On May 25, 1996, Paul Flores insisted on walking an intoxicated Kristin Smart back to her dorm room. Years later, Paul was serving a 25-years-to-life sentence in state prison while Kristin’s whereabouts still remain unknown.
Who Was Kristin Smart?
Kristin Denise Smart was born on February 20, 1977, in West Germany, where her parents, Stanley and Denise Smart, worked as educators for the U.S. Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA).
Years later, the Smart family moved back to the U.S. and settled in Stockton, California, where Stan became head counselor at Lindhurst High School, while Denise joined the Lincoln Unified School District as a classroom teacher and program administrator.
The family grew with the birth of Kristin’s younger siblings, Matt and Lindsey Smart. Kristin shared a close bond with them, and the three grew up in a warm and loving home.
In Stockton, Kristin attended Lincoln High School, where she excelled academically while exploring different parts of the world. She took additional courses at an international summer school in London.
Kristin also spent semesters in Venezuela and Hawaii. As reported by The Tribune, her brother Matt remembered her as “the sort of individual who sought out adventure, the sort of individual who sought out the best that life had to offer.”
Kristin spent her last summer break at a residential honors program at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). A few months later, she graduated high school in 1995.
She enrolled at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly), to study architecture. Her dorm room was on the first floor of Muir Hall, one of the campus residential buildings.
While studying architecture, academic stress kept piling up. The pressure affected her grades and her social life. In a Los Angeles Times report, she described her struggles to a friend, saying “school seems like it is never going to end.”
Kristin also shared her struggles with her family, and her mother urged her not to become disheartened. According to the Los Angeles Times, Denise wrote in a letter, “Learn from your mistakes and get on with life. Wake up and smell the roses. You have a world of opportunities at your fingertips.”
In 1996, Kristin Smart finally switched to Communication Studies, aspiring to pursue a career in journalism. In a Mustang News report, her mother recalled, “She wanted to be the next Joan Lunden.”
The shift gave Kristin more room to grow and have fun. She started going out, dyeing her hair and experimenting with aliases such as Roxie, Marysol, Trixie and Kianna.
What Led to the Disappearance of Kristin Smart?
On the afternoon of May 24, Kristin was happy that she passed her biology test and earned extra credit. According to the Tribune, she sent a voicemail to her family, saying, “Hi, good news, good news. I’ll call you on Sunday.”
Later, she got dressed in a gray crop top, black shorts and red sneakers, leaving her ID, keys and money at her dorm before heading out for the Memorial Day holiday weekend.
By 8:30 pm, she walked next door to meet her friend, Margarita Campos. At 8:45 pm, Kristin, Margarita, and two other friends took a ride to an off-campus house on Foothill Boulevard.
They reached the venue at 9:00 pm. It was more of a gathering, and the girls weren’t really enjoying themselves; they wanted to go somewhere livelier. In a Mustang News report, Margarita noted, “It was not a raging party.”
Kristin drank some beer and stayed at the party for approximately an hour and a half before heading to a frat party down the street. However, Margarita called it a day and returned to her dorm.
At 10:30 pm, Kristin walked two blocks to 135 Crandall Way. The party was loud and packed with students. She immediately began socializing, drinking, and introducing herself as ‘Roxy’ to various partygoers.
An hour later, Kristin met Matthew Toomey and asked if his roommate, Ross Ketchum, would be interested in her. After a brief conversation, Ross and Kristin kissed before she resumed partying.
That’s when Cal Poly freshman Paul Flores noticed Kristin Smart. Around 11:35 pm, he cornered Matthew and repeatedly asked if Kristin was available. Unfortunately, Matthew wasn’t the only one uncomfortable due to Paul’s behavior.
According to Fox News, Kristin’s friend Steve remarked about Paul’s reputation on campus, saying, “No, I did. The same way people knew me, like, ‘That’s Steve from the basketball team,’ people around the dorms knew, ‘That’s Paul. He’s the creepy guy.’”
That night, Paul kept approaching various women, making them uneasy with their advances. He also continued following her throughout the party. Eventually, he saw Kristin kissing Trevor Boelter.
In a Mustang News report, Trevor recounted the interaction; he said, “[She] comes up to me and says ‘[She said] hi, I’m Roxie,’ kisses me.” Later, when Trevor went to the restroom, Paul confronted him.
Paul asked Trevor if he was interested in Kristin. He denied it, and the two left the restroom. Around 11:55 pm, Kristin collapsed in a crowded hallway while Paul stood over her.
Kendra Koed, who witnessed the ordeal, was already aware of Paul’s reputation. According to Mustang News, Kendra recounted, “I was uncomfortable with the interaction. After my previous experience with him that same evening, I was uncomfortable with his behavior towards her.”
