Van Rooyen rules that Flores will be tried for murder in the 1996 disappearance of Smart. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. but I knew that I could try to do a small part. What's going on? She writes about missing persons, unsolved murders, and human rights. You can go." Lindsey Smart Stewart: She definitely, like, took advantage of life, seized the day she was super ambitious and was determined you know, to find the next adventure. UPDATE - San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Detective Clint Cole returned to the witness stand Wednesday in the preliminary hearing for Paul and Ruben Flores, testifying that searches of Ruben's home turned up evidence leading them to believe human remains had been buried there. He never expected it would be a hit, but his podcast caught the attention of millions of listeners and sparked new interest in this decades-old unsolved case. But remarkably, the same thing happened with three more dogs. Cole said a search of it revealed "suspicious activity.". Below, Rolling Stone outlines where the Smart case is now: San Luis Obispo District Attorney Dan Dow announces chargesagainst Paul Flores and his father Ruben in connection with what he calls the 1996 homicide of Cal Poly student Kristin Smart. In June 1997, 18-year-old Kristen Modafferi arrived in San Francisco to take a photography class at UC Berkeley. Kristin's mother, Denise Smart, spent Memorial Day weekend at a swim meet with her two younger kids. James Murphy: Somebody found an earring that they say was Kristin Smart's jewelry in the driveway. Paul Flores talks to his attorneys Sara Sanger and Robert Sanger on Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021 in San Luis Obispo, Calif. had been arrested in connection with her disappearance, Paul Flores was found guilty of murdering Ms. Smart, while in the commission of, or attempted, rape.
How 'Your Own Backyard' podcast led to arrests in Kristin Smart murder And these girls are inviting us out. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. (Pool photo by Dave Minsky/Santa Maria Times). They took in soil, I assume, for some kind of analysis. Chris Lambert: I personally think that wherever Kristin went, Paul was there with her. The Smart family filed a $40 million wrongful death lawsuit against Paul Flores in 1997, but he was not immediately charged criminally in the case. D.A. But 22 years later, when he couldn't find any recent stories about the case, he decided to do something. All of Kristin's personal belongings including her purse, her money, her I.D. Paul Flores was charged with murder and Ruben Flores with being an accessory after the fact, accused of helping to bury her remains. It was on Memorial Day weekend 1996 that their 19-year-old daughter Kristin Smart disappeared. The hearing began August 2 and is expected to last into at least next week. When Kristin Smart disappeared, Paul Flores's parents Susan and Ruben were separated and living apart. That mother, Mary Lassiter, described it to Chris Lambert. 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. Once, he says, Flores was lurking in the lobby of Smarts dorm at 1 a.m.; another time, he says he saw the man in Smarts dorm room. The Smart family. Ruben Flores was acquitted by a separate jury. Flores, 44, was arrested Tuesday at his home, nearly 25 years after Smart left a party near the Cal Poly campus and vanished on the way back to her campus dormitory. He says Smart seemed uncomfortable but was too nice to ask the boy to leave. A lot of women felt uncomfortable around him, Flemming says. When they reached the turnoff to Cheryl's dorm, she says Flores tried to hug and kiss her. Chris Lambert: I brought them a number of witnesses that they were very interested in. Axel Koester/Sygma via Getty Images The. Susan's house was finally searched in March 1997 nine months after Kristin disappeared but nothing was found. She was never seen again. The defense also tells Lambert he will not be allowed back in the courtroom where he has been covering the hearing as he is now a potential witness. most importantly they wanna find their daughter. PODCAST EPISODE 2 [LAMBERT READING REPORT] Smart does not have any close friends at Cal Poly. Nic Coury / AP. And I was screaming. In one of Paul's police interviews he mentioned that he wanted to be let out of the interview because he needed to help clean up concrete at his mom's house So, what was being done in Susan Flores's backyard in the weeks after Kristin went missing? Chris Lambert: Kristin's father would come down and hike every trail he could find on the Central Coast. James Murphy: So why would Susan Flores, her boyfriend, and Ruben Flores be up all night long working under that deck. Ruben Flores and his estranged wife Susan have always denied any role in Kristin Smart's disappearance. JAMES MURPHY: Would you state your full name for the record please. The judge in the case has issued a gag order preventing lawyers, investigators, witnesses and others from speaking about the case or releasing documents. That young woman was Kristin Smart, and she hasn't been seen since. D.A. He has not been charged in those incidents. On May 25, 1996, friends dropped her off at an off-campus party. How are we not all talking about this every day until shes found?, Editors picks The document presented summaries of why prosecutors didn't want either man to be released pending a trial that could be years away. It's fine. In March, the Oakland Police Department released a statement saying that it had worked with the FBI and found no evidence indicating Durst was involved.
