Kristin Smart Q&A: Here are answers to 10 key questions in the case

This week brought groundbreaking news in the Kristin Smart case when over the span of two days, Paul Flores was arrested and charged with murder, his father Ruben Flores was taken into custody and investigators once again descended on Ruben Flores’ Arroyo Grande home.

While Sheriff Ian Parkinson and District Attorney Dan Dow have addressed a number of questions at two news conferences, other information remains sealed and carefully guarded, and evidence will be revealed in court over the coming weeks and months.

First and foremost among those mysteries remains the location of Smart’s body.

In announcing charges Wednesday, Dow said his office will honor the memory of Smart, who went missing as a 19-year-old student at Cal Poly and was last seen with Paul Flores after a party in May 1996.

“These charges mark a major milestone,” Dow said. “... The story of Kristin Smart has touched us all — the story of her enthusiastic spirit, her experience as a Cal Poly college student, her wonderful family.”

Here are answers to 10 key questions:

Where is Kristin Smart’s body?

Law enforcement officials say they believe they know where Smart’s body could be located. But they acknowledge they haven’t found her remains yet.

Authorities spent two days this week searching Ruben Flores’ Arroyo Grande home.

Dow said: “We do believe we have the location where the body was buried. We looked at multiple properties. I’m going to stay away from specifics.”

What happened to Smart?

At his news conference, Dow said prosecutors believe Flores either raped or attempted to rape Smart before killing her.

They have not said definitively what happened where, but evidence points to “a crime scene” near Cal Poly’s Santa Lucia Hall on campus and Paul Flores’ dorm room specifically.

Dow said: “We certainly believe that Mr. Flores’ dorm room was a crime scene.”

Investigation of the dorm room was a widely regarded failure in the early part of the investigation in June 1996.

Investigators didn’t even search it until more than two weeks after Smart went missing, and after Paul Flores and his roommate had already moved out.

Two weeks later, four cadaver dogs independently alerted to the room, including to Flores’ stripped mattress.

What are investigators doing at Ruben Flores’ house?

After arriving around 7 a.m. on Tuesday morning to arrest Ruben Flores at his Arroyo Grande home, investigators once again began searching areas of the property.

At various times, heavy cutting machinery could be heard in the garage, and investigators set up tents on one side of the house. They again brought in ground-penetrating radar to assist in the search for clues.

The house was also searched on March 15 and 16, when ground-penetrating radar and cadaver dogs aided in the effort. At that time, authorities also confiscated a Volkswagen Cabriolet from the driveway.

Why was Paul Flores arrested now?

Over the past couple of years, Sheriff’s Office and FBI officials served search warrants at multiple Flores family homes. The most recent of the warrants were served in mid-March and again this week at the Arroyo Grande home of Ruben Flores.

It’s unclear what new evidence has been discovered, but it led to the arrests this week, Parkinson said.

Parkinson did say that sheriff’s investigators “secured a court order for surveillance of Paul Flores’ electronic communications, including cell phone and text message records.”

Dow added that the DA’s Office found those communications “helpful in the case,” noting “I don’t want to give anything beyond that.”

Dow said Wednesday: “We have physical evidence, witness statements, and things that in our view, and in the totality, have brought us to the point where we can go forward and prosecute Mr. (Paul) Flores for the murder of Kristin Smart.”

In total, Parkinson said that since 2011, 41 search warrants have been served and 16 locations searched. Investigators also have secured 193 new pieces of evidence and filed more than 500 police reports.

What is the prosecution alleging in its court case?

Dow said that Paul Flores, 44, of San Pedro, has been charged with first-degree murder, factoring in allegations that Flores raped or attempted to rape Kristin Smart.

No charges of rape or attempted rape are being filed because the statute of limitations has passed, Dow said.

Ruben Flores, 80, is accused of being an accessory to murder, meaning that he helped Flores dispose of Smart’s body.

Both are set to appear in San Luis Obispo Superior Court for arraignments on Thursday.

Is Paul Flores suspected of any other crimes?

One new detail that came at Dow’s Wednesday news conference was that investigators have reason to believe there may be other victims linked to Paul Flores.

“We do have evidence in this case that leads us to conclude that there very well may be additional victims in the Southern California area,” he said. “I don’t want to go into the nature of that, but he was known to frequent bars in the San Pedro area and in Los Angeles County. And so we would ask that anybody that may have had an experience with him that they have questions about, for them to reach out and contact law enforcement.”

Anyone with information should contact San Luis Obispo County Crime Stoppers at 805-549-7867 or slotips.org.

“We need all the information we can (get),” Dow said. “We want you, if you have information that’s helpful, to come forward. If you’ve been a victim in another location, perhaps in San Pedro, we want you to come forward to law enforcement, so that you can get assistance that you need, and it may help us in this particular case, as well.”

Did ‘Your Own Backyard’ podcaster Chris Lambert crack the case?

Chris Lambert, creator of the popular eight-part podcast “Your Own Backyard,” told The Tribune that he provided evidence to the Sheriff’s Office, saying: “I know what (evidence) I gave them, so I know what they’ve moved forward with, but they probably don’t want me to share the details.”

Lambert added that the podcast was one part of the puzzle to move forward: “You can get varying levels of agreement about whether what I did directly led to an arrest. My personal opinion was that I was one piece of the formula.”

Parkinson and Smart’s family also specifically praised Lambert for his role in reviving interest in the case and digging up new leads.

Could a plea deal be made?

Dow said any kind of sentencing agreement that would involve Flores leading investigators to the body is “premature to even speculate on.”

“We already have an ongoing conversation with Mr. Paul Flores’ counsel, and we’re welcome to any kind of conversation they may want to bring to us,” he added.

The case is not being charged as a death penalty prosecution.

Will the court case be moved out of SLO County?

That’s unclear at this point.

Dow said he’s confident that the case would be considered fairly by a jury in SLO County, adding “our court process is designed to pick a fair jury no matter how big or significant the case is. I’m confident we’ll be able to do that. But it will be a decision at some future point that a judge will have to make if there are requests to move it to a different venue.”

Will other Flores family members be charged with crimes?

Prosecutors say they only have enough evidence at this point to charge Paul Flores with murder and Ruben Flores with accessory.

The investigation is ongoing and “if it were to lead to other suspects, we’d follow the evidence when that becomes available,” Dow said.

Paul’s mother, Susan Flores, has not been charged with any crimes.

After the first search of Ruben Flores’ home in mid-March, Susan Flores spoke out in an interview with KSBY-TV, saying that her son is innocent, nobody in her family bears any responsibility for Smart’s disappearance, and she feels her family has been harassed by the public, media and law enforcement for years.

This story was originally published April 15, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Kristin Smart Q&A: Here are answers to 10 key questions in the case."

Nick Wilson

The Tribune

805-781-7922

Nick Wilson is a Tribune contributor in sports. He is a graduate of UC Santa Barbara and UC Berkeley and is originally from Ojai.