The murder of Kristin Smart
San Luis Obispo, San Luis Obispo County, California · 1996
Overview
Kristin Smart, a 19-year-old Cal Poly freshman from Stockton, left an off-campus party in San Luis Obispo around 2 a.m. on May 25, 1996, so drunk that two students had to walk her toward campus. A classmate, Paul Flores, joined them, said he would get her home safely, and was the last person seen with her on Grand Avenue. Flores, who had a black eye, invoked the Fifth Amendment for decades, and Smart was declared legally dead in 2002. A 2016 dig on the campus hillside found nothing. In 2019 a podcast, Your Own Backyard, brought forward witnesses who had never been interviewed, and with them came new evidence: an order to intercept his communications, searches in 2020 that turned up date-rape drugs and videos, and in March 2021 an excavation beneath the deck of his father Ruben Flores's home in Arroyo Grande that found a casket-sized soil disturbance and human blood too degraded for DNA. Father and son were arrested on April 13, 2021. After a four-month trial in Salinas before two juries, Paul Flores was convicted of first-degree murder on October 18, 2022; Ruben was acquitted as an accessory. Paul Flores was sentenced to 25 years to life in March 2023; the conviction was affirmed in 2025 and the California Supreme Court declined review in January 2026. A May 2026 search of his mother's home ended without finding Kristin, who has never been recovered.
How it was solved
The case turned on people who finally talked. Sheriff Ian Parkinson said investigators obtained evidence in late 2016 that made Paul Flores the prime suspect, but the break came in 2019, when detectives interviewed at least one witness, and by the sheriff's later account several, who had never been questioned in 23 years. Parkinson credited the podcast Your Own Backyard, made by Chris Lambert, with bringing that information to light; Lambert said he left some sensitive witness accounts out of the series so investigators would have them first. With the new witnesses, the sheriff said, came new evidence, including physical evidence, and detectives obtained a court order to intercept Flores's electronic communications. In February 2020 warrants were served at four locations, including Flores's San Pedro home and his mother's home in Arroyo Grande, and two Flores family trucks were taken into evidence. A second San Pedro search in April 2020 reportedly turned up two bottles of date-rape drugs and homemade videos that prosecutors said showed him assaulting women. Information from those searches led to his arrest on a weapons charge in February 2021. On March 15 and 16, 2021, detectives searched Ruben Flores's property on White Court in Arroyo Grande with cadaver dogs and ground-penetrating radar; archaeologists working under the deck found a soil disturbance about the size of a casket and the presence of human blood, too degraded to yield DNA. A further search of Ruben's home produced evidence that led a judge to sign two more search warrants and two arrest warrants, and father and son were arrested on April 13, 2021. At trial the archaeologist testified that soil beneath the deck had been removed and put back and that dark staining consistent with human decomposition should not have been there; a forensic analyst said tests confirmed human blood in some samples. Prosecutors argued that Smart had been buried under the deck and later moved. The jury convicted Paul Flores of first-degree murder on October 18, 2022; a separate jury acquitted his father.
Sources
- Kristin Denise Smart
“She was last seen walking north on Grand Avenue with Paul, towards Muir Hall, her dormitory.”
- Kristin Smart Family Sues Cal Poly, Says University Partly Responsible for Her 1996 Murder (January 19, 2024)
“Officers told her friends the agency wanted to wait until the holiday weekend was over.”
- Potential break in Kristin Smart cold case (September 7, 2016)
“The excavation is taking place in a remote area below Cal Poly's iconic "P" sign on the hill overlooking the campus.”
- Paul Flores arrested on murder charge, father arrested as accessory in Kristin Smart case (April 13, 2021)
“Then in 2019, they interviewed at least one new witness that had not been previously interviewed.”
- 'Your Own Backyard' Podcast Credited For Helping Lead To Arrests In Kristin Smart Case (April 2021)
“some of that information came to light through the podcast that many of you are familiar with.”
- SLO County Sheriff on Kristin Smart investigation: 'This is not a one hour CSI show' (February 6, 2020)
“The downside is Chris knows what Chris knows, so there's information out there that's not accurate.”
- Paul Flores, person of interest in Kristin Smart case, arrested on weapons charge in Southern California (February 2021)
“On Thursday, the sheriff's office said the arrest was a result of information obtained during those searches.”
- 'Prime suspect' arrested in student Kristin Smart's 1996 disappearance (April 13, 2021)
“Smart, 19, of Stockton, vanished in May 1996 while returning to her dorm at Cal Poly after a party.”
- Paul Flores to stand trial for death of Kristin Smart (September 22, 2021)
“He was the last person to see Smart after they were seen together leaving a house party on Memorial Day weekend in 1996.”
- Kristin Smart Murder Trial: All The Key Witness Testimony So Far (2022)
“He testified that Flores "appeared out of nowhere" and started walking with them.”
- Jurors cry over photos of a possible burial site of Kristin Smart (September 2022)
“One of the anomalies was darker soil consistent with human decomposition.”
- Blood evidence, an alleged confession, and the prosecution rests (September 2022)
“The test confirmed the presence of human blood in some of the soil samples”
- Jury convicts Paul Flores of murdering Kristin Smart, acquits father (October 18, 2022)
“A Monterey County jury on Monday found Paul Flores guilty of first-degree murder in the killing of Kristin Smart in 1996.”
- Paul Flores sentenced to 25 to life for Kristin Smart murder (March 10, 2023)
“Mr. Flores, you have been a cancer to society.”
- Paul Flores sentenced to 25 years to life for Kristin Smart murder (March 10, 2023)
“Yet the blood was too degraded to extract a DNA sample.”
- Appeals court upholds Paul Flores' first-degree murder conviction (October 2025)
“In an unpublished opinion dated Oct. 24, the disposition states the judgment in Flores' case is affirmed”
- Paul Flores' Petition for Review of his Conviction Denied by California Supreme Court (January 2026)
“In October 2025, the Court of Appeal issued a written opinion that affirmed the October 2022 conviction.”
- Authorities search Arroyo Grande home linked to Kristin Smart's murder (May 6, 2026)
“Smart, who was 19 when she vanished on May 25, 1996, was declared legally dead in 2002.”
- Kristin Smart search ends with no remains found as detectives analyze evidence (May 2026)
“We think there's evidence to support human remains.”
- Murder of Kristin Smart
“Paul Flores was sentenced to 25 years to life on March 10, 2023.”