‘Justice for her is long overdue’: Students, podcaster react to Kristin Smart arrests
A group of 200 to 300 people gathered at the Cal Poly campus Tuesday to observe history — a Sheriff’s Office press conference officially announcing the arrest of suspect Paul Flores on suspicion of murder in the disappearance of Cal Poly student Kristin Smart.
The public interest marked the highest profile San Luis Obispo County media event around a criminal case in years, likely dating back to the Rex Krebs case in the late 1990s.
Krebs, a serial killer, was arrested in SLO County for stalking, raping and killing two students, leading to his confession, arrest and conviction. Krebs sits on death row awaiting execution at San Quentin State Prison.
The latest news on the Smart case reverberated from San Luis Obispo across the nation.
It was the top featured article on CNN’s homepage and was covered by the Los Angeles Times, CBS, Fox News, KTLA, the Associated Press and a number of other national media organizations.
Among those in attendance at Tuesday’s press conference at Cal Poly were students, community members and Central Coast resident Chris Lambert — the podcast creator of the popular series “Your Own Backyard,” who along with detectives was among those credited by San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson for helping bring the case to justice.
At the event, Lambert told The Tribune that “he’s just a musician” who hoped from the very early stages to help Smart’s parents find their daughter, which remains his goal given that Kristin’s body has not yet been found.
That’s despite the arrests of Paul Flores, charged with murder, and his father, Ruben Flores, charged with being an accessory to the crime.
“The podcast was one part of the whole formula,” Lambert said. “Even with what I found, I can’t go arrest somebody. I needed (the Sheriff’s Office) to do their job. I was willing to do what I could to assist in that. You can get varying levels of agreement about whether what I did directly led to an arrest. My personal opinion was that I was one piece of the formula.”
Lambert said he has always felt like Smart’s remains are in SLO County.
“I’ve always felt like she was local,” said Lambert, he said of the search for her body. “It’s part of the reason I got involved in this. It’s part of the reason I called it ‘Your Own Backyard’ because of the frustration at the beginning was, ‘Why are not enough people talking about this? Why is the community not pushing for something to get done? And if her body is here and local, I or anyone could potentially find it with a shovel and sleuthing skills.”
National media attention
Lambert said he had received a flood of press inquiries from around the country on Tuesday, adding that was the impetus for why he created the podcast.
Lambert said the last time the case received any media attention was about two years before he launched “Your Own Backyard” in September 2019.
Before that, a 2017 sheriff’s press release revealed a dig on a Cal Poly hill related to the case was “beneficial,” but no new information would be released.
“It was two years of silence. It was no news stories, and it felt like, ‘What are we doing here?’” Lambert said. “There’s a girl missing and we kind of know who did it and a lot of stuff that points to where she could be. ... It felt quiet.”
Lambert’s podcast has since garnered more than 7 million downloads.
He said that he believes Susan Flores, who hasn’t been arrested, knows what happened.
“Their family has spent so long denying it that maybe she believes it at this point,” Lambert said.
Susan Flores has not been arrested in connection with any crime associated with the case to this point.
Lambert said that he provided sheriff’s officials with information he gathered during the course of the investigation, which he believes helped the case, but he said it’s ultimately the sheriff’s case to tackle.
“I know what (evidence) I gave them, so I know what they’ve moved forward with, but they probably don’t want me to share the details,” Lambert said. “I feel good about the case at this point. But I’ve felt good about it for a long time. It was just a matter of the way the machinery works. You just have to wait a while for things to get done — the District Attorney’s Office, the Sheriff’s Office and who’s going to do which part. I’ve been waiting for a long, long time to come to some sort of resolution.”
News conference draws Cal Poly students
Attendees at Tuesday’s press conference included dozens of Cal Poly students, some of them young women who said they listened to the podcast and found the case fascinating.
“After listening to the podcast, I got super invested,” said Kylie Varner, a Cal Poly senior. “I felt like I knew everything about the case because (Lambert) talked about it. We wanted to come today. We were super invested.”
Another student, Caroline Lee, said the more she listened, “the more it hit home,” because the party Smart went on the night of her disappearance on Crandall Way is right across from where Lee lives.
“She’s from Stockton, and I’m from Modesto,” Lee said. “Today, being here, you really felt some sort of connection to it. It’s not just a podcast. It’s real life.”
Lee said she has always felt safe walking at Cal Poly and around adjacent neighborhoods, but it’s a reminder to be observant.
Cal Poly senior Emma Blair said that she lives two doors down from the house where Smart had attended a party before her disappearance, which sparked her interest.
“I listened to the podcast as soon as it came out. I watched the TV shows like “48 Hours” on it and read the news articles,” Blair said. “It has always been super interesting to me. I found out about the press conference today from The Tribune. I got off work and came right over for it.”
Students say house parties happen in the SLO neighborhood where Smart went missing as a somewhat regular occurrence.
“Even now, when I was listening to the podcast, I remember first thinking, ‘Why didn’t they check her location?’ or text her,” said Varner. “But obviously it was in the ’90s (before cell phones and GPS were common). And now, it’s easier to communicate with people and it makes it safer.”
Blair said it’s a good idea to make sure young women travel in groups late at night and be aware of their surroundings, which she and her friends make a habit of.
SLO resident America Vazquez came to the press conference also as an avid podcast fan, remembering when the news first broke on the Smart case when she was a girl of about 9 or 10 years old.
“I was terrified to go out,” Vazquez said. “It was frightening.”
Vasquez added the case has long been a part of local conversation and interest.
“Like the Rex Krebs (murder case), it was something people talked about a lot,” Vazquez said. “Everyone pretty much knows who Kristin Smart is. Justice for her is long overdue.”
This story was originally published April 13, 2021 at 6:41 PM.
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