That warrant allowed them to dig up the backyard, but deputies chose not to excavate. And the body's not there now. Chris Lambert, who worked as a CBS News consultant, pieced together what he learned from people who were there that night. Any evidence that might have been there was long gone. Get off her.. Paul Flores, then also a 19-year-old freshman, had . Ken Blum is the editor. Margarita Campos: But when we got to the house it was pretty dead too, it was really -- it was like a couple of roommates hanging out playing video games And Kristin was, like oh gosh, there has to be something better than this. He has never talked. The Arroyo Grande cops, Jane said, favored Floress story that she willingly drank and had sex that night. And for a few moments Jane came to and saw Flores having his way with her. They got to the parking lot of an apartment complex. Susan's house was finally searched in March 1997 nine months after Kristin disappeared but nothing was found. Those were kind of unspoken things. Flores admitted he promised another student, CherylAnderson, that he would make sure Smart made it back to her dorm room in Muir Hall safely from the party. Like the Smart's civil case, theirs also has been on hold. He wouldn't answer a single thing. Authorities arrested Ruben Flores after San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's deputies served a search warrant at his Arroyo Grande home. That's when the campus police finally handed the investigation over to The San Luis Obispo Sheriff's Office but they did not find Kristin. 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. She regretfully denounced them as cruel rumors at the time. But Mary Lassiter says the earring matched the necklace Kristin is seen wearing on the billboard. Dave Minsky,. Chris Lambert: A young couple moves into it with their kid. putting murder on the lawsuit was sending a message to Paul Flores and his family, that we believe that he killed Kristin and that we're coming for him. Chris Lambert: Paul worked with a number of women that he made incredibly uncomfortable girls who he tried to make a pass at sexually, girls that he tried to force to kiss him. He'd go anywhere. And these girls are inviting us out. I was crying.. Jonathan Vigliotti: How significant was that? Nineteen-year-old Kristin Smart disappeared Memorial Day weekend of 1996. An important tip came in after a February 2020 search of Paul, Susan and Ruben's properties. 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JAMES MURPHY: What is the name of your father? In fact, Cheryl Anderson, who trusted Flores to walk Kristin back to her dorm alone, told police that her friends called him "Chester the molester," because he was known for groping girls. Ermelinda Flores, 81. They didn't bring a forensics team. In October 1996, Mary and her family moved in. In October 2022, Paul. Produced by Lisa Freed. There was no reaction until the dog reached Paul Flores's room. Jonathan Vigliotti: There was a lot of focus on how Kristin was drinking what sounded a lot like victim shaming. I get into the bathroom and try to lock it and then the door gets kicked open., It was not more than five seconds before Sarah said Flores crashed opened the door and stood in the frame. Includes Address (7) Phone (7) Email (2) See Results. James Murphy: So why would Susan Flores, her boyfriend, and Ruben Flores be up all night long working under that deck. Denise Pearce: She was becoming more and more alarmed, you know? And he leaves her to walk up this walkway. But 22 years later, when he couldn't find any recent stories about the case, he decided to do something. He promised the Smarts that solving Kristin's case would be a priority. She was the last person other than Paul Flores to see Kristin alive. By the time they inspected Flores's room, Kristin had been gone for 16 days. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. They took off running, Jane said. Some of those women who did not want their real names used told Lambert about their encounters with him. Sources tell us investigators discovered videos and photographs on Flores' computer showing him engaged in sexual activity with at least 10 different women, apparently in various states of consciousness. But Flores' basketball friends told investigators that he already had the. Chris Lambert: There was a man climbing her trellis and trying to get inside her balcony, very intoxicated and refusing to leave. That's been our goal. Jonathan Vigliotti: Is this a case that takes a miracle to solve? All of Kristin's personal belongings including her purse, her money, her I.D. Critics called. By this point Sarahs ex-boyfriend arrived and he and his friends scared Flores and his pal, trying to make sure they never showed their faces again. We