Denise Pearce: The phone call never comes. Chris Lambert: Paul worked with a number of women that he made incredibly uncomfortable girls who he tried to make a pass at sexually, girls that he tried to force to kiss him. He says Smart seemed uncomfortable but was too nice to ask the boy to leave. The Smarts say they tried to file a missing person's report with the local police but were told it was too early, and the FBI told them Cal Poly police were in charge. On Oct. 18, Paul Flores was found guilty of murdering Ms. Smart. He refused to answer questions during a deposition in November 1997, citing the Fifth Amendment. On May 25, 1996, friends dropped her off at an off-campus party. SUSAN FLORES: [Long pause, grabs water bottle] Of course not. Two days after her daughter went missing, Denise Smart got a call from Cal Poly's campus police. Kristin Smart, a bright, adventurous communication studies freshman at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, went missing May 25, 1996. According to a county probation bail report obtained by the San Luis Obispo Tribune, "biological evidence" was found under Ruben's deck. When Kristin Smart disappeared, Paul Flores's parents Susan and Ruben were separated and living apart. The next morning, Margarita waited to hear from Kristin. Other witnesses are also questioned, but Flemmings testimony is noteworthy as he is the first to say he saw Flores and Smart together before the party. D.A. No remains have been found. They didn't look at the Flores family's vehicles. Sources tell us investigators discovered videos and photographs on Flores' computer showing him engaged in sexual activity with at least 10 different women, apparently in various states of consciousness. The day after the arrests, Dan Dow, the San Luis Obispo County district attorney, said that Paul Flores had caused the death of Ms. Smart while in the commission of, or attempted, rape. Ruben Flores helped to hide her remains, he said. There was no reaction until the dog reached Paul Flores's room. In high school he was known as a loner. The prosecution upholds the validity of these searches, including one of Flores dorm room that was done after he moved out. In the meantime, Paul Flores moved to Southern California, where he bounced from job to job. I'm going to go back to the dorms. "Up and Vanished" led a man to confess to killing a . JAMES MURPHY: Your husband have information as to where Kristin Smart's body is located? Proof of the L.A. charges cant act as a substitute for the SLO case.. Jonathan Vigliotti: Was this case, given the evidence that was lost early on, doomed from the very beginning? For the next 25 years, I did whatever I could and looked for answers wherever I could, Denise Smart told the court, according to CBS 13, a local television station. He gets his arm around her torso and her arm around his neck, and he's helping her walk. They also did not focus on Paul Flores immediately, waiting six days to formally interview him. He was not welcome.. Just days after she disappeared, an incident report seemed to imply that Kristin's behavior contributed to her disappearance. Previously sealed documents related to the case become available to the public that explain the rape charges Peurelle attempted to add against Paul Flores. In the spring of 1996, Kristin Smart, a 19-year-old college student, left an off-campus party in San Luis Obispo, Calif., and walked home to her dormitory. That mother, Mary Lassiter, described it to Chris Lambert. Investigators in Kristin Smart case serve search warrant at the home of the prime suspect's father Smart was last seen near her California Polytechnic State University (CalPoly) dorm, but she. Greg Fisher and Michelle Fanucci are the development producers. That turned out to be college. Kristen has facial dimples. At the time of the April 13 arrests, the sheriff said he believed that had enough evidence to win convictions. She was declared legally dead in 2002. James Murphy: And it says wrongful death and then I put murder. 1 of 47. She didn't think that was OK. Van Rooyen saying that his release could result in great bodily harm to the public. Like his black eye, seen faintly in a mug shot taken by the Arroyo Grande Police just by chance two days after Kristin vanished. Margarita Campos: I'll never forget her shadow against the building, this apartment complex, just standing like kind of cross-armed with the long leg And she was just kind of like looking at me like, [sighs] you're really walking away now, like you're really, you're leaving? Devastating. But every Sunday when she called her parents, they encouraged her to stick it out. She disappeared in 1996 after attending an off-campus party and while she was declared legally dead in 2002, her body has never been found. but I knew that I could try to do a small part. PAUL FLORES: On the advice of my attorney . Smart appeared to be under the influence of alcohol on Friday night. James Murphy: Paul Flores had a reputation amongst the girls that knew him at Cal Poly as being a creeper that he was always trying to hit on women. In March 2021, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office served a search warrant at the Arroyo Grande home of Ruben Flores. Then, in 2011, Ian Parkinson was elected sheriff. D.A. Ms. Smarts family said they had faith in the justice system, comforted in the knowledge that Kristin has been held in the hearts of so many and that she has not been forgotten.. Two days after Kristin Smart vanished, Paul Flores went to the Arroyo Grande Police Department because of an outstanding DUI warrant. James