I had zero interest in her, according to prosecutors. PODCAST EPISODE 4: And he had like a butter knife and he like held it to my neck. 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. Flores spit that he would rape her, she said. And yes, we believe it's linked to Kristin. And DNA evidence could not be found linking any other evidence to Kristin. Margarita Campos: they were, like, "are you sure she didn't go out of town?" But 22 years later, when he couldn't find any recent stories about the case, he decided to do something. Ermelinda Flores, 81. And while they did not rush to investigate Flores, Kristin's family says campus police were very quick to judge her. Margarita Campos: To this day, like, I was like, why why did I just let her go by herself? Ermelinda Macarthur currently lives in Kenmore, WA; in the past Ermelinda has also lived in Long Beach CA, Arroyo Grande CA and Bothell WA. The dogs were trained and certified to detect human remains. He noticed Paul Flores would randomly walk through the halls of Muir Dorm. Chris Lambert: I wish I knew why. They didn't look at the Flores family's vehicles. A jury acquitted Ruben Flores of the charge of being an accessory after the fact. Jonathan Vigliotti found Flores outside his home in Southern California and asked him a number of questions about Kristin's disappearance. "48 Hours" looks back to their arrests and how the saga began. Murphy has filed a new civil suit against Ruben Flores for the intentional infliction of emotional distress. Last month, authorities searched Ruben Flores' home in Arroyo Grande. They were after Paul Flores for an outstanding DUI warrant. 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. But the Flores's have fought back, suing the Smarts for intentional infliction of emotional distress. Prosecutors said Smart began falling down shortly after she was seen at the Tiki bar with Flores. Investigators are currently digging under Rubin Flores' home in another apparent attempt to find the missing teen's body. So, they did not immediately get a warrant to search Susan Flores's home. I know I didnt have any pants on and he was in me and I could feel him, she said of the three seconds she managed to wake from the slumber that took hold of her. But soon Flores took his shot with Jane after another drop-off at her moms house. Paul Flores was a constant presence during Sarahs time at Cal Poly, where she transferred in as a sophomore back in 1996, after Smarts disappearance shook the school and the community. 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. In April 2021, investigators charged Paul Flores, left, with Kristin Smart's murder, and his then-80-year-old father Ruben, as an accessory after the fact. An earring that appeared to match the necklace Kristin is wearing on the billboard. Now several women say they were victims before and after her, too. I was like It wasnt. This boy walked up to me and said Oh hey, you need to be careful of that Paul Flores, I think hes stalking you. The day after my sister disappeared, Paul Flores had a black eye and scratches on him. James Murphy: If it was, in fact, a piece of jewelry that matched Kristin's jewelry, it would have been blockbuster evidence. Alicia Tejada is the field producer and Addison Briley is the associate producer. He was writing your name like 150 times on a piece of paper and he kept circling it., High school boys are weird anyway, Jane thought at the time. Neither the ex-boyfriend nor Sarah saw Flores again until they read The Daily Beast story on Kristin Smarts disappearance, where Floress mugshot appeared. The mother is washing her car in the driveway at one point. Clockwise from left, Kristin, Denise, Stan, Matt and Lindsey. By the time they inspected Flores's room, Kristin had been gone for 16 days. A judge on March 30 ruled that the trial would be moved out of San Luis . It had been the focus of widespread speculation for more than two decades especially her planter boxes. November 27, 2020 / 8:14 AM Just two years. But Sarah kneed Flores in the groin and kicked him in the shin before dashing off into the party. James Murphy: Well, the location where all this activity occurred is where they found the biological material. They didn't bring a forensics team. By herself, which is pretty amazing. 