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James Murphy: They brought in the first dog and they'd had the dog go through the dorms. 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. Cole also testified that on March 9, 2020, a witness reported some suspicious activity at the property. And there are more horrifying allegations about what may have happened to Kristin after she was last seen with Paul Flores. Paul Flores and his father both pleaded not guilty to all charges at their arraignment. They took in soil, I assume, for some kind of analysis. Onuma was evicted from a Kaneohe, Hawaii residence after his connection to the Kristen Modafferi . True crime podcasting is not something that particularly captivated me, Lambert told Rolling Stonelast year. A California jury has found Paul Flores, the man accused of the 1996 murder of Kristin Smart, guilty of first-degree murder, according to a news release from the San Luis Obispo County District. Chris Lambert: I didn't know the scale. His father Ruben Flores charged with being an accessory after the factwas found not guilty. It had been the focus of widespread speculation for more than two decades especially her planter boxes. A hundred percent that was happening. The two are charged in connection with the death of Cal Poly freshman Kristin Smart. What's going on? Paul Flores pleads not guilty to the murder and attempted rape of Smart. JAMES MURPHY: Has your son ever told you that he did not kill Kristin Smart? But Murphy says there were other incidents that should have raised alarm bells about him with law enforcement from the very beginning. Also taking the witness stand on Wednesday was Edward Chadwell. Nineteen-year-old Kristin Smart disappeared Memorial Day weekend of 1996. And here's your key." They also uncovered videos in a folder labeled practice that featured women wearing ball gags and in other fetish positions. Jonathan Vigliotti: She had just 40 yards to go and yet she vanished. Plans & Pricing ; Podcast Statistics; PowerPress Plugin . Don Kelsen/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images. 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. And yes, we did find physical evidence at, at least two homes. It was first reported by The Tribune, and a reporter posted snippets of documents on Twitter. Joe Johnston/The Tribune (of San Luis Obispo), via Associated Press. Whatever happened in those early hours, one thing is indisputable: Kristin Smart has never been seen again. Margarita soon decided she'd had enough. I told her I didn't I didn't want to go. At the time, they did not know about a missing college student. Chris Lambert spoke with some women who knew Flores back then. https://www.nytimes.com/article/kristin-smart-case-timeline.html. But on April 13, 2021, after an investigation that spanned nearly a quarter of a century, the authorities announced that two California men Paul Flores, now 45, and his father, Ruben Flores, 81 had been arrested in connection with her disappearance. After apparently becoming intoxicated, Smart headed back to her dorm with fellow partiers Tim Davis and Cheryl Anderson. Book Author Jenn is a lawyer-turned-author and true crime writer. James Murphy: And it's 2:30 and 3 o'clock in the morning at Cal Poly this is not a a location from which Paul alone could easily move a body without a vehicle. Back in May 1996, Kristin Smart was finishing her freshman year at California Polytechnic State University better known as Cal Poly. That turned out to be college. 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. 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. Little is known since the proceedings are kept secret, but no charges were ever filed. That's when Denise Smart learned her daughter had not been seen all weekend, and all her belongings were still in her dorm room. Chris Lambert: They did a significant amount of digging underneath the house. Jonathan Vigliotti: How significant was that? Cole said investigators checked out the skateboard ramp location but did not find a body. By herself, which is pretty amazing. 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. Send us a tip using our anonymous form. Cole said that Ruben then clarified that he meant he was the only one of the three to have been arrested. But as Chris Lambert learned, Flores's pattern of behavior with women didn't stop. Helicopters were used to canvas the area. It was on Memorial Day weekend 1996 that their 19-year-old daughter Kristin Smart disappeared. They didn't look at the Flores family's vehicles. In his mug shot, a black eye can faintly been seen. 7,781 days.. That is all it took. Mike McHugh is the producer-editor. The mother is washing her car in the driveway at one point. The next morning, Margarita waited to hear from Kristin. Margarita Campos: To this day, like, I was like, why why did I just let her go by herself? In June 1997, 18-year-old Kristen Modafferi arrived in San Francisco to take a photography class at UC Berkeley. 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. PODCAST EPISODE 1: I googled Kristin Smart's name every few years. Chris Lambert: He told those friends he just woke up with the black eye. And the body's not there now. The then eighteen-year-old . And when they did . He also said there was suspicious staining in the soil indicative of human remains. 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. I don't know if Kristin knew anybody there. to find the next challenge. "Up and Vanished" led a man to confess to killing a . Dozens of community members on Saturday evening gathered for a vigil at Santa Rosa Park in San Luis Obispo to light candles in the memory of Kristin Smart, the Cal Det. 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. 