Murphy: The question for decades was "Well, where did the body go?". As they soon learned, she had ended up at a party at an off-campus house. Paul invoked the Fifth Amendment when the DAs office subpoenaed him to testify before a grand jury in 1996 and after the Smarts filed a $40 million wrongful-death lawsuit against him; during a 1997 deposition, he again pleaded the Fifth. Flores defense team serves Your Own Backyard podcaster Chris Lambert with a subpoena to serve as a witness in San Luis Obispo Superior Court on August 30th, as he has interviewed several witnesses before they spoke to law enforcement. The evidentiary hearing is underway and witnesses are testifying in front of Superior Court Judge Craig van Rooyen about Flores interactions with Smart. Eighteen-year-old Kristen Modafferi was a college honor student from North Carolina spending her summer in San Francisco. So had Margarita Campos, who lived in the next room in Muir Hall. Let's go." The Smart's attorney James Murphy, and his wife and office manager Garin Sinclair, have had Kristin's billboard in their front yard since late 1997. Los Angeles Times via Getty Images Nineteen-year-old Cal Poly student Kristin Smart went missing after a campus party 25. A single woman's earring. D.A. During Tuesday's hearing, San Luis Obispo County. Garin Sinclair: He never once turned to the Smart family and said, hey, we have an earring, we'd like to show it to you to see if it matches any of your daughter's jewelry. They told her Kristin had not been seen all weekend and asked if Kristin was with them. 'Keep her memory alive': Organizer encourages community to spread Like the Smart's civil case, theirs also has been on hold. The 19-year-old, who is also from Charlotte and a . Paul Flores killed Kristin Smart in dorm room during attempted rape, DA Billie Eilish Explains Her Complicated Relationship With Social Media: 'I Don't Look at It Anymore', Theres no evidence of a sex crime in the charged crime (the murder case) itself, van Rooyen says. In fact, Cheryl Anderson, who trusted Flores to walk Kristin back to her dorm alone, told police that her friends called him "Chester the molester," because he was known for groping girls. Peterson. PODCAST EPISODE 2 [LAMBERT READING REPORT] Smart does not have any close friends at Cal Poly. Smart was talking with and socializing with several different males at the party. My job was to hunt them. They have not been able to proceed with the civil case while there was an ongoing criminal investigation, but that didn't stop them from following every lead and preparing for an eventual trial. Three more witnesses are expected to take the stand on Thursday, including two cadaver dog handlers.___. The 100 Best Albums of 2022. Cole said a search of it revealed "suspicious activity.". But cadaver dogs told a different story. PODCAST EPISODE 3 | MARY LASSITER: It was like a red thing and it was like a smudge-like fingerprinted look on the back, just red, like maroon, like old looking and the smudge that it was like half a fingerprint. Anyone can read what you share. Oct. 18, 2022 In the spring of 1996, Kristin Smart, a 19-year-old college student, left an off-campus party in San Luis Obispo, Calif., and walked home to her dormitory. Wednesday, Superior Court Judge Craig van Rooyen rules that having the podcaster testify and release his records would have a chilling effect on the medias ability to do their job. D.A. Kristen was in her first year at Cal Poly when she vanished in 1996. In October 2022, Paul Flores, the man long suspected in her disappearance, was found guilty of murder. Margarita Campos: I was, like, "Kristin, I'm going to go back home. By herself, which is pretty amazing. She loved swimming and skiing. The defense argued that other skateboarders who were at the San Luis Obispo location said they never saw Paul there, and Hudson's boyfriend denied ever seeing Paul in Huasna or anywhere else. Cole said this was done so Lambert would include the information in his podcast during the time of the wiretap. PODCAST EPISODE 2 | WOMAN #2: You wouldn't want to be alone in a room with him. The hearing began August 2 and is expected to last into at least next week. Also taking the witness stand on Wednesday was Edward Chadwell. Kristin Smart went missing on May 25, 1996 while attending California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo and has not been heard from since. The defense questions Hudson about her drug use, but she says she was not doing drugs at the time. She writes about missing persons, unsolved murders, and human rights. It also expounds on several other alleged rapes as well as unwanted sexual advances. Chris Lambert: I think that might have been the biggest misstep that investigators have made to this day. A very close-knit family. Back in San Luis Obispo, the Smarts, feeling ignored by the sheriff's office, continued a relentless campaign to get them to do more to find their daughter. Det. A college student at North Carolina State University, ABC 7 writes that Modafferi had received a scholarship to work and live in a different city for the summer. And there would be more disappointment in 2007, after the Smart's legal team searched a small portion of Susan Flores's backyard with ground penetrating radar and did not find any evidence. Later, the sheriff's office obtained a warrant for Ruben's DNA and Det. James Murphy: I'd love to do anything to end their suffering. The last person to see her alive,. Margarita Campos: To this day, like, I was like, why why did I just let her go by herself? At the time, they