Missing California college student Kristin Smart was killed in 1996 during an attempted rape of a classmate and the suspect’s father helped hide his body, the county district attorney said Wednesday of St. Louis Bishop. Prosecutors filed a first-degree murder charge against Paul Flores and an accessory after a murder against his father, Ruben Flores, to help him disguise Smart’s body, which has never been found, said District Attorney Dan Dow.
He two were arrested Tuesday after years of investigations and searches that recently led to evidence related to Smart’s murder.
Smart, 19, of Stockton, was last seen on May 25, 1996 while returning to his dorm on the campus of California State Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo after an off-campus party. She was drunk at the time and Flores, a freshman at school, had offered to walk home.
Flores killed Smart in his bedroom, Dow said. Investigators, who began a renewed search Tuesday at his father’s property in nearby Arroyo Grande, believe they know where the body was buried but have not yet located or revealed its location.
Brochure through Carla Hoffman
Dow urged the public to submit any information they may have about the murder or other crimes that Paul Flores had committed.
In recent years, Paul Flores has frequented bars at his home in the San Pedro area of the Los Angeles area, and may have committed other sexual assaults, the Dow said. He did not disclose what the investigators found, but said they were looking for other victims of the crime.
“We have evidence that we believe there were other as yet unidentified people who have had some sort of criminal act perpetrated by Mr. Flores,” Dow said. “We are concerned about sexual assault.”
Prosecutors filed a notice in court that they would try to introduce evidence of other sex crimes to prove that Flores tried to rape Smart.
Flores has been suspected since the early days of Smart’s disappearance. He has gone from being “person of interest” to “suspect” to “main suspect” and now accused.
He and his father are in jail and are scheduled to be tried Thursday.
San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson said the arrests came after a search of Elder Flores’ home last month by ground-penetrating radar and the dead dogs presented new evidence. related to the murder of Smart.
Smart’s family issued a statement saying it was a bittersweet day they had been waiting for a long time and a first step in bringing their daughter home.
“While Kristin’s loving spirit will always live in our hearts, our life without hugs, laughs and smiles is a pain that never diminishes,” they said. “Knowing that a father and son, despite our desperate requests for help, could have kept this horrible secret for almost 25 years, denying us the opportunity to let our daughter rest, is a relentless and unforgivable pain.” .
Flores, 44, was arrested at his home in the San Pedro area of Los Angeles and taken to a police car handcuffed with pajama bottoms and a surf T-shirt. His father, Ruben Flores, 80, was arrested at his home in Arroyo Grande, about 15 miles south of the university.
New witnesses were found in recent years and the orders allowed investigators to intercept and control Paul Flores’ phone and text messages and search his own home, along with those of his mother, father and sister who presented new tests, Parkinson said. He declined to provide further details because the search warranties are sealed.
Parkinson also credited the podcast “Your Own Backyard” for giving the case widespread attention that sparked the presence of a key witness.
Podcast creator Chris Lambert grew up in the area and was fascinated by a billboard that offered a $ 75,000 reward for the information he brought to Smart.
“Going past that billboard was a periodic reminder that, oh yes, they haven’t found that girl yet,” Lambert said in the initial episode of the podcast. “It’s different when someone disappears into your own garden.”
Parkinson, who held his press conference near the last time Smart was seen alive with Flores, acknowledged that law enforcement errors made the investigation difficult.
Smart was not reported missing until three days after his last visit. A roommate at the time said police were initially reluctant to report missing people because it was Memorial Day weekend and could have left campus.
Smart’s family said in its statement that “the indifference and lack of resolution we experienced at first set the course for many years.”
The Smart family filed a $ 40 million lawsuit in 1996 against Paul Flores and added the university for allegedly failing to protect her daughter. The case has been suspended pending the resolution of a criminal case, a family spokesman said.
“It really doesn’t hide the fact that early mistakes were made and made it a lot harder,” Parkinson said. “You know the first 48 hours are pretty critical for a missing person or a homicide.”
Parkinson compared the case to a puzzle where the missing pieces are found, which led to new evidence and locations that revealed other information.
“It’s very slow to find each of these little pieces,” he said.
Over the years, they issued more than 40 search warrants to 16 locations, collected nearly 200 new tests, and used modern DNA techniques to test more than three dozen older tests. So much evidence was gathered that it would fill three terabytes on a computer hard drive, he said.
San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office
Paul Flores has been a mother over the years, invoking the right of his fifth amendment not to answer questions before a grand jury and in a statement for the lawsuit filed against him.
Flores had nothing to say when he was arrested, Parkinson said.
He was detained without bail. His lawyer, Robert Sanger, declined to comment.
Ruben Flores was detained on $ 250,000 bail. His lawyer, Harold Mesick, did not immediately return any emails asking for comments from The Associated Press, but told the Los Angeles Times that his client was “absolutely innocent.”