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. It also expounds on several other alleged rapes as well as unwanted sexual advances. Kristen Modafferi, Kristin Smart & Kent Jacobs. He'd go anywhere. But cadaver dogs told a different story. It's, like, she has nothing on her. Paul Flores did not have a car on campus, so Murphy surmises he had to have had help. Maybe we cant. Ruben Flores was released on $50,000 bail to his ex-wife. In 1997 when Paul Flores was deposed for the civil suit, the only thing he would confirm on tape was his name. Margarita Campos: I mean, she was gone. Just weeks later, Kristin's frustrated parents contacted James Murphy, a local civil attorney. Jonathan Vigliotti: How did you know she hadn't been back? Any evidence that might have been there was long gone. Also on the stand Tuesday were another cadaver dog handler, an expert in fiber evidence and a district attorney's office investigator. She left them only after he promised to take Kristin back to her dorm. Murphy and Sinclair promised the Smarts the billboard will stay until their daughter is found. James Murphy: Having a black eye doesn't make you guilty of anything but if the person you were with disappeared from the planet that's physical evidence. 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. Chris Lambert: It's mostly frat guys from the Kappa Chi fraternity. . So before leaving, Margarita handed over her keys to get back into Muir Hall. October 22, 2022 / 10:10 PM 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. Please enter valid email address to continue. His is the latest in a line of true-crime podcasts to play a role in an arrest, a court appeal or even an exoneration. 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 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. And the complaint has some explosive claims about what led investigators to focus under Ruben's deck in the first place. 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. 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. She withdrew money from the bank, a surveillance camera capturing what are . And I was like, "nah, I have to study." He wouldn't answer a single thing. 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. Chris Lambert: Paul keeps stopping along the way and letting Cheryl Anderson know, you can go on ahead. Chris Lambert: They're hopeful, but they've also been let down so many times before. Kristen was in her first year at Cal Poly when she vanished in 1996. Prosecutor Chris Peuvrelle asked him if he found the remains of any monkeys or ferrets or any human bodies on the property. Testimony resumes at the Kristin Smart hearing after a week off. The jury hearing Paul Floress case began deliberations after closing arguments on Oct. 4. 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Chris Lambert: And he says he got a black eye playing basketball with his friends. Just days after she disappeared, an incident report seemed to imply that Kristin's behavior contributed to her disappearance. 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. 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. Devastating. Chris Lambert: There was a man climbing her trellis and trying to get inside her balcony, very intoxicated and refusing to leave. I knocked on her door, and I thought she was just sleeping, or she went out and about, you know? IE 11 is not supported. And these girls are inviting us out. PAUL FLORES: On the advice of my attorney . Ann-Marie Christian: became friends with Kristin in elementary school. Man charged with 1996 murder of college student Kristin Smart. Clockwise from left, Kristin, Denise, Stan, Matt and Lindsey. They went on trial in July 2022 in Monterey County, Calif. On Oct. 18, 2022, Paul Flores was found guilty of murdering Ms. Smart. 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. In March 2021, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office served a search warrant at the Arroyo Grande home of Ruben Flores. Chris Lambert: I brought them a number of witnesses that they were very interested in. We want to especially thank the District Attorneys Office for their relentless efforts. 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. Margarita Campos: I was, like, "Kristin, I'm going to go back home. D.A. And yes, we believe it's linked to Kristin. Lambert also interviewed a woman who dated Flores until, she says, he became physically and verbally abusive. 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. To declare to the public if you stay quiet, you will get away with this. Judge van Rooyen announced in April that the trial would be moved to Monterey County, about 140 miles north of San Luis Obispo, after the defense team requested the change of venue because of extensive publicity around the case. Chris Lambert: And that's when they're told that earring has been misplaced. Kristen Modafferi, Kristin Smart & Kent Jacobs. He gets his arm around her torso and her arm around his neck, and he's helping her walk. KSBY will have more on what takes place in court on KSBY.com and KSBY News at 5 and 6 p.m. It encouraged the previously reluctant to come forward. This obviously gave law enforcement new leads to follow and connect with what they already were holding close.. So had Margarita Campos, who lived in the next room in Muir Hall. About 45 minutes after Kristen got off of work on the day she vanished, she was seen on the 2nd f. Missing-person posters and billboards offering rewards appeared along roads and in other public places. He built the home on White Court for Ruben and Susan Flores in 1991. Chris Lambert: I think that might have been the biggest misstep that investigators have made to this day. Ken Blum is the editor. Even worse they never sealed his dorm room. Ruben Flores was acquitted by a separate jury. 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.