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Kristin Smart: Prime suspect Paul Flores and his father arrested after breakthrough in 1996 missing student cold case
A long-time suspect in the 1996 disappearance of a California college student has been arrested along with his father.
Paul Flores, 44, was the last person seen with Kristin Smart when she vanished on 25 May 1996 while returning to campus from a party.
For years he has refused to comment under his right not to incriminate himself, but on Tuesday he and his 80-year-old father Ruben Flores were detained.
Image via Getty/Axel Koester
On Tuesday morning two men were arrested in connection with the disappearance of Kristin Smart, a college freshman who was attending California Polytechnic State University when she disappeared on May 25, 1996. She was last seen near her dorm while walking home from a frat party. She never returned to her room, and nobody heard from her again. A massive search turned up nothing. She was declared legally dead in 2002.
In a Tuesday news conference, San Luis Obispo (SLO) County Sheriff Ian Parkinson said that Smart’s body had not been located, but that authorities had found forensic physical evidence they believed to be “linked to Kristin.”
Kristin Smart.
Paul Flores, who was long suspected of being involved in her disappearance, was taken into custody along with his father,
Ruben Flores.
Smart was last seen walking home from a party near her dorm at California Polytechnic State University on May 25, 1996. While her body was never found, officials declared Smart dead in 2002.
Paul Flores was the last person to see her alive and was questioned after she went missing. He has denied any involvement in her disappearance.
According to the
Los Angeles Times, investigators have been focusing on how Flores would have disposed of Smart s body. They knew he couldn t have done it alone and, during the past year, have been trying to determine how he would have moved her body. They examined several vehicles owned by Flores and his father in 1996, including two trucks and a VW Golf Cabriolet, looking for any evidence they were used to transport Smart before or after she died.