Kristen Modafferi - Unsolved Mysteries An important tip came in after a February 2020 search of Paul, Susan and Ruben's properties. And I was like, "nah, I have to study." Produced by Lisa Freed. They also uncovered videos in a folder labeled practice that featured women wearing ball gags and in other fetish positions. They didn't bring a forensics team. In March 2021, investigators used cadaver dogs and ground-penetrating radar to search Ruben Floress property in Arroyo Grande, Calif. Paul Flores was taken into custody at his home in the San Pedro section of Los Angeles on April 13, 2021, and was charged with murder. Paul Flores is charged with first-degree murder and is accused of killing Smart while attempting to rape her. Cole said investigators checked out the skateboard ramp location but did not find a body. KSBY will have more on what takes place in court on KSBY.com and KSBY News at 5 and 6 p.m. And she was growing as an individual. I also brought them witnesses that they had no interest in whatsoever.
Kristin Smart case: Shy podcaster led cops to arrest in California cold San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office, via Associated Press. 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. Kristin Smart, a bright, adventurous communication studies freshman at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, went missing May 25, 1996. Chris Lambert: As they describe it, Paul Flores just sort of appears out of nowhere. That turned out to be college. The county sheriffs office searched his room once more during the weekend of June 29th, when a team of cadaver dogs signaled the smell of human decay. Most students had taken off but Kristin had stayed on campus. Just very involved with their children. Chris Lambert: They did a significant amount of digging underneath the house. Sie knnen Ihre Einstellungen jederzeit ndern, indem Sie auf unseren Websites und Apps auf den Link Datenschutz-Dashboard klicken. Jonathan Vigliotti: Was this case, given the evidence that was lost early on, doomed from the very beginning? Chris Lambert says, two days after that, when Flores was interviewed by campus police, they asked how he got his black eye as well as scratches on his hands and knees. Chris Lambert was just 8 years old when Kristin Smart vanished on her way home from a college party in San Luis Obispo, California. And it was only 250 miles from Stockton, California, where she grew up with Lindsey and their brother Matt. 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. Denise Pearce: Kristin hasn't come home And we're not sure where she is We don't know anything. By then, the semester was over and the room had been cleaned out. The next morning, Margarita waited to hear from Kristin. Chris Lambert: I remember seeing it on the news it was something scary and they were talking about it pretty regularly. 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. I think they're just waiting to see what the outcome is going to be. Ms. Smarts family declared her legally dead in 2002, but the search, and the investigation, continued. He later told investigators that he walked her as far as his dorm, where they parted ways. 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. Even more difficult to understand was why they waited two months to search the family home where Paul Flores was living with his father, Ruben. 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. These charges mark a major milestone, Dow says in a statement. They did an interview with the Cal Poly Mustang Daily and explained that they didn't think there was any evidence that a crime had taken place. The lawsuit claims they were moving Kristin's remains. Joe Johnston/The Tribune (of San Luis Obispo), via Associated Press. No charges were filed, but Lambert discovered Flores's troubles started at a young age. He invoked the Fifth Amendment 27 times. Ruben Flores, 80, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of accessory after the murder for hiding Smart's body after his son allegedly killed her. The case recently reentered the public eye with the 2019 launch of the popular true-crime podcast, Your Own Backyard, hosted by musician Chris Lambert, who has spent his life haunted by a missing persons billboard featuring Smarts face. Cole said that Ruben then clarified that he meant he was the only one of the three to have been arrested. Denise Pearce: She was becoming more and more alarmed, you know? When asked about how he got the injury Flores told three different stories. Det. A cemetery posted a personal ad for a goose whose mate died. 