were standing by the washer and dryer and we were arguing and he shouted, No! and slapped my arm, Laura said. He promised the Smarts that solving Kristin's case would be a priority. PODCAST EPISODE 1: Kristin broke down begging her mother to let her drop out and go somewhere else. Have a good day, he said. or even her keys. PODCAST EPISODE 2 | WOMAN #1: I wasn't surprised, but there's also that shock value of kind of "oh my god, I knew it! Chris Lambert told Jonathan Vigliotti, "It drove [Mary Lassiter] crazy and she went out there many times in the middle of the night to try to find it with sticks, sticking down into the planter boxes down in the soil." They believe they can prove Paul Flores is responsible for the disappearance of Kristin Smart. By the time they called the Cal Poly campus police, Kristin had been missing for more than 48 hours. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. The Arroyo Grande home of Ruben Flores is being searched today for the remains of Kristin Smart. In his mug shot, a black eye can faintly been seen. Balloons wrap around the Kristin Smart billboard in Arroyo Grande after the arrest of Paul and Ruben Flores in April 2021. And she's like, "please come with me. A jury acquitted Ruben Flores of the charge of being an accessory after the fact. 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. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Please come with me." It's, like, she has nothing on her. I don't know if Kristin knew anybody there. Chris Lambert: And he says he got a black eye playing basketball with his friends. He noticed Paul Flores would randomly walk through the halls of Muir Dorm. Kristin's parents have spent more than two decades hoping for any clue that would lead them to their beloved daughter. Chris Lambert: At that point I don't think they had ever dealt with a missing person, a possibly murdered person. Chris Lambert: They're hopeful, but they've also been let down so many times before. Two days after Kristin Smart vanished, Paul Flores went to the Arroyo Grande Police Department because of an outstanding DUI warrant. A hundred percent that was happening. Back then, Jane remembered Flores pulling up to her on multiple occasions behind the wheel of a green pickup truck. (No video or audio). When authorities later confronted him with the two stories, Flores admitted lying and offered a new explanation. And she was growing as an individual. Chris Lambert: I remember seeing it on the news it was something scary and they were talking about it pretty regularly. SHERIFF IAN PARKINSON [at press conference]: Forensic physical evidence was located. Just five months before Kristin disappeared, San Luis Obispo Police received a call from a student living off campus. Still she stuck around until Flores allegedly laid his hands on her aggressively again. Kristin Denise Smart (born February 20, 1977, legally presumed dead May 25, 2002) was an American woman who is presumed to have been abducted, raped, and killed at the end of her freshman year of college on the campus of California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo. I didn't know how many people were gonna listen. and offers to help. She was gone. Margarita Campos: I'll never forget her shadow against the building, this apartment complex, just standing like kind of cross-armed with the long leg And she was just kind of like looking at me like, [sighs] you're really walking away now, like you're really, you're leaving? It was turned over to a detective with the San Luis Obispo Sheriff's Office, but Garin Sinclair says, the Smarts never knew it existed until the Lassiters were deposed in January 1997. They were after Paul Flores for an outstanding DUI warrant. Flores has never been charged in this case. Because of the statute of limitations, Dow says, Paul Flores can't be charged with rape. Now several women say they were victims before and after her, too. My mom opened the door and she cries, Oh my God!. I would hear many of my friends tell me Oh he grabbed my butt but I never believed them, Laura said. He never expected it would be a hit, but his podcast caught the attention of millions of listeners and sparked new interest in this decades-old unsolved case. James Murphy: I'd love to do anything to end their suffering. Susan P Flores Age 71. She has not been charged with any crimes in connection with the case. Denise Pearce | Longtime family friend: Things were gonna get better and, you know, and and they did. And there were those nonstop tales of Flores being touchy-feely with her friends. And my roommate actually kicked down the door to make him stop. AKA: Susan Flores, Sue P Flores. A single woman's earring. They might have found evidence in those vehicles. Paul Flores did not have a car on campus, so