Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of murder and assault. Reader discretion is advised.
Paul Flores was found guilty of the first-degree murder of Kristin Smart in October 2022. He was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. The conviction came over two decades after Kristin Smart, who was a freshman at California Polytechnic University disappeared while walking back to the dorm at 2 a.m. on May 25, 1996. Flores is currently incarcerated at the Pleasant Valley State Prison in Fresno County, according to KSBY News.
Although his father, Ruben Flores was also charged with being an accessory to the crime and was accused of helping Paul conceal the crime. He was declared innocent after his trial in 2022. In August 2023, CBS News reported that Paul Flores had been hospitalized after he was attacked at the Pleasant Valley State Prison where he was serving time. He was moved to a hospital outside the facility and was reportedly in a serious condition at the time.
Kristin Smart was reported missing on May 28, 1996. Paul Flores has remained the primary person of interest in the case ever since. He was the one to last see Smart. According to Flores, he accompanied Kristin back from an off-campus party and dropped her off just one block away from her dorm before he headed back to his dorm. Both of them were college freshmen at the time. However, Kristin never reached her room and never contacted her family and friends since then, according to FBI records.
According to the New York Times, an elaborate search included combing through the remotest locations on campus. They used helicopters to scan through the area, and sent cadaver dogs to Paul Flores’ room.
How was Paul Flores caught?
Although Flores was named the only primary person of interest in the case, no remains of Kristin Smart had even been found. She was declared legally dead in 2002.
Two days after Kristin Smart disappeared, Paul Flores went to the Arroyo Grande Police Department as he had an outstanding DUI warrant. The officers there took a mugshot of Flores which revealed a black eye on him. When asked about it during the questioning, he reportedly offered several different stories that were inconsistent with each other, CBS News reported. Flores was also known to have groped several women in the college.
In October 1996, Mary Lassiter who had been renting Paul Flores’ mother, Susan Flores’ home, contacted authorities. She reportedly found a single earring that matched one of Kristin’s necklaces from the missing posters. She reportedly found the piece in the backyard of the home. However, the earring was reportedly lost before it could be marked as evidence and investigated. Several searches of the house’s backyard followed.
In March 2021, Paul’s father, Ruben Flores’ home was searched by officials. Biological evidence was then found under a deck in the backyard. Paul Flores was then arrested and charged with the murder of Kristin Smart. Ruben Flores was charged with being an accessory to the crime. Prosecutors argued that Paul attempted to rape Kristin Smart in his dorm room on May 25, 1996, and killed her during the attempt.
In a 2024 report by NBC News, it was revealed that Kristin Smart’s family accused the California Polytechnic State University of negligence. Many people had reported Flores’ harassing, threatening, and stalking behavior before. However, no action had been taken by the management.