She helped Kristin up and took her to the patio for fresh air; she warned Kristin about Paul’s behavior and offered her a ride home. Kristin said she already had a ride and went inside, where she continued partying until she collapsed again.
At 12:30 am, Matthew and Ross spotted Kristin lying face down on a neighbor’s lawn. They tried to help her up, but Kristin Smart said she wanted to stay there.
They didn’t press much and assumed that someone would eventually help her, so they headed back to their dorm. Meanwhile, Kristin remained there for about 2 hours.
Senior Tim Davis and Cal Poly student Cheryl Anderson found Kristin at 1:45 am, as the party wound down and the crowd began to disperse.
She was shivering and could barely get up. Tim and Cheryl got her on her feet and headed to drop her back at her dorm. At 2:00 am, Paul suddenly intercepted them.
Speaking about the encounter, Tum remarked to KSBY that Paul “appeared out of nowhere.” Paul insisted that he could take Kristin home since they lived nearby. Eventually, Tim left Kristin in Cheryl and Paul’s care.
On the walk back, Paul kept grabbing Cheryl by the waist until she physically pushed him off. At 2:30 a.m., Cheryl reluctantly left Kristin with him and headed to her dorm.
Instead of taking her back to her dorm, Paul took Kristin to Room 128 of Santa Lucia Hall. That was the last time anyone saw Kristin Smart alive.
The Investigation into the Disappearance of Kristin Smart
On the morning of May 25, Kristin’s roommate, Crystal Calvin, woke up to see Kristin’s empty bed. Crystal wasn’t alarmed, assuming Kristin had weekend plans.
By May 26, Kristin’s parents also started to worry because she hadn’t made the family ritual Sunday call. The next day, Margarita came to meet Kristin but didn’t find her there.
Margarita chalked Kristin’s absence up to spontaneous plans. Around the same time, Kristin’s close friend Jennifer Medeiros also started looking for her. She realized the gravity of the situation when she saw that all of Kristin’s essentials, including her ID, keys, and money, were still in her dorm room.
She immediately contacted the Cal Poly University Police Department (UPD) and reported the situation. The desk officer told her it was too early for them to declare Kristin Smart missing.
Kristin’s disappearance sparked suspicion around campus. Paul’s roommate briefly spoke with him about it. According to a KSBY report, his roommate recalled, “I made a joke, you probably did something to her. He joked back, ‘Yeah, she’s at my mom’s house right now.’”
On Tuesday, May 28, Jennifer missed her morning classes and contacted the San Luis Obispo Police Department (SLOPD). However, the case was outside their geographic jurisdiction, so they redirected Jennifer to the Cal Poly University Police Department.
After SLOPD’s nudge, the Cal Poly University Police Department filed a missing person report for Kristin Smart. Authorities contacted Stan and Denise Smart to ask whether she was at the family home.
The couple was shocked since they expected Kristin to be on campus. They asked the authorities questions, but their concerns were dismissed. According to FOX40, Denise recounted the conversation and noted, “So it was three days later that we got an SOS call from the Cal Poly Police Department. Do we know where our daughter is?“
She stated that the authorities had a very flippant attitude towards her disappearance. Afterward, UPD started retracing her steps on the night of the party, and the investigation led them to Paul Flores.
Around 4:00 pm, Officer Mike Kennedy went to Paul’s dorm to interview him. Paul claimed that he hadn’t seen Kristin after leaving her outside her dorm room. The authorities conducted a campus-wide search on May 30 but couldn’t locate her.
By 5:40 pm, UPD officer Kennedy and CPPD officer Cudworth officially began questioning Paul as a material witness. They asked him to walk them through the events leading up to her disappearance.
While discussing his final moments with Kristin, Paul said his physical contact with her was limited to two hugs before he left her in front of her dorm room.
By 6:35 pm, the officers urged Paul to remove his baseball cap, revealing a fresh black eye. They also noticed several abrasions on both of his knees. He explained that he had been injured playing basketball.
Eventually, Officer Kennedy asked Paul why he had lurked around Kristin through the night. He insisted he wasn’t interested in her; according to The Tribune, Paul went as far as to say, “Nah, she was drunk. If someone’s promiscuous, I don’t find them attractive.”
They also confronted him about his reputation around campus as “Chester the Molester,” which he outright denied. By the end of the interrogation, Paul refused to take a formal polygraph test (lie detector test).
By May 31, officers reached out to Paul’s alibi, Jeromy Moon, to verify his claims about the black eye and knee injury. According to Jeromy, Paul was already injured when he came to the court to play.