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. The Smart family. That warrant allowed them to dig up the backyard, but deputies chose not to excavate. I was throwing up and they were saying Oh this bitch! and This bitch better not throw up on me.. The detective noticed was Paul was nervous and his heart was beating out of his chest. Facebook gives people the. The backyard was all concrete except for a couple of areas where planter boxes had been created by cutting out the concrete and filling them with soil. And there are more horrifying allegations about what may have happened to Kristin after she was last seen with Paul Flores. Ken Blum is the editor. I would turn around and he would be right there lurking, the woman, referred to here by a pseudonym, said. I believed him but he was probably cheating on me.. At the time, they did not know about a missing college student. At least one, since The Daily Beast began reporting, said she has been interviewed by the San Luis Obispo Sheriffs Office. But it's Susan Flores's concrete backyard that initially received a lot of attention. A single woman's earring. After almost 25 years of suspicion, on April 13, 2021, San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson announced the arrest ofPaul Flores in the disappearance of Kristin Smart. After seizing an old car, digging in the back yard and taking evidence San Luis Obispo County sheriff deputies concluded a two search of an Arroyo Grande home related to the 1996. Chris Lambert: At that point I don't think they had ever dealt with a missing person, a possibly murdered person. Hes on top of me. I guess the answer is yes. Just days after she disappeared, an incident report seemed to imply that Kristin's behavior contributed to her disappearance. Greg Fisher and Michelle Fanucci are the development producers. It's been a long night for the Smart family and San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's detectives as they continued to investigate an Arroyo Grande property belonging to Ruben Flores. Please come with me." I called my mom. Ermelinda Flores After a wonderful life, Ermelinda Correa-Flores, 89, entered an eternal rest in her own home in Richland, MO on Sunday, June 19, 2022.<br>Ermelinda was born on June 29, 1932, in San Perlita, Texas to Rafela Posada. PODCAST EPISODE 2 | WOMAN #2: You wouldn't want to be alone in a room with him. But Flores basketball friends told investigators that he already had the black eye when he showed up for the game. Used to live: San Luis Obispo CA, Arroyo Grande CA, Torrance CA. or even her keys. I have this PTSD fear of someone kicking the door in.. Devastating. Chris Lambert: There was a man climbing her trellis and trying to get inside her balcony, very intoxicated and refusing to leave. At the time, she was a 19-year-old freshman at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, who'd grown up in Stockton, Calif. On the night of her disappearance, she was spotted at a house party, which she left with three people. The living room had a TV and one sofa and the floor was white, she said. And very chilling. In 2011, the Smarts hoped those boulders would become a little lighter when Ian Parkinson became the new sheriff of San Luis Obispo County. Like his black eye, seen faintly in a mug shot taken by the Arroyo Grande Police just by chance two days after Kristin vanished. But I've seen it. Members of the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Department and FBI searched the grounds of Susan Flores's home in Arroyo Grande on June 19, 2000, for any evidence that might shed light on the disappearance of Cal Poly student Kristin Smart. Nearly a week after their arrests, father and son both pleaded not guilty in San Luis Obispo County Superior Court. I did have guilt about that. Chris Lambert spoke with some women who knew Flores back then. When they reached the turnoff to Cheryl's dorm, she says Flores tried to hug and kiss her. Two days after her daughter went missing, Denise Smart got a call from Cal Poly's campus police. Nineteen-year-old Kristin Smart disappeared Memorial Day weekend of 1996. We both were kids at the same school and so I felt comfortable. Regresar a la bsqueda. James Murphy: Having a black eye doesn't make you guilty of anything but if the person you were with disappeared from the planet that's physical evidence. DAN DOW [press conference]: We have evidence that we do believe there are other people that are not yet identified that have had some kind of a criminal act perpetrated on them by Mr. Flores. Chris Lambert: I personally think that wherever Kristin went, Paul was there with her. Often, Sarah would be at one party or another and there was Flores. 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. He'd go anywhere. Sanger said the backyard grave was not at grave at all, and no human blood, hair, or bones were found in it. Podcaster Chris Lambert says that after 24 years, "I think it's time [for Flores] to talk." Get off her.. In October 1996, Mary and her family moved in. But as Chris Lambert learned, campus police did not act right away. 