Shraman Mitra
When California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo student Kristin Smart disappeared while returning to her dorm room in the early morning hours of May 26, 1996, the police suspected foul play. Moreover, from the beginning, authorities focused their investigation on Paul Flores, the last person to see Kristin alive. ‘Dateline: Justice For Kristin Smart’ chronicles the strange incident and shows how the police were able to bring the perpetrator to justice almost 27 years after the disappearance.
Who is Paul Flores?
Paul Flores was a student at the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, during the time of Kristin Smart’s disappearance. Although Paul’s acquaintances mentioned that he was a loner and mainly kept to himself, there was nothing out of the ordinary that would have suggested that Paul was capable of violence. Hence, most considered him to be a typical first-year student, and the spotlight only dawned on him once Kristin went missing.
According to reports, Kristin had gone to an off-campus frat party on May 25, 1998. Unfortunately, the friend Kristin was with decided to return to her dorm early, leaving the 19-year-old to walk back alone. However, sources mention that a few partygoers, namely Cheryl Anderson and Tim Davis, found Kristin passed out on a neighboring lawn at around 2 am on May 26. Concerned, the students decided to accompany the first-year student back to her room, and they were soon joined by Paul Flores, who lived closest to Kristin’s dorm. Hence, Tim left the group first, followed by Cheryl, while Paul promised that he would get the 19-year-old to safety. However, that was the last time anyone ever saw or heard from Kristin, as she disappeared into thin air and never made it back to her dorm.
Shortly after Kristen went missing, her parents knew something was wrong, as the 19-year-old was not answering their phone calls. However, the university believed that the first-year student had gone off on an unplanned vacation, as a result of which she was reported missing days after the incident. Naturally, such a delay hampered the investigation from the very beginning, but authorities still did everything in their power to look for the missing teenager. Reports claim that the police used cadaver dogs, round-penetrating radar devices, and horseback riders to comb through the nearby areas, while Kristin’s picture was circulated through television and local media. Detectives even asked anyone with any information to step forward, but most of the tips they received led to dead ends.
Since Paul was the last person to see Kristin alive, law enforcement officials considered him a person of interest in the investigation. However, in the meantime, they even looked into convicted murderer Scott Peterson, as he was a student at the California Polytechnic State University around the time Kristin disappeared. However, once Scott was ruled out as a witness, authorities turned their attention toward Paul and carried out several searches of his dorm room and other residences. Reports even mention that during one of these searches, the police came across an earring similar to the one Kristin was wearing, but it was never cataloged as evidence.
Paul Flores Remains Incarcerated at the North Kern State Prison
Kristin Smart was declared legally dead on May 25, 2002, and since her parents knew there had been no progress on her case, they filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Paul in 2005. However, despite the lawsuit as well as several monetary rewards for information that might lead to Kristin’s whereabouts, the case saw little to no progress for more than two decades. By this time, the incident was gaining popularity, as Chris Lambert talked about Kristin’s disappearance in his 2019 podcast. Naturally, such publicity pressured law enforcement officers into taking action, and in April 2020, authorities searched Paul’s San Pedro, California, home, from where they recovered an ample supply of the date rape drug along with videos depicting the suspect allegedly raping other young women.
Subsequently, in February 2021, Paul Flores was arrested on the charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm, which gave authorities enough leverage to search his father, Ruben Flores’s house. That was when the police noted that the soil under Ruben’s deck had been disturbed recently, and proper forensic examination proved that Kristin’s body had been buried in that location for quite some time. In the days that followed, the police gathered more evidence through interrogations and forensic examination, which led to Paul and Ruben Flores’ arrest in April 2021.
Although prosecutors alleged that Paul had raped or attempted to rape Kristin, the statute of limitation prevented authorities from charging him for the same. Hence, he was charged with murder, while Ruben Flores was accused of being an accessory after the fact. When presented in court, both Paul and Ruben pled not guilty to the charges against them. However, while a jury acquitted Ruben of all charges, Paul was convicted of first-degree murder and later sentenced to 25 years to life in prison on March 10, 2023. Hence, at present, he remains incarcerated at the North Kern State Prison in Delano, California, and will be eligible for parole in 2038.
Read More: Where is Ruben Flores Now?