After the lie came to light, SLOPD got involved. At 1:30 pm, Paul was called to the campus police station by senior DA Investigator William “Bill” Hanley and his partner Larry Hobson.
They interviewed Paul in an unmarked law enforcement vehicle. During the interview, Paul’s statement had minor discrepancies, and he flat-out denied meeting Kristin at the party.
Paul doubled down on his injury claim, despite his alibi. He raised suspicion by saying Kristin might be dead. The officers again insisted that he take the polygraph test.
That’s when Paul stopped cooperating with law enforcement. He refused to answer any questions unless his parents or an attorney was present and left for his dorm.
On June 5, Detective Kennedy searched Kristin’s room in Muir Hall and seized her belongings. Paul’s dorm room at Santa Lucia Hall was also searched and seized on June 10, after he and his roommate moved out.
Detectives Hanley and Hobson called Paul to the Arroyo Grande Police Department on June 19. He remained silent when they began questioning him again. As time passed, the case made little progress while the pressure from Kristin’s family and friends grew.
This prompted San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ed Williams to assist with the investigation. On June 29, the authorities conducted a thorough campus-wide search, involving nearly 400 volunteers. They also brought cadaver dogs from the California Rescue Dog Association (CARDA).
Around 9:30 am, K-9 handler Adela Morris brought her dogs to Santa Lucia Hall; they rushed towards Paul’s dorm room and began scratching at the door. According to The Tribune, Morris stated, “All he wanted to do was go to that door.”
At 1:00 pm, when Wayne Behrens brought in his dog, it had the same reactions as the previous dogs and kept pinpointing Paul’s mattress and a trash can.
The search ended by 5:00 pm. Investigators seized Paul’s mattress, clothing fibers, and other belongings from his room, and Paul became the primary person of interest.
In November 1996, Kristin Smart’s parents filed a $20 million wrongful death lawsuit against Paul. A year later, during a civil deposition, Paul invoked his Fifth Amendment rights 27 times.
Finally, Kristin was legally declared dead on May 25, 2002. Public interest in the case was renewed in 2019 when Journalist Chris Lambert released the “Your Own Backyard” podcast. In the podcast, he delved into the case’s specifics and introduced new witnesses.
Between 2020 and 2021, investigators served major search warrants to investigate properties owned by the Flores family. They used ground-penetrating radar and forensic archaeology to excavate Ruben Flores’ backyard deck.
The authorities unearthed soil disturbances in the shape of a casket, clothing fibers that belonged to Kristin, and blood. On April 13, 2021, Paul was arrested and charged with first-degree murder.
His father was also arrested for tampering with evidence and moving her body. Their arrests led to a highly publicized 12-week trial in Salinas, California, in Monterey County Superior Court.
The Murder Trial and The Aftermath
Pretrial motions officially began on June 6, 2022, under Judge Jennifer O’Keefe. By July 1, the court seated separate juries for Paul and Ruben Flores, and trials began concurrently
On July 18, both sides presented their opening statements. During the trial, Prosecutor Christopher Peuvrelle asserted that Paul killed Kristin while attempting to sexually assault her.
Kristin’s family shared their account of the 26 years they spent looking for her on July 21. According to the New York Daily News, Denise told the court, “For the next 25 years, I did whatever I could and looked for answers wherever I could. I felt like the life of my daughter was of no value to anyone except her family.”
In the subsequent sessions, the prosecution presented decades of evidence, including witness testimonies and reports from the excavation of Ruben Flores’ backyard deck.
On September 22, Judge O’Keefe permitted two women to testify against Paul. They testified that Paul had drugged and sexually assaulted them in the years following Kristin’s disappearance.
Prosecutor Peuvrelle delivered his closing arguments on October 3. According to Oxygen True Crime, he stated, “We know now the truth. The truth is out, the truth is Kristin was plucked off the face of the earth by Paul Flores.”
The next day, Defense Attorney Sanger presented his final statements to the jury. As reported by The Mercury News, Sanger argued, “This case was not prosecuted all these years because there was no evidence, and there’s still no evidence.”
On October 18, 2022, the jury returned its verdict; they found Paul guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced him to 25 years to life in state prison. Ruben was acquitted of his charges.
In a press conference following the verdict, Stan Smart shared the family’s sentiments. As published by KSBY News, he said, “Without Kristin, there is no joy or victory with this verdict; we all know it did not have to be this way. We will never be able to hear Kristin’s engaging laughter or revel in her embrace.”
Long before the conviction, her family chose to honor her legacy with the Kristin Smart Scholarship. The program was launched on the 21st anniversary of her disappearance and has empowered many women over the years.
If you want to explore mysterious disappearances, you can delve into the stories of Anthonette Cayedito and Sophia Koetsier.
