Front Page  »  

Unsealed documents reveal discrepancies in Paul Flores’ story

August 9, 2022

By KAREN VELIE

Unsealed court documents in the Kristin Smart murder case, including a 1996 interview with Flores, reveal the suspect’s repeated attempts to deceive investigators. Lies a judge considered when placing the case over for trial.

Flores is charged with murdering Kristin Smart during an attempted rape in 1996 following a Cal Poly frat party. After the party, Flores helped escort Smart, who was found passed out on a lawn outside the party, back to her dorm room.

However, Smart did not return to her dorm room and was never seen again.

On May 30, 1996, five days after Smart disappeared, San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Detective Mike Kennedy interviewed the last person seen with Smart, Flores. Flores agreed to participate in the voluntary interview in which he made many statements he either admitted later were lies or that conflict with the statements of multiple witnesses.

During the interview, Flores said he was not romantically interested in Smart because of diseases she might carry. However, multiple witnesses spoke of Flores’ fixation on Smart that included a trip to her dorm room.

Kristin Smart

When asked about the scabs on his knees, Flores said he was playing basketball at Harlow Elementary School in Arroyo Grande with his friend Jeromy Moon.

“The gravel’s all loose dirt,” Flores said. “So I went boom.”

The detective then asked about his black eye.

“I got elbowed playing basketball,” Flores said.

However, Moon told detectives Flores was sporting a black eye when he arrived at the basketball courts, the day after Smart disappeared, a black eye he said he just woke up with.

Flores later again changed his story, saying he injured his eye on the steering wheel of his truck.

Flores claimed Smart was “walking just fine,” and that she did not lean on him as they made the late-night trek back to the campus dorms. He also denied asking another student walking with them, Cheryl Anderson, for a kiss.

While walking back from the party, Anderson said Flores asked her for a kiss. She also testified Flores was walking with his arm around Smart’s waist.

On May 31, 1996, District Attorney Investigator Bill Hanley interviewed Flores while the two sat in a parked car on the Cal Poly campus.

Flores again claimed he did not find Smart attractive, and that he “didn’t like those type of girls.” Flores told Hanley he did not touch or talk to Smart at the party, another claim refuted by multiple witnesses.

On June 19, 1996, Hanley again interviewed Flores, this time they drove around Arroyo Grande in the investigator’s car. When confronted about his dishonesty over the black eye, Flores admitted he lied before claiming he injured his eye on the steering wheel of his truck.

“Oh, it’s not really lies,” Flores said. “A fib. So, it’s not well, I guess you can call it a little white lie.”

If convicted, Flores, now 45, could face life in prison. The ongoing trial is expected to last four to five months.


Loading...
Related:


10 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Many people have disappeared in our National Forests, never to be found, nothing, not a trace. This may be a reach and probably nothing to do with this case but the Los Padres Nation Forest is just up the hill for the Cal Poly Campus, just saying, but none with a defendant that “appeared” to have been in a wrestling match on pavement and took a couple of punches in the face and admits to telling a fib or a little white lie. Prayers for the parents.


-6

Really? That’s your take on this? Ridiculous.


These revelations lead me to believe even more than before that Flores is guilty. A suspicious black eye, shredded knees? His story changes on these facts?


To put it bluntly, Flores obviously took Ms. Smart somewhere and tried to take advantage of a drunk coed. This scenario has probably played itself out thousands of times on college campuses. Most, however, don’t end in violence. But in this case, Ms. Smart came out of her stupor and fought back, delivering an eye blackening blow to Flores. He may have become quite angry, also probably drunk, and hit her or pushed her. Maybe she hit her head. Maybe he choked her. Shocked at what he’d done he called his father who, rather than alerting law enforcement, helped his son by driving to CP and loading the body in his car or truck and later burying it somewhere on the Flores property. Only they know.


Unfortunately, all the DA has is circumstantial. I just hope the jury sees through it all and convicts Flores and his father.


And, by the way, you’d have to walk for several miles from the dorms at Cal Poly to be in the Los Padres National Forest.


4

I know that there will be many who will disagree, but this whole thing is based upon conjecture. There is no proof that a rape occurred but it is the basis of accusations. So far reasonable doubt is my vote if I were on the jury. I sure hope that I don’t ever be the last person to see a person who disappears. There is no proof that Smart is dead at least in my mind, for all I know Ms. Smart is living comfortably in South East Asia with a husband and family.


-126

I’d guess that’s why he is not being charged with rape but with murder.


53

.


10

People won’t understand if…. or when Paul is acquitted…. the prosecution seems weak at best….

Even what the guy said back then can’t be an issue this many years later….

I think he could be guilty as hell but I don’t think it can be proven beyond doubt….


-34

Mitch

How you can make light of this tragedy is beyond me. Do you have Children.

Kristin’s family, and the people that loved her have a right to seek justice.

This man has lied over and over again. He needs to come clean, and let the family know exactly what happened. If possible bring her remains home where she deserves a decent burial, and resting place. Her family needs closure.


53

The rape tapes of his found in San Pedro didn’t lend much to his credibility as a decent human being.


54

Conjecture, until it’s YOUR daughter.


13

The unsealed documents were written by LEO’s……As with any story the author has sole control of the story . Then the story heads over to the editors and proof readers who modify the content of the story and omit certain words to steer the plot in a general direction that is captivating .Where was Paul’s attorney during story time ??


-16