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. A jury acquitted Ruben Flores of the charge of being an accessory after the fact. Smart was talking with and socializing with several different males at the party. But Mary Lassiter says the earring matched the necklace Kristin is seen wearing on the billboard. and I was like, "Noooo.". That technology uncovered a soil disturbance under the deck as well as four soil samples that tested positive for human blood; an April evacuation also tested positive for blood. Previously sealed documents related to the case become available to the public that explain the rape charges Peurelle attempted to add against Paul Flores. Her dorm entrance is right over here. In the crowd, taking it all in, was that podcaster, Chris Lambert. That's when the campus police finally handed the investigation over to The San Luis Obispo Sheriff's Office but they did not find Kristin. Two days after her daughter went missing, Denise Smart got a call from Cal Poly's campus police. But to fully understand Chris Lambert's contribution, you have to go back to the beginning. After almost 25 years of suspicion, on April 13, 2021, San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson announced the arrest ofPaul Flores in the disappearance of Kristin Smart. 2020 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. Chris Lambert: So much was lost in those first few days where if that very first phone call was taken seriously answers might have been uncovered the first week. The arrests of the father and son came after investigators using ground-penetrating radar and cadaver dogs discovered evidence connected directly to Smarts death last month during a search at Ruben Flores home, authorities said. Lindsey Smart Stewart: It just amazes me the amount of evidence that's available, yet nothing has happened. PODCAST EPISODE 1: I googled Kristin Smart's name every few years. suddenly major pieces of evidence came forward. He later argued that the biological evidence found under the deck was not conclusively human blood. DAN DOW [press conference]: It is alleged that Mr. Flores caused the death of Kristen Smart while in the commission of or attempted rape. Chris Lambert: They're hopeful, but they've also been let down so many times before. https://www.nytimes.com/article/kristin-smart-case-timeline.html. The next month, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriffs Office took over from the Cal Poly police as the lead investigators. Copyright 2021 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Murphy and his wife, Garin Sinclair, agreed to take the case pro bono promising to go after Paul Flores and put pressure on the sheriff's office. A missing-person report was filed with the campus police on May 28. She said she didn't tell law enforcement about it until she talked to Det. D.A. Remember, Flores's room had been emptied and thoroughly cleaned. Susan Flores and her boyfriend were never charged in the case. Murphy has filed a new civil suit against Ruben Flores for the intentional infliction of emotional distress. Jonathan Vigliotti: How did you know she hadn't been back? Kristen was in her first year at Cal Poly when she vanished in 1996. He was required to wear an electronic ankle bracelet. Chris Lambert: And that's when they're told that earring has been misplaced. An earring that appeared to match the necklace Kristin is wearing on the billboard. DAN DOW [press conference]: But the allegation that he was committing or attempting to commit a rape when he killed her, is the basis for which we are able to file first-degree felony murder charges.
Kristen Modafferi | Unsolved Mysteries Wiki | Fandom So, I said, "you better turn some lights on right now and let me out or I'm going to scream." Jonathan Vigliotti: There was a lot of focus on how Kristin was drinking what sounded a lot like victim shaming. Kristen has facial dimples. Instead, on Monday, May 27, Denise Pearce says the Smarts got a call from Cal Poly's campus police asking if Kristin was with them.
Disappearance of Kristen Modafferi - Wikipedia Defense Attorney Sanger calls the move a stunning lack of objectivity.. Griffin Cherry was her close friend: His father, Ruben, will be tried as an accessory to the crime. Denise Pearce: To be almost there. The defense questions Hudson about her drug use, but she says she was not doing drugs at the time.