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. He was seeing someone on the side who he called his friend, she said. Her dorm entrance is right over here. And six months later, when Flores was deposed by James Murphy for the Smart's civil suit, he kept quiet. A very close-knit family. They also did not focus on Paul Flores immediately, waiting six days to formally interview him. Margarita Campos: I was expecting her to knock on my door and be, like, "Oh, Margarita, you missed a rager. James Murphy: And it's 2:30 and 3 o'clock in the morning at Cal Poly this is not a a location from which Paul alone could easily move a body without a vehicle. More than two decades after Kristin Smart vanished, Sheriff Ian Parkinson says that Paul Flores, left, remains the only suspect in her disappearance. Authorities made clear that they plan to use Flores' alleged predatory behavior against him. If you come near her again I will kill you!, His buddy pushed Paul real hard and he fell through a desk before he ran for his life.. There was no reaction until the dog reached Paul Flores's room. I didn't know how many people were gonna listen. (The office hired a detective in 2015 to work on Unsolved Crimes for $15,000 a month: There are four open homicide investigations and Smarts remains an unsolved missing persons case. Margarita Campos: I mean, she was gone. He would tiptoe around everything. Ruben's attorney, Harold Mesick, dismissed the evidence against his client as "so minimal as to shock the conscience.". Susan Flores's backyard has been the focus of widespread speculation. The dogs handler said one dog went screaming down the hallway, made a U-turn, and stopped right in front of (Flores) dorm room, the prosecutor said. But one of those friends told police Flores already had the black eye when he arrived. SALINAS, Calif. (KRON) In the wake of Kristin Smarts disappearance from Cal Polys campus, detectives knew Paul Flores was lying through his teeth, according to prosecutors. Sarah said shes still haunted by Flores. and offers to help. "YOUR OWN BACKYARD" PODCAST: EPISODE 1: It's a cold and cloudy winter afternoon in San Luis Obispo and I'm retracing missing Cal Poly student Kristin Smart's last known steps. Paul Flores, then also a 19-year-old freshman, had . At the time of Smart's disappearance, Flores was a 19-year-old food science major at Cal-Poly. After they broke up, Laura did a little sleuthing and discovered her ex-boyfriend was accused in Smarts vanishing. It might be helpful to the investigation.. James Murphy: That suggests that something bad happened in Paul Flores's dorm room. After the four students had walked about halfway back to the dorms, Paul Flores told Davis and Anderson, Dont worry I got her, Ill take her from here, according to prosecutors. Chris Lambert: I don't think she ever imagined that Kristin would end up dead by the end of the night. Resides in Blue Bell, PA. Deputies seized a mattress cover from the bed with a blood stain. Chris Lambert and it worked. Just weeks later, Kristin's frustrated parents contacted James Murphy, a local civil attorney. The woman, whom we'll 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. He lived in the dorm building across from Smart's room. In 1997 when Paul Flores was deposed for the civil suit, the only thing he would confirm on tape was his name. Flores said he suffered the black eye during a basketball game he played with friends in Arroyo Grande on Monday. A student named Paul Flores, Susan's son, volunteered to take her back. Even worse they never sealed his dorm room. Garland testifies before Senate panel amid ongoing special counsel probes, Colon cancer rates rising in younger age group, study finds, Firefighter dies battling blaze in downtown Buffalo, mayor says, Prosecution wraps its case at Alex Murdaugh murder trial, Top McCarthy aide, House Oversight chair each met with Ashli Babbitt's mother, What to know about Shigella bacteria as drug-resistant strain spreads, Ex-Georgia star Jalen Carter was racing in deadly crash, arrest warrants allege, Fiery train crash in Greece kills dozens, many of them students, Bipartisan Senate group unveils rail safety bill in response to Ohio derailment. An important tip came in after a February 2020 search of Paul, Susan and Ruben's properties. Two years later Smart would go missing and when suspicion quickly fell on Flores, Jane decided then and there that she may have been one of the lucky ones. But Paul Flores remained behind bars help without bail. 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