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00:00:00some stories are unforgettable this is one of them young vibrant 19-year-old
00:00:11women don't just vanish into thin air it just doesn't happen it kind of consumes you guys as
00:00:18a mother my mission will always be to bring Kristin home when you cover murders for a living you see
00:00:25the best and the worst of police work this story had both I told the authorities back then there
00:00:32is no way she just took off by the time investigators started the solid evidence was gone I'm retracing
00:00:39Kristin Smart's last known steps this podcast sort of raised this case to a national level I
00:00:46think it haunts everybody that's involved in this case he had planned this he had stalked her this
00:00:51kid was a one-man crime wave he was I was like holy smokes this is the guy the only suspect in
00:00:59Kristin Smart's disappearance had stayed just beyond the reach of police for decades he was
00:01:05free to assault you and other women do yes the reason why might make you as angry as it does me
00:01:14there's a belong on the street we need to get this done that was terrifying to have to face them I just
00:01:20thinking you have to do this for Kristin this is Dateline unforgettable I'm Josh Mankiewicz with a fresh
00:01:33look at justice for Kristin Smart time does not heal all wounds that's a lie we like to tell ourselves they took 26 years of our life that we have been having to fight for the smart family time has
00:02:03been torture their daughter Kristen was just 19 when she vanished that was more than a quarter century ago
00:02:12you don't give up you don't give up no you can't here are two more truths about time when someone goes
00:02:26missing a delay in the investigation is time lost forever and sometimes a kind of investigative momentum
00:02:33vanishes along with it and if you're trying to cover up a crime that delay is a gift that buys you time
00:02:40both of those facts had devastating consequences for Kristin Smart's family and for other women who later
00:02:48became prey for a predator I think that my worst nightmare was that there was a lot of victims
00:02:55Kristen Smart also known as Roxy 19 year old Kristen Smart never made it home it's a mystery that leaves the
00:03:05smart family haunted for those of us above a certain age 1996 doesn't sound like that long ago of course it
00:03:23was a different time a simpler time there was no Instagram tick-tock or texting friendships were made and
00:03:32cultivated in person her freshman year at California Polytechnic State University in San
00:03:41Louis Obispo Vanessa Shields started a great friendship she was two doors down for me and we
00:03:49just bunch of us girls all became friends and kind of became inseparable she was Kristen Smart from
00:03:55Stockton California and also a freshman at Cal Poly she inspired me by her independence and that's why we
00:04:04befriended each other Margarita Campos lived in the room next door to Kristen at that time I was just I was
00:04:13much more shelter than she was so she was fascinating to me and different and curious we were you know
00:04:21studying each other's rooms listening music going to parties going to eat going to work out a lot of
00:04:27silly stuff just hanging out talking that's a school where you can always find a party always yeah even
00:04:32on a holiday weekend yeah including that Memorial Day weekend on Friday May 24th 1996 plenty of students
00:04:42headed out of town for the holiday Vanessa went home for the weekend Kristen and Margarita stayed
00:04:50the two women drove with some other friends to an off-campus party it was just a really mellow like
00:04:59chill party it wasn't very vivacious in any sort of way and that was a great disappointment to
00:05:04Kristen because like that was just too low energy for her she thought party lively so they left
00:05:14Kristen and Margarita were dropped off in a neighborhood where a lot of students lived on the outskirts of
00:05:20campus they walked for a bit Kristen wanted to find another party Margarita did not she just was
00:05:29standing with her arms crossed and was like come on you have to come with me and I just I was like
00:05:35I really don't want to go and then she was like come on and it was at the push and pull of of two
00:05:43independent women Kristen had gone out without her keys her purse or even a jacket she wore a t-shirt
00:05:52surf shorts and tennis shoes Margarita gave Kristen her key so she could get back in the dorm I think
00:06:01she put it in her shoe because she didn't really have she didn't have any pockets in her board shorts
00:06:06she watched Kristen walk toward the houses on Crandall Way she was not going to turn around and walk back
00:06:12with me to the dorms that I knew that's when I last left her the next day Margarita was surprised when
00:06:24Kristen didn't stop by to tell her how the evening went I knocked on her door I thought she was maybe
00:06:31still sleeping didn't see her for gosh the whole day when Kristen's roommate returned Saturday of
00:06:39Memorial Day weekend she and other women on the floor realized something was wrong all of Kristen's
00:06:47belongings were in the room her backpack ID makeup they called campus police right away and then the
00:06:58campus police were like well are you sure she didn't go on a trip over the weekend because
00:07:04it's Memorial weekend camping and we're like no all her stuff is here and they were like well she's over
00:07:1018 so we have to wait for 24 hours Vanessa Shields returned Monday evening to her panicked dorm mates
00:07:18and a missing friend and then I'm like where's Kristen Kristen's friends notified the
00:07:28resident advisor in the dorm and again spoke with campus police they just thought she just took
00:07:35off she thought she just went on a fun trip and that's what was frustrating because we knew she
00:07:40wouldn't just take off we knew she wouldn't do that if she were planning to take a mini vacation or go
00:07:45home or run off anywhere you would have known about it myself and a lot of the other girls would have known
00:07:50yeah Kristen was very vocal about what she was doing or where she was going and then the phone rang at
00:07:57the Stockton home of Stan and Denise smart it was Cal Poly campus police they said your daughter's not at
00:08:05school did she go we think she has gone camping and that's the first time we ever heard that and they
00:08:12didn't know where she was and I was immediately fearful because that it's just not her she's not gonna
00:08:19leave on a last-minute camping trip no Stan smart got in his car and drove the four and a half hours to
