The two girls walked to an area off campus where there were fraternities, sororities and residential housing for students. Cadaver dogs trained to detect human decomposition were deployed by the F.B.I. Witness Jennifer Hudson takes the stand, where she tells the court that, in 1996, when she was 17 years old, Flores laughingly told her he had taken care of Smart. Chris Lambert: And he says he got a black eye playing basketball with his friends. 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, Five deaths with a connection to Alex Murdaugh's family investigated, Chilling details revealed in JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan deaths, Mother at center of international manhunt speaks out to "48 Hours". The mother is washing her car in the driveway at one point. Jonathan Vigliotti: And that phone call never comes. The investigation seemed to be hampered from the start by a series of missteps by campus police beginning with their assumption that Kristin was off having fun and ignoring worried friends who said she was missing. Kristen Modafferi | Unsolved Mysteries Wiki | Fandom Chris Lambert: Around the time Kristin disappeared, they cut out planter boxes in the backyard, so they cut out big chunks of concrete and filled it in with soil. Friday, May 24, 1996, was the start of the Memorial Day weekend. Chris Lambert: I didn't know the scale. Cole also talked about his interview with Jennifer Hudson in November 2019. Smart's body was recently moved from the home of Ruben Flores, a prosecutor said. But it's Susan Flores's concrete backyard that initially received a lot of attention. Kristin's mother, Denise Smart, spent Memorial Day weekend at a swim meet with her two younger kids. Nic Coury / AP. In a statement, the Smart family described a long wait for this bittersweet day.. Lindsey Smart Stewart: Right. (Pool photo by Dave Minsky/Santa Maria Times). every piece of evidence points directly at Paul Flores. Her parents, Denise and Stan were both educators who encouraged their kids' passions. Like what may have been discovered in March 2021 when investigators searched Ruben Flores' house using cadaver dogs and ground penetrating radar. PDF KRISTEN MODAFFERI - Federal Bureau of Investigation 7,781 days.. That is all it took. Cole said he has the admission on a digital tape recording. James Murphy: And it says wrongful death and then I put murder. What happened to Kristen Modafferi? One man's 20-year search for "Up and Vanished" led a man to confess to killing a . The prosecution upholds the validity of these searches, including one of Flores dorm room that was done after he moved out. Also on the stand Tuesday were another cadaver dog handler, an expert in fiber evidence and a district attorney's office investigator. SUSAN FLORES: [Long pause, grabs water bottle] Of course not. Chris Lambert: Everything else, he took the Fifth Amendment. 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. Jonathan Vigliotti: Is this a case that takes a miracle to solve? At the time, they did not know about a missing college student. The day after my sister disappeared, Paul Flores had a black eye and scratches on him. Chris Lambert says they're cautiously optimistic. When they showed up, it was Paul Flores. Kristen Modafferi, Kristin Smart & Kent Jacobs. 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. Chris Lambert: It was never marked as evidence apparently. Specifically, that they had Paul's white Nissan pickup in their possession. D.A. or even her keys. But every Sunday when she called her parents, they encouraged her to stick it out. The last person to see her alive,. Kristen was in her first year at Cal Poly when she vanished in 1996. James Murphy: they let the dog in, the dog makes a beeline to the bed of Paul Flores. And six months later, when Flores was deposed by James Murphy for the Smart's civil suit, he kept quiet. What happens next? Like so many freshmen, Kristin struggled. The defense wants to suppress some of these searches, though, claiming that they were done illegally or without warrants. Ms. Smarts family declared her legally dead in 2002, but the search, and the investigation, continued. PODCAST | EPISODE 1: At least once a day I asked myself what are you doing? In October 2022, Paul Flores, the man long suspected in her disappearance, was found guilty of murder. But further investigation of the Flores's two trucks seemed impossible. People are watching Ruben Flores and Susan Flores and Paul Flores. During Tuesday's hearing, San Luis Obispo County. In the meantime, Paul Flores moved to Southern California, where he bounced from job to job. In 2011, the Smarts hoped those boulders would become a little lighter when Ian Parkinson became the . Flores, who had been seen with Smart earlier in the evening he attempted to flirt with her and apparently fell on her at one point, according to witnesses joined the group and allegedly accompanied Smart home. That's been our goal. They described dropping her off at the party at an unofficial fraternity house, and said that when it was over, she needed support to walk as she was being accompanied home by Paul Flores. Ruben Flores was released on $50,000 bail to his ex-wife. In his complaint, Murphy alleges, along with Ruben, there were two other unnamed individuals. Please come with me." Paul Flores killed Kristin Smart in dorm room during attempted rape, DA The judge rules that the DA cannot be disqualified for wearing purple clothing. Also included is the result of a February 4th, 2020 search of Paul Flores San Pedro home, where San Luis Obispo County Sheriffs investigators seized electronic devices that featured videos showing Flores having sex with seemingly incapacitated women. When asked about how he got the injury Flores told three different stories. And when they did . In his mug shot, a black eye can faintly been seen. James Murphy: They brought in the first dog and they'd had the dog go through the dorms. Classes were difficult, she was trying to fit in, and she missed her family. Smart was declared dead in 2002. Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way. That warrant allowed them to dig up the backyard, but deputies chose not to excavate. On April 13, 2021, almost 25 years after Kristin Smart went missing, longtime suspect Paul Flores, 44, was arrested at his home in San Pedro, California, and charged with murder. In the late 1990s, the. Why? Ann-Marie Christian: became friends with Kristin in elementary school. 1 of 47. Ann-Marie Christian: She was who she was because of her parents, for sure. On day two, August 3rd, a close friend of Smarts from college, Steven Flemming, tells the court that Flores had interacted with Smart before the party they both attended prior to her disappearance. They went on trial in July 2022 in Monterey County, Calif. On Oct. 18, 2022, Paul Flores was found guilty of murdering Ms. Smart. And she's like, "please come with me. Also taking the witness stand on Wednesday was Edward Chadwell. Despite the fact that law enforcement had collected substantial evidence that Kristin Smart may have had reason not to return to her dorm room after leaving (fellow party-goers) Cheryl (Manzer) Anderson and Paul Flores and despite the fact that they had collected substantial evidence that there were multiple potential suspects who stalked, harassed or otherwise had conflicts with Kristin Smart, law enforcement made an early choice to change their focus to murder and to Paul Flores as the only suspect, Sanger wrote in a defense motion. Any evidence that might have been there was long gone. The defense questions Hudson about her drug use, but she says she was not doing drugs at the time. During Tuesdays hearing, San Luis Obispo County Sheriffs Detective Clint Cole testified about a conversation he had with Ruben Flores at his Arroyo Grande home when Cole was there to obtain a DNA swab. Kristin Smart was a 19-year-old freshman at Cal Poly, California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, when she disappeared after a walk home from an off-campus party early in the. They didn't look at the Flores family's vehicles. but I knew that I could try to do a small part. JAMES MURPHY: Do you have any information as to where Kristin Smart's body is located? Prosecutor Chris Peuvrelle asked him if he found the remains of any monkeys or ferrets or any human bodies on the property. Four months after that futile search, Paul Flores was brought before a grand jury. Chadwell answered no. James Murphy: The podcast is out. The authorities removed items from Paul Floress home in Los Angeles in February 2020. Three other women missing: Did Lac's husband kill before? What happened to Kristen Modafferi? - AdvertisingRow.com 'Keep her memory alive': Organizer encourages community to spread But 22 years later, when he couldn't find any recent stories about the case, he decided to do something. JAMES MURPHY: In May of 96 were you a student at Cal Poly? Nineteen-year-old Kristin Smart disappeared Memorial Day weekend of 1996. And I was, like, "uh OK, fine.". Jonathan Vigliotti: How significant was that? On April 19, father and son each pleaded not guilty, according to The Associated Press. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. They seized digital devices during the search and, in April 2020, executed another search on Paul Flores property in San Pedro. Nineteen-year-old Cal Poly student Kristin Smart went missing after a campus party 25 years ago, and, this summer, her case is finally getting its day in court. Billie Eilish Explains Her Complicated Relationship With Social Media: 'I Don't Look at It Anymore', Theres no evidence of a sex crime in the charged crime (the murder case) itself, van Rooyen says. On October 18, 2022, Paul Flores was found guilty of first-degree murder. The trial got underway with opening statements on July 18 in Monterey County Superior Court in Salinas. Chris Lambert: Paul keeps stopping along the way and letting Cheryl Anderson know, you can go on ahead. At the time of the April 13 arrests, the sheriff said he believed that had enough evidence to win convictions. Dennis Mahon's Podcast - Blubrry Podcasting Peterson may or may not have been at the party Smart disappeared after. I've got her. Soon after her disappearance, a sheriffs search party combed remote parts of the Cal Poly campus on horseback, archival video from KCRA-TV shows. I didnt understand why. James Murphy: There's no way to get evidence back once you've lost it. So many people have played such important roles over the past 25 years, and we are humbled by the amazing support and generosity we have received. https://www.nytimes.com/article/kristin-smart-case-timeline.html. About 45 minutes after Kristen got off of work on the day she vanished, she was seen on the 2nd f. There is no evidence of a murder and no evidence of a rape, Sanger added. Her dorm entrance is right over here. Onuma was evicted from a Kaneohe, Hawaii residence after his connection to the Kristen Modafferi . I'm going to go back to the dorms. A very close-knit family. Disappearance of Kristen Modafferi - Wikipedia Anyone can read what you share. Dennis Mahon's Podcast Five months after Kristin Smart disappeared, Paul Flores was brought before a grand jury but no charges were ever filed. But now, 25 years later, a man sits in a San Luis Obispo County Jail cell, charged with her murder. 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