did not know about a missing college student. Paul Flores pleads not guilty to the murder and attempted rape of Smart. Any evidence that might have been there was long gone. Kristin's mother, Denise Smart, spent Memorial Day weekend at a swim meet with her two younger kids. And for the first time clues about what may have happened to Kristin Smart. I've got her. By the time Cal Poly police began investigating, Kristin had been gone for four days. ", Although suspicion surrounded Flores almost from the beginning, any hopes for an arrest were dashed in May 1997 when then-Sheriff Ed Williams made an admission to the San Luis Obispo Telegraph: "We need Paul Flores to tell us what happened to Kristin Smart so absent something from Mr. Flores, I don't see us completing this case.". James Murphy: If it was, in fact, a piece of jewelry that matched Kristin's jewelry, it would have been blockbuster evidence. It is every parent's worst nightmare. People are watching Ruben Flores and Susan Flores and Paul Flores. With them is a group of FBI evidence response team members and a search warrant. The 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time They had become close friends despite their differences. So, they did not immediately get a warrant to search Susan Flores's home. Ruben's attorney, Harold Mesick, dismissed the evidence against his client as "so minimal as to shock the conscience.". Jonathan Vigliotti: Is this a case that takes a miracle to solve? The search for Kristin Smart never ends for her family And they told Lambert they weren't surprised when they heard about Flores's connection to Kristin's disappearance. JAMES MURPHY: In May of 96 were you a student at Cal Poly? JAMES MURPHY: Has your son ever told you that he did not kill Kristin Smart? He'd go through tunnels, under bridges, looking for his daughter and expecting best case scenario. In April, Paul Flores, 44, was arrested on one count of murder in connection to the case, and his father, Ruben Flores, 80, was arrested as an accessory after the fact. In 1997 when Paul Flores was deposed for the civil suit, the only thing he would confirm on tape was his name. Margarita Campos: She was absolutely sober when I left her. In 2011, the Smarts hoped those boulders would become a little lighter when Ian Parkinson became the . But Parkinson acknowledges it hasn't been easy. Cole in 2019. PAUL FLORES: On the advice of my attorney, I refuse to answer that question based on the fifth amendment of the United States Constitution. Everyone knew Paul (Flores) was creepy. Alex Murdaugh Found Guilty of Murdering Wife and Son Please come with me." That's when Denise Smart learned her daughter had not been seen all weekend, and all her belongings were still in her dorm room. And she was growing as an individual. The trial got underway with opening statements on July 18 in Monterey County Superior Court in Salinas. What's going on? Chris Lambert: A young couple moves into it with their kid. They also uncovered videos in a folder labeled practice that featured women wearing ball gags and in other fetish positions. And that's what I've been doing for a long, long time, along with a lot of other people. James Murphy and Garin Sinclair look at the billboard that has been in their front yard for more than two decades. How could she have gone out of town? Joe Johnston/The Tribune (of San Luis Obispo), via Associated Press. Three other women missing: Did Lac's husband kill before? When they were deposed by James Murphy, they also insisted their son was not involved. https://www.nytimes.com/article/kristin-smart-case-timeline.html. Specifically, that they had Paul's white Nissan pickup in their possession. On day two, August 3rd, a close friend of Smarts from college, Steven Flemming, tells the court that Flores had interacted with Smart before the party they both attended prior to her disappearance. Jonathan Vigliotti: She had just 40 yards to go and yet she vanished. Paul Flores, lower left, remained in jail without bail while Ruben Flores, upper right, was able to post bail after a judge agreed to lower the bail amount from $250,000 to $50,000, San Luis Obispo County Superior Court/Zoom, How a tragic boating crash is connected to the family of Alex Murdaugh, Five deaths with a connection to Alex Murdaugh's family investigated, Chilling details revealed in JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan deaths, Mother at center of international manhunt speaks out to "48 Hours". We just, "do you know anything about it". Lambert began looking into what happened to Kristin, collecting articles and documents, chasing down leads and tracking down anyone with information. Denise Pearce: The investigation was completely botched by the campus police. JAMES MURPHY: Does your son have any information as to where Kristin Smart's body is located? Ken Blum is the editor. The police searched her dorm room in Muir Hall, finding her wallet and reminders to turn in assignments. And while they did not rush to investigate Flores, Kristin's family says campus police were very quick to judge her. Paul Flores did not have a car on campus, so Murphy surmises he had to have had help. He had a smirk when he said it, like it was a joke, she says. But Mary Lassiter says the earring matched the necklace Kristin is seen wearing on the billboard. Flores defense team moves to recuse the San Luis Obispo County District Attorneys Office from the Smart case because prosecutor Peuvrelle and others have been seen wearing purple clothing, Smarts favorite color. 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