PODCAST EPISODE 4: At 8 a.m. on June 19th, 2000, a team of sheriff's investigators knocks on the front door of Susan Flores's East Branch Street home. At the time of Smart's disappearance, Flores was a 19-year-old food science major at Cal-Poly. First published on November 28, 2020 / 11:10 PM. D.A. Lindsey Smart Stewart: It just amazes me the amount of evidence that's available, yet nothing has happened. To think that you're going to finally get some resolution, and then it doesn't happen the way it's supposed to. She left them only after he promised to take Kristin back to her dorm. And when they did . His parents have always denied knowing anything about Kristin's disappearance and insist their son was not involved. Jonathan Vigliotti: She had just 40 yards to go and yet she vanished. CBS News correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti tracked Flores down to try and get some answers. Some of those women who did not want their real names used told Lambert about their encounters with him. Ian Parkinson: Yes. Ruben Flores was released on $50,000 bail to his ex-wife. The podcast, "Your Own Backyard,"has drawn millions of listeners and focused renewed attention on this decades old case. Paul Flores - Cal Poly student and Food Science major, Paul Flores lived on campus in room #128 of Santa Lucia Hall Dormitory. James Murphy: It was just a sad phone call to have somebody say, our daughter disappeared and we think she's the victim of foul play and we'd like to pursue the guy that we think is responsible. Flores claimed after walking Kristin back from the party, he went to his room in Santa Lucia Hall while she walked alone to her dorm. Sarah said shes still haunted by Flores. Classes were difficult, she was trying to fit in, and she missed her family. The Smart's attorney James Murphy, and his wife and office manager Garin Sinclair, have had Kristin's billboard in their front yard since late 1997. San Luis Obispo County Sheriff deputies arrested Paul Flores, the primary suspect in the disappearance of Kristin Smart, and his father, Ruben Flores, at separate locations Tuesday morning. Flores said he suffered the black eye during a basketball game he played with friends in Arroyo Grande on Monday. That witness initially came forward to Chris Lambert, who passed the information to the sheriff's office and Murphy. In 2011, the Smarts hoped those boulders would become a little lighter when Ian Parkinson became the new sheriff of San Luis Obispo County. The family attorney refused to comment when reached by The Daily Beast. James Murphy: An eyewitness actually documented the fact that throughout the night that there was activity in the area of the underside of that deck. And it was only 250 miles from Stockton, California, where she grew up with Lindsey and their brother Matt. I believed him but he was probably cheating on me.. By the time they called the Cal Poly campus police, Kristin had been missing for more than 48 hours. Ruben Flores and his estranged wife Susan have always denied any role in Kristin Smart's disappearance. Jonathan Vigliotti: Was this case, given the evidence that was lost early on, doomed from the very beginning? Friday, May 24, 1996, was the start of the Memorial Day weekend. were in the room exactly where she had left them. The Smarts say they tried to file a missing person's report with the local police but were told it was too early, and the FBI told them Cal Poly police were in charge. I blacked out and didnt consent to anything.. How could she have gone out of town? Once Jane was admitted her story seemed to fall on deaf ears. Since speaking with The Daily Beast, at least one of the women who has come forward saying Flores attacked her has been questioned by a detective working the Smart case. Four months later, while attempting to reconcile, Susan rented out her house in Arroyo Grande. Witnesses said she didnt smell like alcohol, but she quickly became so incapacitated that she passed out face-down on the houses front lawn. PODCAST | EPISODE 1: At least once a day I asked myself what are you doing? During a camping trip in Fresno, California, in the early 1990s, Floress female cousins playfully swiped and hid his wallet while walking en route to a liquor store to purchase slush puppies. The interrogation was recorded just days after Smarts college friends alerted police that she was missing. It's just a motivator for me. And she's like, "please come with me. Mike McHugh is the producer-editor. Just days after she disappeared, an incident report seemed to imply that Kristin's behavior contributed to her disappearance. 2020 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. (No video or audio). Denise had told Lambert that her daughter had been working as a lifeguard at the university's rec center, and every morning Kristin's watch alarm went off to make sure she was at the pool by 5 a.m. Over the years, law enforcement and the Smarts' lawyers have searched Susan Flores's backyard several times, but nothing has ever been found. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. James Murphy: Well, the location where all this activity occurred is where they found the biological material. Laura said Flores worked a construction job while attending school but that he was very secretive and she suspected he was in college forever so that his mommy kept paying for his housing and classes.. Paul Flores was lying through his teeth to law enforcement, Peuvrelle told the jury. No charges were filed, but Lambert discovered Flores's troubles started at a young age. A jury acquitted Ruben Flores of the charge of being an accessory after the fact. Meanwhile, three other women told The Daily Beast that Flores sexually assaulted them after Janes assault and Smarts disappearance. His podcast, "Your Own Backyard," has become a big hit attracting millions of listeners eager to hear every detail surrounding this unsolved case. SHERIFF IAN PARKINSON [to reporters]: It's been a puzzle and it's a very slow process to find each of those little pieces some of that information came to light through the podcast many of you are familiar with. But perhaps Mary Lassiter's most disturbing story was about being awakened very early in the morning by a beeping sound coming from the backyard. Facebook gives people the. Jonathan Vigliotti: Is this a case that takes a miracle to solve? Paul Flores, lower left, remained in jail without bail while Ruben Flores, upper right, was able to post bail after a judge agreed to lower the bail amount from $250,000 to $50,000, San Luis Obispo County Superior Court/Zoom, How a tragic boating crash is connected to the family of Alex Murdaugh, Husband of woman murdered with an ax convicted 40 years after her death, Five deaths with a connection to Alex Murdaugh's family investigated, Florida man tries to use COVID-19 as a cover for murder. He returned later that Friday night and they drove to his friends home which Jane described as sparely furnished. But was there evidence possibly placing Kristin Smart at his mother's home? "48 Hours" looks back to their arrests and how the saga began. I knocked on her door, and I thought she was just sleeping, or she went out and about, you know? Dave Minsky,. So before leaving, Margarita handed over her keys to get back into Muir Hall. He'd go through tunnels, under bridges, looking for his daughter and expecting best case scenario. Jane said she took Flores up on carpool offers to and from high school whenever she would be walking solo from her mothers home in Arroyo Grande, California. During one interrogation with campus police on May 28, 1996, Flores story changed about what happened after Anderson left. Paul Flores lives in San Pedro, CA; previous city include Arroyo Grande CA. More than two decades after Kristin Smart vanished, Sheriff Ian Parkinson says that Paul Flores, left, remains the only suspect in her disappearance. SUSAN FLORES: [Long pause, grabs water bottle] Of course not. And I was, like, "uh OK, fine.". Denise Pearce: The phone call never comes. We just, "do you know anything about it". Im good. After seizing an old car, digging in the back yard and taking evidence San Luis Obispo County sheriff deputies concluded their search of an Arroyo Grande home related to the 1996 disappearance of Kristin Smart. I was throwing up and they were saying Oh this bitch! and This bitch better not throw up on me.. Like the Smart's civil case, theirs also has been on hold. Flores claimed he walked Smart to her dorm at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo on May 25, 1996 after a night of binge drinking. First published on November 27, 2020 / 8:14 AM. James Murphy: Paul Flores had a reputation amongst the girls that knew him at Cal Poly as being a creeper that he was always trying to hit on women. In October 2022, Paul. Two days after Kristin Smart vanished, Paul Flores went to the Arroyo Grande Police Department because of an outstanding DUI warrant. In high school he was known as a loner. every piece of evidence points directly at Paul Flores. They were meant for Susan Flores asking her to cooperate with police and have her son come forward. An earring that appeared to match the necklace Kristin is wearing on the billboard. D.A. [emotional] I will go outside at nighttime and I'll look up at the full moon and I'll think that that kid's buried somewhere real close. During opening statements of Flores murder trial this week, prosecutors played a video of Flores stumbling over questions from Cal Poly campus police detectives inside an interrogation room. Even more difficult to understand was why they waited two months to search the family home where Paul Flores was living with his father, Ruben. Kristin Smart Murder Trial: Who's who The judge only allowed 1 media pool camera inside the courtroom. I said, Stop it. San Luis Obispo County. Ruben lived here with his wife, Susan, and their children, Ermelinda and Paul. I remember thinking he was right behind me in the doorway and I think he was trying to get to the door before I could shut it., Sarah said she was quickly manhandled by Flores. The woman, whom well call Jane, believes she was roofied, raped, and discarded by Paul Flores and his nameless friend when she was a 15-year-old high-school sophomore in 1994. James Murphy: There has been no other suspect. That's been our goal. He was seeing someone on the side who he called his friend, she said. When authorities later confronted him with the two stories, Flores admitted lying and offered a new explanation. They took in soil, I assume, for some kind of analysis. Thats when everyone got involved, she said. He threw [my cousin] to the ground and got on top of her and putting his hands down her top even after he got his wallet. A judge on March 30 ruled that the trial would be moved out of San Luis . 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