Kristin Smart, who disappeared in 1996, may have been raped and killed in a college dorm, prosecutor says By: CNN By Cheri Mossburg, Ray Sanchez and Paul Vercammen, CNN (CNN) -- Kristin Smart, the California college student who vanished in 1996, was killed during a rape or attempted to rape in a dorm room, prosecutors alleged Wednesday. Paul Flores, 44, was formally charged with first-degree murder in connection with her death, according to San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow, who announced the charges after new evidence recently came to light in the case. "So what I can tell you is that significant new information has come in to the sheriff's office that we've read over the last two years, and some very important information just a month ago," Dow said at a news conference Wednesday.