Detective in Kristin Smart case testifies human blood - KSBY PODCAST EPISODE 4: At 8 a.m. on June 19th, 2000, a team of sheriff's investigators knocks on the front door of Susan Flores's East Branch Street home. Flores wasn't talking. She withdrew money from the bank, a surveillance camera capturing what are . Early on, a small group of volunteers also looked for Kristin. They described dropping her off at the party at an unofficial fraternity house, and said that when it was over, she needed support to walk as she was being accompanied home by Paul Flores. His father was found not guilty of helping to hide her body. She and all who have worked so hard toward this day deserve nothing less.. . Plans & Pricing ; Podcast Statistics; PowerPress Plugin . 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. Chris Lambert: I don't think she ever imagined that Kristin would end up dead by the end of the night. "YOUR OWN BACKYARD" PODCAST: EPISODE 1: It's a cold and cloudy winter afternoon in San Luis Obispo and I'm retracing missing Cal Poly student Kristin Smart's last known steps. When they showed up, it was Paul Flores. Ian Parkinson: Yes. Kristen Modafferi, Kristin Smart & Kent Jacobs. Maybe we cant. By the time Cal Poly police began investigating, Kristin had been gone for four days. Denise Smart, Kristins mother, has also praised the show. Margarita Campos: But when we got to the house it was pretty dead too, it was really -- it was like a couple of roommates hanging out playing video games And Kristin was, like oh gosh, there has to be something better than this. Kristen Modafferi: Onuma and the Briefcase. Witness Jennifer Hudson takes the stand, where she tells the court that, in 1996, when she was 17 years old, Flores laughingly told her he had taken care of Smart. Chris Lambert: It's mostly frat guys from the Kappa Chi fraternity. The document said investigators at the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Department had biological evidence indicating Smart was once buried under Ruben Flores' deck behind his home in nearby Arroyo Grande. DAN DOW [press conference]: We don't have evidence sufficient to charge anyone else at this time. But as Chris Lambert learned, Flores's pattern of behavior with women didn't stop. 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. Also on the stand Tuesday were another cadaver dog handler, an expert in fiber evidence and a district attorney's office investigator. The podcast, "Your Own Backyard,"has drawn millions of listeners and focused renewed attention on this decades old case. Authorities also uncovered fibers consistent with the color clothing Smart was last seen wearing. DAN DOW [press conference]: We have evidence that we do believe there are other people that are not yet identified that have had some kind of a criminal act perpetrated on them by Mr. Flores. Kristen Modafferi. Authorities made clear that they plan to use Flores' alleged predatory behavior against him. And yes, we believe it's linked to Kristin. Some of those women who did not want their real names used told Lambert about their encounters with him. It worked. She feared for her life, so did not tell anyone at the time or for years after. James Murphy: They're interested in seeing Paul Flores get convicted and Ruben Flores get held accountable. When they were deposed by James Murphy, they also insisted their son was not involved. On October 18, 2022, Paul Flores was found guilty of first-degree murder. Cole went to his White Court home to collect it on May 19, 2021. They might have found evidence in those vehicles. On Oct. 18, Paul Flores was found guilty of murdering Ms. Smart. For more than two decades, her family, friends, and supporters searched for answers and for justice. Then, in 2011, Ian Parkinson was elected sheriff. Flores and his parents have always maintained that he had nothing to do with Smarts disappearance. James Murphy: It was just a sad phone call to have somebody say, our daughter disappeared and we think she's the victim of foul play and we'd like to pursue the guy that we think is responsible. I was afraid Id end up missing or buried someplace, she says. Flores, who had been seen with Smart earlier in the evening he attempted to flirt with her and apparently fell on her at one point, according to witnesses joined the group and allegedly accompanied Smart home. He says they are Ruben's ex-wife Susan and her boyfriend. They had become close friends despite their differences. PODCAST EPISODE 4: So, I walk him up to his sister's apartment, and all of a sudden, he just like picked me up, carried me inside, turned around and shut the apartment door, and locked it. It wasn't until Kristin's roommate returned to their dorm room, that Margarita realized Kristin never came home. James Murphy: That suggests that something bad happened in Paul Flores's dorm room. It was turned over to a detective with the San Luis Obispo Sheriff's Office, but Garin Sinclair says, the Smarts never knew it existed until the Lassiters were deposed in January 1997. Chadwell answered no. The sheriff's office seized the trailer and Det. Cole also talked about his interview with Jennifer Hudson in November 2019. Meanwhile, the hearing is scheduled to conclude on Friday, when the judge will rule if prosecutors have probable cause to go to trial. You just don't talk, and you get away with it. Police investigated whether Durst, 71, who lived in San Francisco at the time Modafferi went missing, was connected to her disappearance. It would be three more years before the property was searched again.
