Kristin Smart murder case: Here’s what happened on Day 1 of preliminary hearing
Latest update to this story >> >> Kristin Smart hearing: Ex-student says he saw murder defendant Paul Flores ‘lurking’ in dorm
The parents of missing Cal Poly freshman Kristin Smart spoke Monday morning in San Luis Obispo Superior Court during a preliminary hearing for two men accused of killing their daughter and hiding her body.
“She always felt like a gift to our family,” Denise Smart said of her daughter. “She was so energetic and had a great smile. She was the best hugger.”
The hearing for Paul and Ruben Flores is expected to last at least 12 full days.
Paul Flores, 44, is the last person known to have seen the 19-year-old Smart alive after walking her back from the party toward the Cal Poly campus dorms on May 24, 1996. He is accused of raping or attempting to rape Smart in his dorm room before killing her.
Smart’s body has never been found, but investigators believe it was buried at the Arroyo Grande home of Paul Flores’ father, 80-year-old Ruben Flores, and “recently” moved, according to a San Luis Obispo County probation report.
Paul Flores stared mostly straight ahead during the first day of proceedings, rarely looking in the direction of his father or the news media sitting in a corner of the courtroom.
The hearing, originally scheduled for early July, had been postponed several times as the defense continued to gather alleged evidence in the case from the prosecution.
The hearing is expected to feature a series of witnesses including investigators, archaeologists and cadaver dog experts, as well as women who are expected to testify to Paul Flores’ past sexual assaults and predatory behavior.
The hearing is not being live-streamed and media in attendance are under strict rules prohibiting the use of electronic devices in the courtroom.
At the conclusion of the hearing, Superior Court Judge Craig van Rooyen will rule whether prosecutors established probable cause — a lesser standard of proof than guilt beyond a reasonable doubt — to proceed the case toward trial.
Here is what occurred on Day 1 of the preliminary hearing:
Kristin Smart’s mother is first witness called in preliminary hearing
On Monday, deputy district attorney Christopher Peuvrelle called Denise Smart, Kristin’s mother, as the preliminary hearing’s first witness.
She described in Superior Court how Kristin Smart was “very close” to her two siblings.
Denise Smart said her daughter kept in contact with the family at least once a week during her first year at Cal Poly.
She said Kristin Smart “was not particularly happy” at the university earlier in the year, but had sounded more optimistic the last time the family saw her in spring 1996.
The last time the family heard from Kristin Smart was in a voicemail left within the week before her disappearance.
“She said, ‘I have good news, I have good news and I’ll call you on Sunday,’ ” Denise Smart recalled.
After Kristin Smart went missing, her family contacted Cal Poly, but “nobody seemed to be aware she was missing.”
The Smart family also contacted the FBI, who reported back to the family that they were told by Cal Poly police officials that they “were not needed,” Denise Smart said.
Denise Smart also testified that her daughter had no financial means or other resources to purposefully leave.
During Monday’s hearing, defense attorneys asked questions that appeared to suggest that missing Cal Poly student Kristin Smart had disappeared at least once before.
Under cross examination by Robert Sanger, Paul Flores’ defense attorney, Smart’s mother, Denise Smart, said her daughter had worked before college as a lifeguard and counselor at a Christian camp in Hawaii.
Sanger asked Denise Smart if she was aware that Kristin Smart had applied for work “outside the country.” She said she was not.
The defense attorney asked if Kristin Smart had ever been to Thailand, to which her mother said she went to the country on a family trip.
He asked whether she had said anything about wanting to go to Thailand in the spring of 1996. Denise Smart said “No.”
Denise Smart said her daughter spoke “very infrequently” about boyfriends, adding that she was only vaguely aware of her daughter’s interest in a boy Denise Smart did not know in the fall of 1995.
Harold Mesick, who represents Ruben Flores, asked Denise Smart if she was aware of three alleged sightings of Kristin at Taco Bell restaurants, which Denise Smart confirmed Kristin enjoyed, along Interstate 5. Denise Smart said “No.”
She also responded “no” when Mesick asked whether she was aware Kristin “went missing” briefly while working as a lifeguard in Hawaii.
Denise Smart was excused from the stand just prior to the lunch recess.
Lawyers move to stop subpoena of Paul Flores’ mother
Following the lunch recess in Monday’s preliminary trial for Paul and Ruben Flores, witness examination was paused as the court discussed several motions by both parties — including a motion by the attorney for Susan Flores, mother of murder defendant Paul Flores, to quash a subpoena to testify in the case.
The court records of those motions are under seal and have not been reviewed by The Tribune.
In arguing against the subpoena, attorney Jeff Radding told Superior Court Judge Craig van Rooyen that Susan Flores, if called to testify, would invoke her right against self-incrimination because, he argued, her words on the stand would be misquoted and misconstrued in the press and on social media.
Van Rooyen swore in Susan Flores, and she told him she intended to invoke her rights if called to testify. The judge then ruled that Susan Flores could not be called to the stand.
Kristin Smart’s father recalls months after disappearance
Deputy district attorney Christopher Peuvrelle next called to the stand Kristin Smart’s father, Stan Smart.
The former educator and high school principal described his relationship with his daughter as “close, nurturing and wholesome.”
Smart said that he was in contact with his daughter at least once a week while she was at Cal Poly, and described the lack of assistance he and his family got from Cal Poly campus police after Kristin Smart disappeared.
Stan Smart said Cal Poly police were “ill equipped” to handle a missing persons case.
“I wasn’t very satisfied with (Cal Poly campus police),” Stan Smart said. “They didn’t seem to have the expertise in the field with somebody who’s disappeared.”
