Ex-Cal Poly student: Man accused of killing Kristin Smart interrupted walk home after party
A former Cal Poly student who helped walk Kristin Smart back from a house party the night of her 1996 disappearance testified in court Thursday about how the man accused of killing Smart insinuated himself into the group walking back to the university residence halls that night.
“At that point it seemed weird the guy was there. Most everyone had left,” Tim Davis said of Paul Flores. “He was kinda in the dark ... and all of a sudden he was just there. I was like, ‘Who the hell is this guy?’ “
Witness testimony continued Thursday in San Luis Obispo Superior Court in the month-long preliminary hearing in the case against Paul Flores and his father, Ruben Flores.
Another witness testified that she heard Paul Flores confess to Smart’s murder but held on to the secret for years because she was afraid. The woman choked back tears on the stand as she said that she feels guilt “every day” for not coming forward sooner.
Prosecutors allege Smart was murdered by Paul Flores during a rape attempt in his residence hall room more than 25 years ago.
Paul Flores, 44, is the last person known to have seen the 19-year-old freshman alive after walking her back from the party toward the Cal Poly campus residence halls on May 24, 1996.
Smart’s body has never been found but investigators believe her remains were buried at the Arroyo Grande home of 80-year-old Ruben Flores, and recently moved.
Thursday marks the eighth day of testimony in the evidentiary hearing for Paul and Ruben Flores, which van Rooyen said is likely to proceed through August.
Paul Flores, a San Pedro resident, is charged with one count of murder. His father is charged with felony accessory after the fact.
More than a dozen people — including Smart’s parents and former friends and classmates of Smart and Paul Flores, as well as current and retired San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office and Cal Poly campus detectives, Flores’ ex-girlfriend and a cadaver dog expert — have testified since the hearing began Aug. 2.
At the conclusion of the hearing, 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’s what happened in court Thursday.
Former fraternity member testifies about night of party
Davis, a former Cal Poly student and fraternity member who walked Smart up toward her dorm following the May 24, 1996, party on Crandall Way took the stand very briefly late Wednesday and testified to the layout of the house at 135 Crandall Way, which he described as a “dirty, dingy college house that three boys lived at.”
Davis resumed his testimony Thursday morning in Superior Court.
He said there were two people “who stuck out like sore thumbs” at the party: Kristin Smart and Paul Flores.
Davis said Flores was “very intent on being around (the girls at the party), being near them.”
“He was, I would say, engaging as much as he could be,” Davis said.
Davis recalled Flores and Smart falling to the floor about five feet in front of him at the party, before they got up again. He said they seemed intoxicated and almost embarrassed.
Then at about 1:30 a.m., as he was getting people home, Davis noticed Smart laying on the grass outside the house. He helped her up and started walking with her and fellow Cal Poly student Cheryl Anderson back to the dorms, he said.
Davis said at that point Smart “was tired and wanted to go to bed.”
Then Paul Flores “came out from wherever he was and joined our group of three,” Davis said.
“He was by himself in the darkness?” Deputy District Attorney Chris Peuvrelle asked Davis.
“Correct,” Davis said. “He came out of the darkness.”
According to Davis, the four walked up Crandall Way and around the student health center with Smart hanging on Davis for support.
At the time, Davis said, they could see the lights from the dorms at the top of Perimeter Road, which he estimated was a 10-minute walk under normal conditions. With an inebriated Smart, he said, he estimated the walk would take about 20 minutes.
Davis said Anderson, who he knew, suggested that he turn back since he lived on Murray Street off Santa Rosa Street — about a 20-minute walk in the opposite direction.
Anderson said the three could manage without him, Davis testified.
That’s when Paul Flores said, “I’ll take Kristin. Give her to me,” Davis said. Flores grabbed a hold of Smart, and Davis last saw the three heading uphill toward Perimeter Road.
Witness says he wants to see Paul Flores convicted for Smart’s death
Under cross examination by the defense, Davis said he’s been living with the weight of Smart’s disappearance for more than 25 years.
Asked if he thinks Paul Flores is responsible, Davis said, “Yes.”
Paul Flores’ defense attorney, Robert Sanger, asked Davis about various interviews he’s given over the years, including to a Telegram-Tribune reporter in the late 1990s. Davis said he’s since ignored or declined media requests for interviews, including an offer to speak on the podcast “Your Own Backyard,” which focuses on the case.
Davis said he hasn’t watched multiple national news profiles on the case or listened to the podcast.
“I was there — I don’t need someone telling me the story,” Davis said. “I’m certainly not seeking any limelight on this. It’s gone on for 25 years.”
Sanger asked Davis about multiple letters he received from Dennis Mahon, a longtime advocate for the Smart family who tracked Davis down in 2001 and pressured him to come clean with everything he knew, implying he was withholding information.
