Son, father appear in court for hearing in 1996 killing
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LOS ANGELES – A former California college student charged with murder in the 1996 disappearance of classmate Kristin Smart and the defendant’s father, who is accused of helping hide the young woman’s body, made their first court appearance Thursday but did not enter pleas.
Paul Flores, 44, was charged with first-degree murder for the killing that allegedly happened as he tried to rape Smart in his dorm room at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo after an off-campus party. Witnesses said Smart was intoxicated and Flores had said he would walk her home.
Fox News contributor and forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden with insight on Fox & Friends First.
A California man and his father charged in connection with the 1996 disappearance of 19-year-old college student Kristin Smart did not enter pleas during their first virtual court appearance Thursday morning.
Paul Flores, whom investigators declared a prime suspect last month, made his remote appearance in San Luis Obispo Superior Court wearing a suit and tie, while his 80-year-old father, Ruben Flores, appeared in an orange prison jumpsuit.
Defense attorneys for the Flores’ requested that the arraignments be continued until Monday, when they will enter a plea and hear arguments related to bail. A San Luis Obispo Superior Court judge approved the request and set a new date for April 19 at 1:30 p.m. PT.
Noise pollution poses long-term risk to trees study
Apr 15,2021 - Last updated at Apr 15,2021
AFP photo by Yasuyoshi Chiba
By Patrick Galey
Agence France-Presse
PARIS Noise pollution poses a long-term risk to tree populations and plant diversity that may persist even after the sources of excess noise are removed, according to research published Wednesday.
Manmade noise from construction, industry and the building of infrastructure such as roads and pipelines has increased dramatically since the middle of last century, and biologists are increasingly concerned about their impact on plants and animals.
While previous research has documented the short-term impact noise has on tree populations as it scares off pollinators such as insects and animals, few studies have investigated the long-term effects.
Since the unprecedented popularity of
Serial attempted to cast doubt on the guilt of Adnan Syed, convicted in 1999 of murdering his high school girlfriend Hae Min Lee, scores of other true crime podcasts have hoped to tap into the popularity of armchair detecting by delving into unsolved murders, of which there are unfortunately many in the U.S.
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And one of these podcasts seems to have succeeded in helping solve one of those murders is
Your Own Backyard, which looked into the unsolved 1996 disappearance of Kristin Smart. After 2019 interviews with new witnesses were released, San Luis Obisbo police had enough evidence to monitor the cell phone of Smart’s former classmate Paul Flores, which led to Flores’s arrest for the Smart’s murder, along with the arrest of Fores’s father, Ruben, as an accessory to murder.