Murphy surmises he had to have had help. Ian Parkinson: Yes. In one of Paul's police interviews he mentioned that he wanted to be let out of the interview because he needed to help clean up concrete at his mom's house So, what was being done in Susan Flores's backyard in the weeks after Kristin went missing? Jonathan Vigliotti | CBS News correspondent: You wanted to go home, and you were trying to find a way to break it to your friend. Ruben Flores defense attorney is slated to deliver his opening statements when the two trials resume on Thursday in a Monterey County courtroom. Chris Lambert: It's hard to take too much credit But I was one piece of the puzzle that helped to make this all come together when it did. Empresa. In June of 1996, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriffs Office brought in four cadaver dogs to sniff dorms on campus. He called his father at 9:47 a.m. on Sunday, May 26, 1996. With them is a group of FBI evidence response team members and a search warrant. Flores replies that he was just fibbing. I dont know of any lying Ive done. When Lambert later told Kristin's mother, Denise, about those early morning beeping sounds in Susan Flores's backyard, he said her reaction was "shock we just kind of stared at each other for a good long time I think it took a while to settle in, that this could potentially be huge." Chris Lambert's podcast,"Your Own Backyard," has become a big hit attracting millions of listeners eager to hear every detail surrounding this unsolved case of Kriistin Smart. In 2011, the Smarts hoped those boulders would become a little lighter when Ian Parkinson became the new sheriff of San Luis Obispo County. She left them only after he promised to take Kristin back to her dorm. He claimed he didnt even know her name, Peuvrelle said. Facebook gives people the. Meanwhile, the FBI, who recently excavated earth at Cal Poly to look for Smarts remains, referred comment to the sheriffs office. Also known as Melinda E Flores. She graduated from San Perlita as valedictorian to the class of 1953 to proceed her education at James R . But you have to understand, she was a really independent free spirit. 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. There's no question about it. Back in San Luis Obispo, the Smarts, feeling ignored by the sheriff's office, continued a relentless campaign to get them to do more to find their daughter. People who were there have said she was intoxicated. Instead, on Monday, May 27, Denise Pearce says the Smarts got a call from Cal Poly's campus police asking if Kristin was with them. Margarita Campos: I mean, she was gone. Paul Flores - Cal Poly student and Food Science major, Paul Flores lived on campus in room #128 of Santa Lucia Hall Dormitory. Margarita Campos: She was absolutely sober when I left her. It's fine. I guess the answer is yes. A judge on March 30 ruled that the trial would be moved out of San Luis . Chris Lambert: They did a significant amount of digging underneath the house. Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. Despite Flores sporting a black eye the next day (which he admitted to investigators he lied about) and despite police dogs picking up the scent of human decay in his dorm room, Flores was never charged. I also brought them witnesses that they had no interest in whatsoever. His parents have always denied knowing anything about Kristin's disappearance and insist their son was not involved. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. We would highly recommend that those people get in contact with us as soon as possible so we could investigate this further, he said. Chris Lambert: I wish I knew why. Like so many freshmen, Kristin struggled. It has been called Dr. Seuss Day because of this. But remarkably, the same thing happened with three more dogs. When they showed up, it was Paul Flores. Smart was talking with and socializing with several different males at the party. Acerca; Prensa; D.A. And DNA evidence could not be found linking any other evidence to Kristin. PAUL FLORES: On the advice of my attorney, I refuse to answer that question based on the fifth amendment of the United States Constitution. 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. Greg Fisher and Michelle Fanucci are the development producers. Flores told campus police that he never talked to Smart at the house party, but multiple witnesses who were at the party saw the two talking together next to a tiki bar inside the house. It wasnt like some older guy or anything.. That could have been me.. Flores spit that he would rape her, she said. Resides in Blue Bell, PA. For more than two decades, her family, friends, and supporters searched for answers and for justice. 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