BRIAN MELLEY, Associated Press
The “prime suspect” was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of murder in the 25-year-old disappearance of California college student Kristin Smart.
Paul Flores, 44, who was the last person seen with Smart on the California Polytechnic State University campus in San Luis Obispo before she vanished in 1996, was taken into custody in the Los Angeles area. His father, Ruben Flores, 80, was arrested as an accessory at his Arroyo Grande home, where sheriff’s investigators conducted their latest search for evidence.
San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson said search warrants were sealed and so he could not disclose what evidence led to the arrests, but he said Smart’s remains were not found.
The hunt for Kristen Smart s killer: Cops executed 40 warrants, collected nearly 200 pieces of new evidence and tracked long-time suspect Paul Flores s phone for two years before his arrest - but they re still searching for her body
Suspicion has long followed Paul Flores, now 44, ever since Kristin Smart vanished from the Cal Poly University campus in San Luis Obispo back in 1996
Despite being a suspect from day one, investigators say they never had enough evidence to charge Flores over Smart s disappearance until Tuesday
Flores has now been charged with murdering the 19-year-old student
His father, Ruben Flores, 80, was also arrested as an accessory to the crime
LOS ANGELES The San Luis Obispo County district attorney said Wednesday that missing California college student Kristin Smart was killed in 1996 during an attempted rape by a fellow student and the suspect’s father helped hide her body. District Attorney Dan Dow said Paul Flores will be charged with first-degree murder and his father, […]
Missing California college student Kristin Smart was killed in 1996 during an attempted rape, prosecutor says Published 2 days ago
Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong, center, speaks during a press conference Tuesday, April 13, 2021, San Luis Obispo, Calif. At left is a photo of Kristin Smart. Smart, 19, of Stockton, California, vanished in May 1996 while returning to a dorm at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, after a party. San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson stands in the background and interpreter Robin Babb is at right. (David Middlecamp/The Tribune (of San Luis Obispo) via AP)
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Print article LOS ANGELES Missing California college student Kristin Smart was killed in 1996 during an attempted rape by a fellow student and the suspect’s father helped hide her body, the San Luis Obispo County district attorney said Wednesday.
Prosecutor claims Kristin Smart was killed by fellow student Paul Flores during an attempted rape in 1996 and his father helped hide the body
Paul Flores will be charged with first-degree murder and his father, Ruben Flores, will be charged with accessory after murder
The son and father were arrested Tuesday after years of investigations and searches that recently led to evidence connected to Kristin Smart s killing
Smart, 19, was last seen May 25, 1996, while returning to her dorm at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo after an off-campus party
She was inebriated at the time and Flores, a fellow freshman at the school, had offered to walk her home