Did Ruben Flores call Kristin Smart a slur? Ex-roommate testifies during murder trial
Witness testimony in the Kristin Smart trial focused Monday on evidence that suggests Ruben Flores helped cover up her murder.
Smart’s body has never been found, but the prosecution believes she was once buried underneath Ruben Flores’ deck after his son, Paul Flores, killed her in May 1996.
Edward Chadwell, the general contractor who built and sold Ruben Flores his Arroyo Grande home, testified Monday in Monterey County Superior Court that the lot was once an avocado tree orchard.
Chadwell said he isn’t sure how many trees were removed from the lot when the home was built, but that builders had to dig deeper in some areas because of soil conditions to ensure there was a solid foundation.
In some spots, crew members had to dig up to 8 feet deep, the contractor said. The house on White Court Way was finished in 1991.
He couldn’t say for certain whether there was rock underneath the deck but acknowledged that it was possible.
There was also a sewage clean-out pipe and access to a 7-foot-tall crawl space underneath the deck, Chadwell said on the stand.
Did Ruben Flores call Kristin Smart names?
Jurors also heard Monday from Ruben Flores’ former roommate.
David Stone lived with Flores for 10 years — from October 2010 to about October 2020.
While Stone said he wouldn’t live with Flores again — noting, “He complained a lot” — he said the two “always got along.”
Stone testified that Flores once stopped a plumber from fixing an issue with the kitchen sink because he would have to go underneath the house.
Harold Mesick, Ruben Flores’ lawyer, said that was because Paul Flores was able to fix the issue and his father may not have wanted to pay a plumber.
Ruben Flores had also been upset with Stone for storing two 55-gallon chemical drums underneath the deck without asking, Stone said.
Stone said that he had to ask permission to go underneath the deck.
“It was his house, his rules,” he said of Flores.
The jury deciding Paul Flores’ verdict then left the courtroom so that Ruben Flores’ jury could hear testimony that only pertained to the older man’s case.
San Luis Obispo County Deputy District Attorney Chris Peuvrelle asked Stone if he had ever heard his roommate talk about Smart.
“I only heard ‘Kristin’ — no last name — and ‘f-ing slut,’” Stone replied, saying he heard the slur once when he was leaving the house.
Stone testified he wasn’t sure if it was Ruben Flores who had said it or the person to whom Flores was talking.
Peuvrelle asked Stone if he remembered telling San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office detective Clint Cole in Feb. 2021 that Ruben Flores called Smart a “dirty slut all the time,” to which Stone replied he hadn’t.
Peuvrelle showed Stone a transcript of his interview with Cole to refresh his memory, but Stone said he still did not remember saying that in the conversation.
When asked if he had spoken with the defense in the past year, Stone said he hadn’t.
Stone was briefly excused and Peuvrelle then called Cole to the stand.
Cole said the he had recorded and accurately transcribed his interview with Stone and testified Stone had told him that Ruben Flores often called Smart a “dirty slut.”
Ruben Flores had unusual behavior after FBI search, neighbor says
Jamilyn Holman, who lives across the street from Ruben Flores, said she heard “yelling” and saw vehicles outside Flores’ home that she hadn’t seen before on Feb. 9, about a week after the FBI searched the home.
Holman did not see the FBI search take place, but learned about it on social media, she testified.
On Feb. 9, Ruben and his ex-wife, Susan Flores, were outside the house with her boyfriend, Mike McConville, Holman said, and Susan Flores’ car, a red SUV, a white van, a cargo trailer and a travel trailer were parked outside the home.
Some of the yelling was related to trying to back the cargo trailer into the garage, Holman said, adding that she did not know everything that was said.
She assumed the vehicles remained parked on the property overnight because they were still there in the morning, which was unusual, she said.
Susan Flores’ red SUV was seen regularly at Ruben Flores’ house at the beginning of 2020 and is seen only occasionally now, Holman said.
The frequency of sightings of the car increased with the release of the “Your Own Backyard” podcast, which examines Smart’s disappearance, she testified.
Holman isn’t a fan of cars honking outside after dark, she said, but didn’t have an objection to Ruben Flores living on her street.
She said she does not know Susan Flores or McConville personally, but has had one conversation with Ruben Flores.
Holman didn’t tell law enforcement officials about what she had seen until March 2021.
Around the time, she said, she messaged Chris Lambert, creator of “Your Own Backyard.”
She said she ended up meeting with Jim Murphy, the Smart family’s civil attorney, and Lambert also happened to be there.
Holman denied seeing the Flores family members “working through the night” or removing evidence from the house.
Witness testimony in the Smart case will resume Tuesday.
This story was originally published August 29, 2022 at 6:08 PM.
