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. SHERIFF IAN PARKINSON [to reporters]: It's been a puzzle and it's a very slow process to find each of those little pieces some of that information came to light through the podcast many of you are familiar with. It wasn't until Kristin's roommate returned to their dorm room, that Margarita realized Kristin never came home. Later, the sheriff's office obtained a warrant for Ruben's DNA and Det. Everyone knew Paul (Flores) was creepy. By the time Cal Poly police began investigating, Kristin had been gone for four days. Axel Koester/Sygma via Getty Images The. Also included is the result of a February 4th, 2020 search of Paul Flores San Pedro home, where San Luis Obispo County Sheriffs investigators seized electronic devices that featured videos showing Flores having sex with seemingly incapacitated women. every piece of evidence points directly at Paul Flores. Nearly a week after their arrests, father and son both pleaded not guilty in San Luis Obispo County Superior Court. But Mary Lassiter says the earring matched the necklace Kristin is seen wearing on the billboard. And when they did . D.A. Kristin Smart 19, a freshman at California Polytechnic State University had gone to a party on Friday, May 24 , 1996 -- and has not been seen since. In 1997 when Paul Flores was deposed for the civil suit, the only thing he would confirm on tape was his name. Just five months before Kristin disappeared, San Luis Obispo Police received a call from a student living off campus. Early on, a small group of volunteers also looked for Kristin. She and all who have worked so hard toward this day deserve nothing less.. PODCAST EPISODE 5: If you were making a film about a new law enforcer who's coming to a small town to save the day, you'd probably cast Parkinson. In 2011, the Smarts hoped those boulders would become a little lighter when Ian Parkinson became the . He invoked the Fifth Amendment 27 times. They're known for being a really safe school.". His father was found not guilty of helping to hide her body. But remarkably, the same thing happened with three more dogs. We want to especially thank the District Attorneys Office for their relentless efforts. In addition, the documents include a phone tap from January 2020 in which Pauls mother, Susan, tells her son: The other thing I need you to do is to start listening to the podcast. Chris Lambert: As they describe it, Paul Flores just sort of appears out of nowhere. Susan's house was finally searched in March 1997 nine months after Kristin disappeared but nothing was found. Kristin Smart went missing on May 25, 1996 while attending California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo and has not been heard from since. But Paul Flores was never charged with any of these incidents. 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. but I knew that I could try to do a small part. We just, "do you know anything about it". PODCAST EPISODE 2 | WOMAN #1: I wasn't surprised, but there's also that shock value of kind of "oh my god, I knew it! She spent a summer in London, was an exchange student in Venezuela, and a lifeguard at a camp in Hawaii. The Sheriffs Office investigators and forensic specialists assigned to Ms. Smarts case executed 18 search warrants, submitted 37 items that were collected in the early days of the case for DNA testing, recovered 140 new items of evidence and conducted 91 interviews from 2011 to 2020, the office said. IE 11 is not supported. Chris Lambert: Everything else, he took the Fifth Amendment. The sheriff's office still wasn't convinced they had enough evidence against Flores. The then eighteen-year-old . They were after Paul Flores for an outstanding DUI warrant. Denise Pearce: She was becoming more and more alarmed, you know? There was no reaction until the dog reached Paul Flores's room. A separate jury for Ruben Flores started deliberating on Oct. 5. Kristen Modafferi, Kristin Smart & Kent Jacobs. The younger Flores has long been the only person of interest in Smarts disappearance; she was last seen on May 25th, 1996, after attending a party near campus. Smart was talking with and socializing with several different males at the party. Three other women missing: Did Lac's husband kill before? They also uncovered videos in a folder labeled practice that featured women wearing ball gags and in other fetish positions. 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. 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. The body of Kristin Smart, which has never been found, was recently moved from the home of Ruben Flores, a prosecutor said, according to a document filed Monday and posted on social media by a. The Kristin Smart Scholarship has been established by her family to help other college bound women pursue their dreams. Please enter valid email address to continue. Margarita Campos: I was expecting her to knock on my door and be, like, "Oh, Margarita, you missed a rager. She was last seen in the Lands End area of San Francisco, close to where Laci and Connor washed up. A hundred percent that was happening. So, she slowed down and walked with them. The search for Smart did not begin until a week after her disappearance, as campus police refused to take a missing persons report from a dorm mate; the hunt only began in earnest after the student called the police and the Smart family. And I was like, "nah, I have to study." They got to the parking lot of an apartment complex. Police investigated whether Durst, 71, who lived in San Francisco at the time Modafferi went missing, was connected to her disappearance. "48 Hours" has learned these suspicions center around evidence found during that 2020 search of Paul Flores' home. I was afraid Id end up missing or buried someplace, she says. Jonathan Vigliotti: How significant was that? So, they did not immediately get a warrant to search Susan Flores's home. Cole said he has the admission on a digital tape recording. Jonathan Vigliotti: They thought she was off possibly having fun. 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? Berkeley. Like his black eye, seen faintly in a mug shot taken by the Arroyo Grande Police just by chance two days after Kristin vanished. That young woman was Kristin Smart, and she hasn't been seen since. Chris Lambert: There was a man climbing her trellis and trying to get inside her balcony, very intoxicated and refusing to leave. I didnt understand why. That's when Denise Smart learned her daughter had not been seen all weekend, and all her belongings were still in her dorm room. It would be three more years before the property was searched again. He built the home on White Court for Ruben and Susan Flores in 1991. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. They believe they can prove Paul Flores is responsible for the disappearance of Kristin Smart. D.A. 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. Paul Flores pleads not guilty to the murder and attempted rape of Smart. Produced by Lisa Freed. We want to hear it. Jonathan Vigliotti: Was this case, given the evidence that was lost early on, doomed from the very beginning? As of 2021, Kristen Modafferi's case remains unsolved. Clockwise from left, Kristin, Denise, Stan, Matt and Lindsey. Members of the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Department and FBI searched the grounds of Susan Flores's home in Arroyo Grande on June 19, 2000, for any evidence that might shed light on the disappearance of Cal Poly student Kristin Smart. Det. When they were deposed by James Murphy, they also insisted their son was not involved. In the months after Kristin's disappearance, one truck was traded in and the other was reported stolen. 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. 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". (Pool photo by Dave Minsky/Santa Maria Times). JAMES MURPHY: Does your son have any information as to where Kristin Smart's body is located? James Murphy: There's no way to get evidence back once you've lost it. Sie knnen Ihre Einstellungen jederzeit ndern, indem Sie auf unseren Websites und Apps auf den Link Datenschutz-Dashboard klicken. 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. But while campus police weren't doing much, Kristin's parents were doing whatever they could to find their daughter. The search for Kristin Smart never ends for her family And I was, like, "uh OK, fine.". Cadaver dogs trained to detect human decomposition were deployed by the F.B.I. He promised the Smarts that solving Kristin's case would be a priority. Then, in 2011, Ian Parkinson was elected sheriff. The investigation seemed to be hampered from the start by a series of missteps by campus police beginning with their assumption that Kristin was off having fun and ignoring worried friends who said she was missing. But it was a local story and the thing that stood out to me is that nobody was talking about it anymore. Cole said this was done so Lambert would include the information in his podcast during the time of the wiretap. James Murphy: And it says wrongful death and then I put murder. She was looking forward to hearing from Kristin that Sunday. She was never seen. Copyright 2023 Penske Business Media, LLC. Chris Lambert says they're cautiously optimistic. 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.
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