police in March 2021 found a soil disturbance about the size of a casket and the presence of human blood, prosecutors said.
The blood was too degraded to extract a DNA sample. While a blood expert said it was human blood, the test used did not rule out the possibility it was from a ferret or ape, though court records said no remains of such an animal were found there.
San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge Craig Van Rooyen ordered the pair to trial after a 22-day preliminary hearing in which he found a "strong suspicion" the father and son committed the crimes they were charged with, that a grave existed under Ruben Flores' deck and it once held Smart's remains.
Paul Flores was the last person seen with Smart on May 25, 1996 as he walked her home from an off-campus party where she got intoxicated.
He downplayed his interactions with her when he first spoke with police three days later, saying she walked to her dorm under her own power, though other witnesses said that she had passed out earlier in the night and Flores helped hold her up as they walked back to campus.
Flores had a black eye when investigators interviewed him. He told them he got it playing basketball with friends, who denied his account, according to court records. He later changed his story to say he bumped his head while working on his car.
At a preliminary hearing last year, prosecutors presented evidence that four cadaver dogs stopped at Flores' room and alerted to the scent of death near his bed.
The trials were heard together for nearly three months, but Paul and Ruben were being tried separately.
Paul's attorney made a motion for a mistrial after the jury saw a member of the prosecution hugging someone in the Smart family. That motion was denied.
Outside the courthouse, Ruben Flores maintained that his son is innocent and said he feels badly that Smart's family will never have a resolution. He said the case was about feelings, not facts.
"We don't know what happened to their daughter," he told reporters.