“This goes back many years for me,” Davis said of Mahon’s contacts with him. “(He had) some delusional idea that I should have more information than I have.”
Davis said that there are “all sorts of crazies in the world” who have been attracted to the Smart case.
Davis was also questioned about his contacts with Peuvrelle and investigators related to his testimony.
According to notes recited by Sanger, Davis told Peuvrelle prior to the preliminary hearing that “if this was Western justice, we would (shoot Paul Flores) and move on with our lives.”
Davis said that he did say that, but that his main concern was whether the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office finally had a solid case against Paul Flores.
“That’s my assessment of this case,” Davis said of his opinion of Paul Flores’ guilt. “How was this going to play out was my big question for (Peuvrelle).”
Sanger recited the report and quoted Peuvrelle as saying to Davis that the filing of charges against Paul and Ruben Flores was “the decision of the elected DA,” county District Attorney Dan Dow. Dow has popped in and out of the hearing on different days.
Davis admitted that he told Peuvrelle he wanted to “help put this guy (Flores) away” and that he was “always on that side.” Davis also told Peuvrelle, “I want to put this guy away. Happy to do whatever I can,” according to a reading of a transcript.
Sanger then asked if Davis is molding his testimony to achieve a conviction for Paul Flores. Davis said he wasn’t, and also said he didn’t do anything to prepare for the testimony.
“I would like this wrapped up, if you will,” Davis said. “This has been a weight on me for 25 years.”
Asked by Ruben Flores’ attorney, Harold Mesick, why he’s in court, Davis said, “To testify to the incidents and the events of that night.”
Asked if it’s to “convict Paul Flores,” Davis replied, “The end goal: yes.”
Mesick also questioned Davis about his communications with the prosecution, including warnings Davis gave Peuvrelle that taking a weak case to court “will piss a lot of people off, even more than they’re already pissed off” over the Smart case.
Noting that Davis was “trying to do the right thing” by walking Smart toward her dorm that night, and is clearly not pleased to have to testify in court, Mesick asked, “No good deed goes unpunished, right?”
“You’re telling me,” Davis said.
Peuvrelle asked Davis whether the prosecutor instructed Davis to simply tell the truth in his testimony, Davis said, “Yes.”
Davis clarified that after everything he’s learned about the case since the night of the party, “I don’t see anyone else other than Paul Flores as guilty in this case.”
Davis stepped down from the stand just before the lunch recess.
Witness claims Flores said he put Smart under ramp in Huasna
After the lunch recess, witness Jennifer Hudson took the stand detailing an upsetting encounter she had with Flores.
Hudson said she was hanging out in San Luis Obispo with a group of friends and acquaintances where Paul Flores was also in attendance when a public service announcement came on the radio.
Hudson said Paul Flores said, “That b---h was a d--k tease and I’m done playing with her and I put her under my ramp in Huasna.”
Hudson said Paul Flores was not joking and had “dead eyes.”
She testified she was so concerned by his statements, she left the hangout.
On a separate occasion, Hudson said she was out in Huasna giving friends a ride to a different gathering, when Paul Flores appeared to take them to the skate ramp. Hudson vomited, she said.
“I didn’t want to be out there with someone who said they killed somebody,” she testified Thursday.
Hudson said she didn’t tell the police about the interaction, but did tell a roommate in 2001. That roommate called the anonymous tip line set up for the investigation into Smart’s disappearance.
Asked by defense why she didn’t report the statement, Hudson said, “I was terrified.”
“When (he told me about Kristin Smart), he had dead eyes, like there was no soul, like he was looking through me,” Hudson said.
Witness feels guilt for not coming forward sooner
Under cross examination, Hudson recalled how the former roommate contacted her in October 2019 to tell her that he was interviewed for Chris Lambert’s “Your Own Backyard” podcast about Hudson’s admission. The roommate encouraged her to get in touch with Lambert, which she did.
Ultimately, she was interviewed and she and the roommate took Lambert out to the site where the Huasna skate ramp used to be for his podcast.
Sanger asked Hudson to describe the person who confessed to killing Smart, implying that the person was not his client.
Mesick attempted to paint Hudson as biased against the Floreses.
Asked if she wants to help the Smart family, Hudson replied: “More than anything.”
“Do you think you hold the key to solving the case?” Mesick asked.
“No, I do not feel that I’m the end-all to this,” Hudson said.
Asked if she feels guilt for not coming forward with the information sooner, Hudson said, “Every day.”
“The possibility that I could have helped,” Hudson said, pausing as she held back tears, “I will never excuse my behavior for waiting and I know it was selfish and I apologize. ... As (Det.) Cole said, it’s better now than never.”
Testimony continues Monday.
This story was originally published August 12, 2021 at 11:38 AM.