After Kristin Smart’s disappearance, he stayed in San Luis Obispo County for approximately two months, physically searching for her and following up on any leads.
He even followed up on tips from psychics, he said.
“I crawled through a lot of culverts. I looked through a lot of dumpsters” during that time, Stan Smart said.
He even drove to Ruben Flores’ Arroyo Grande home, he testified, after learning of Flores’ son, Paul Flores, becoming a person of interest in the case.
After driving to 710 White Court in Arroyo Grande, Stan Smart said he was confronted by Ruben Flores.
“Ruben came out of his house yelling,” Smart testified. “He said, ‘You need to get out of here — somebody could be shot.’”
Under cross examination by the defense, Stan Smart said his daughter never spoke to him about modeling or of any boyfriends, but did mention going to Thailand for school — something Stan Smart described as “a pipe dream.”
Asked by Harold Mesick, Ruben Flores’ attorney, whether he believes Kristin “disappeared,” as he said on the stand, Stan Smart said, “I believe she’s deceased.”
“There have been things since then that make me think she’s no longer alive,” he said.
Before being excused from the stand late Monday afternoon, Stan Smart fielded a series of questions under cross examination related to how he learned about Paul Flores and whether he was ever made aware of other possible suspects.
Stan Smart said Paul Flores was the only individual made known to him from officials as a person of interest in the case.
Robert Sanger, Paul Flores’ attorney, then asked whether Stan Smart knew that Scott Peterson — who attended Cal Poly at the time — was at the house party on Crandall Way that Kristin Smart attended the night of her disappearance.
Peterson, who is serving life in prison for the murders of his wife and unborn son, “should have been a suspect” in the Smart investigation, Sanger said.
The defense attorney listed off a couple other people he said should have been persons of interest — including one young man with whom Kristin Smart had a sexual relationship and who two friends reportedly told investigators at the time had gotten her pregnant.
Sanger also asked Stan Smart whether he knew that his daughter was “reported for stalking” a man at a book store, or that she had been sending emails to another older man, whom Sanger didn’t name.
That line of questioning ended with a sustained objection from Deputy District Attorney Christopher Peuvrelle.
Witnesses speak about house party where Smart was last seen
Superior Court Judge Craig van Rooyen heard lastly from two witnesses who were at the house party that Paul Flores and Kristin Smart attended on May 24, 1996. Neither personally knew Smart or Flores before that night, they said.
A few dozen people were in attendance, said Eric Grasso, who was a Cal Poly fraternity member at the time.
Grasso testified that he remembers Flores drinking at the party, but hanging back and not interacting with people directly — which Grasso described as “observing.”
Grasso didn’t speak to Flores at the party, which he admitted he remembered very little about.
Kendra Koed testified that she also attended the party, but that she recalled asking attendees for gum and Flores telling her he had some to share in his vehicle. He then grabbed Koed and started kissing her until she pushed him off, she said.
Someone told the pair to “get a room,” which “mortified” her, Koed said, but she followed him outside for the gum anyway. He again attempted to kiss her and she pushed him away, she said.
Later that evening, Koed testified, she witnessed Kristin Smart fall in a hallway with Paul Flores standing over her. Though she didn’t know Smart, she helped her to her feet.
“We talked for a few minutes and I said, ‘Stay away from that guy,’ ” Koed said.
Asked why, she said, “She (Smart) seemed highly intoxicated — she could barely hold her head up.”
Shortly thereafter as Koed and her roommate began walking home, she said, she saw Smart lying in the driveway of the house and offered to walk her out. Smart waved off her assistance, Koed said, saying she was waiting for someone.
Koed said she later learned the woman — who had introduced herself as “Roxy” — was Smart after seeing her case on the news. Though she said she reported the incident to Cal Poly police at the time, she was never interviewed by officials until 2014.
In cross examination, Sanger questioned the woman about being interviewed for “Your Own Backyard,” Chris Lambert’s podcast featuring the Kristin Smart case, as well as her having previously spoken with Dennis Mahon, a longtime advocate for the Smart family.
Testimony is scheduled to resume at 9 a.m. Tuesday.
Paul Flores, father accused of killing Kristin Smart, hiding body
After a decades-long investigation, Paul and Ruben Flores were arrested in connection with Smart’s disappearance on April 13 in San Pedro and Arroyo Grande, respectively, and the San Luis Obispo District Attorney’s Office announced the criminal charges against the men the following day.
Paul Flores, a San Pedro resident, is charged with one count of murder. Ruben Flores, 80, is charged with felony accessory after the fact.
Paul Flores and his father pleaded not guilty at their arraignment on April 19, when van Rooyen ordered Paul Flores be held without bail.
Paul Flores remains in San Luis Obispo County Jail, where he’s being held without bail for the remainder of proceedings.
Ruben Flores was released from County Jail on April 22, hours after Superior Court Judge Craig van Rooyen significantly lowered his bail because he is not a flight risk or a risk to public safety.
Ruben Flores remains out of custody.
Paul Flores faces a sentence of 25 years to life if convicted of first-degree murder.
Ruben Flores faces a maximum of three years if convicted of the accessory charge, though it is not clear if that sentence would be served in County Jail or state prison.
Court records related to an unsuccessful prosecution attempt to charge Paul Flores with two counts of rape involving female victims in Los Angeles were unsealed in court last month.
In addition to information from 29 women about Flores’ alleged sexually predatory behavior, the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Statement of the Case also showed that investigators found video evidence of rape of an intoxicated person against Flores at his San Pedro home, as well as traces of human blood in disturbed soil underneath Ruben Flores’ home.
This story was originally published August 2, 2021 at 11:54 AM.