Dennis Mahon's Podcast Det. Defense lawyers have criticized the evidence used to arrest both men last week. Cole in 2019. D.A. There's no question about it. A hundred percent that was happening. RUBEN FLORES: [long pause] We never asked that question. Soon after her disappearance, a sheriffs search party combed remote parts of the Cal Poly campus on horseback, archival video from KCRA-TV shows. But now, 25 years later, a man sits in a San Luis Obispo County Jail cell, charged with her murder. Lindsey Smart Stewart: Right. He'd go anywhere. Her parents, Denise and Stan were both educators who encouraged their kids' passions. Ruben will be released on bail that he can afford. James Murphy and Garin Sinclair look at the billboard that has been in their front yard for more than two decades. And my roommate actually kicked down the door to make him stop. JAMES MURPHY: Does your son have any information as to where Kristin Smart's body is located? But the Flores's have fought back, suing the Smarts for intentional infliction of emotional distress. Murphy immediately filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Flores in civil court. Friday, May 24, 1996, was the start of the Memorial Day weekend. Just days after she disappeared, an incident report seemed to imply that Kristin's behavior contributed to her disappearance. Nikki Rodriguez, a spokeswoman for the court, said the documents were not supposed to be public. On April 19, father and son each pleaded not guilty, according to The Associated Press. Lourdes Aguiar is the senior producer. No remains have been found. And Murphy and Sinclair believe they can prove it. Jonathan Vigliotti: What toll over time did this have on your parents? A single woman's earring. Chris Lambert: A young couple moves into it with their kid. every piece of evidence points directly at Paul Flores. At the time, they did not know about a missing college student. So now you've got three different stories about how he got that black eye. The Tribune said it got the public documents from the courthouse in the city 160 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
Three other women missing: Did Lac's husband kill before? And might have connected Kristin to Susan Flores's house, says James Murphy. September 15, 2017. Denise Pearce: The investigation was completely botched by the campus police. True crime podcasting is not something that particularly captivated me, Lambert told Rolling Stonelast year. 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. But I've seen it. I knocked on her door, and I thought she was just sleeping, or she went out and about, you know? Nineteen-year-old Kristin Smart disappeared Memorial Day weekend of 1996. San Luis Obispo Sheriff's Office personnel dig in an area in the backyard of the home of Ruben Flores, in Arroyo Grande, Calif., March 16, 2021. "48 Hours" has learned these suspicions center around evidence found during that 2020 search of Paul Flores' home. 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. In the late 1990s, the. Clockwise from left, Kristin, Denise, Stan, Matt and Lindsey. PAUL FLORES: On the advice of my attorney . Helicopters were used to canvas the area. We feel like the stars aligned when the podcast aired, she told Rolling Stone. ", 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.". Ms. Smart, who was from Stockton, Calif., was a freshman at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. PAUL FLORES: On the advice of my attorney, I refuse to answer that question based on the fifth amendment of the United States Constitution. She loved swimming and skiing. In his mug shot, a black eye can faintly been seen. James Murphy: Every day. 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. Please enter valid email address to continue. Prior to the arrests, in February 2020, Flores home, his parents home, and his sisters home were searched by police. Smarts family issues a statement following the news about Flores going to trial: Yesterday was a very good day and we want to take this opportunity to thank all of Kristins supporters in San Luis Obispo and beyond. Cole said he has the admission on a digital tape recording. In a statement, the Smart family described a long wait for this bittersweet day.. Cole reportedly testified that Ruben asked why Susan Flores, who is Pauls mother, and her boyfriend were also being swabbed when he was the only one who committed a felony. JAMES MURPHY: Has your son ever told you that he did not kill Kristin Smart? Margarita Campos: To this day, like, I was like, why why did I just let her go by herself? Little is known since the proceedings are kept secret, but no charges were ever filed. Smarts remains have never been found, but authorities recently said they believe they know where she was buried, though they havent disclosed the location. Her books are available on Amazon. James Murphy: There has been no other suspect. Chris Lambert: I wish I knew why.
Paul Flores convicted of killing Kristin Smart after 26 years of Margarita Campos: I was a little bit more introverted and inhibited and she was like, "no, we have to go out and we have to go like live life."