00:08:28San Luis Obispo her friends in the dorm waited and hoped for answers even though we had this feeling
00:08:37that something was wrong I don't think we could grasp at that moment how bad it could be she was right
00:08:43no one knew how bad it could be or how long it would take for the amount of time that I've invested
00:08:50into telling this story it's a fraction of a fraction of living through it this is an ordeal most people
00:08:59would fold under your children are part of who you are so you're fighting for them you're fighting for
00:09:07justice and fighting against time years lost and no idea yet what a terrible price would be paid because
00:09:18he wasn't locked up from early on he had the opportunity to do other things absolutely correct
00:09:24I think it haunts everybody that's involved in this case
00:09:37Stan smart raced to San Luis Obispo when he learned his oldest daughter Kristin had not been seen on her
00:09:48college campus for days you're thinking what during that drive when I get there she'll already be back
00:09:57well hopefully yeah that I just talked to her Sam disappointed that did not happen they were saying oh well you
00:10:08know she probably went away and she's disappeared and she ever run away before and so on and forth back home in
00:10:16Stockton California Kristen's mom Denise camped out by the phone waiting for updates my hopes would have been that the
00:10:26nightmare would be over once he got there and she would be there but I was I just knew
00:10:33something wasn't right Kristen had struggled a bit at Cal Poly she was less than completely happy with her
00:10:41decision to enroll there one of the things that we shared with each other was our
00:10:48disenchantment with Cal Poly Denise responded to some of her daughter's complaints in a letter she wrote
00:10:56just a few weeks before Kristen disappeared wake up and smell the roses she wrote you have a world of
00:11:04opportunities at your fingertips you're kind of telling her suck it up buttercup time to start acting like a
00:11:13grown-up right she had no doubt Kristen would get through this rough patch she was never one to shy away from a
00:11:22challenge or an adventure well she loved travel she loved exploring she was always instrumental in
00:11:32helping us plan a vacation writing it all up going to AAA because you know there was no Google at that
00:11:37time she spent summers in London Venezuela and Hawaii Matt Smart is Kristen's younger brother to you she was
00:11:48like a star well yeah she she was an artist she was an adventurer she was an individual who was just full
00:11:55of life get out there and get it done she arrived at Cal Poly in the fall of 1995 excited to start
00:12:04college life and the campus certainly seemed a safe place you feel like you're in the kind of sheltered
00:12:12community because you know it's really kind of away from town it was still hard for her little brother
00:12:18to say goodbye and it's like so we just leave her here it's a lot of trust that you're putting in that
00:12:26trust that she'll make the right choices and that those around her will particularly because at 18 or 19
00:12:33college freshmen are just on the cusp of adulthood for Kristen that brought a time of reinvention and
00:12:42she began going by other names like Roxy what was the deal with her calling herself Roxy it was a nickname
00:12:49she gave herself I think it's just kind of like this alter ego she kind of just wanted to have fun and play
00:12:54with it as much as Kristen was exploring her new independent self her ties to home remained strong she
00:13:04called you guys every Sunday every Sunday Kristen left a message on her parents answering machine the
00:13:12Friday of Memorial Day weekend they weren't home you know you know your children's voice and there was
00:13:19so much laughter and levity in it that she was so happy that you know that that's the last I heard from her
00:13:28no call that Sunday it was Tuesday three days after she'd been last seen that campus police took an
00:13:41official missing persons report remember by this time Kristen's dorm mates had already called campus
00:13:47police twice everyone who knew Kristen realized right away something was wrong however campus police
00:13:54were slow to start an investigation we see this a lot for police the concern of a family member or friend
00:14:02is frequently discounted if the person who is missing is legally an adult even or maybe especially if
00:14:09they're a college student it was clear that they weren't really concerned they still thought she could
00:14:15have been a runaway they thought she could have just you know been out having fun soon Cal Poly was buzzing
00:14:21about the missing freshman and what happened at an off-campus party I didn't want him near her I just
00:14:31didn't want him near her I didn't I didn't like it I didn't really want to near anybody you had a bad feeling yeah
00:14:45it is probably not terribly surprising that a search for a missing college student might lead investigators
00:14:57to a party one of my girlfriends was like let's go out tonight and we just ended up there long ago Kendra
00:15:06Cohen was herself an 18 year old college student who happened to end up at an off-campus party here on the
00:15:14evening of Friday May 24th 1996 it was just a party I remember going in and it was boring I guess Kendra said she
00:15:27was walking around asking if anyone had a piece of gum remember she was 18 I know that sounds so silly
00:15:35but I was looking for gum and then I ran into a guy who said yes I've got some gum and we started talking
00:15:41and then at one point we're sort of in the sort of in the center of the room and he grabs me and he
00:15:48starts to kiss me and it was very weird and I took a minute and I stepped back and I pushed him away but
00:15:54not before somebody I was like yelling in the background get a room and I was so embarrassed you
00:16:01ever seen this guy before nope I'd never seen him before still she was determined to get some gum
00:16:07he said he had some in his car and I walked around to the side of the house and then he grabbed me
00:16:15again and started kissing me again and I pushed him back this time and I said dude no no bye I'm leaving
00:16:22and I walked back to where my friends were and I was like that guy is so weird just he's weird Trevor
00:16:30Bolter had a weird experience of his own that night at the Crandall Way party he was a sophomore at Cal Poly at the time
00:16:38this very tall very attractive girl wearing shorts and a t-shirt walks up to me and says hi I'm Roxy
00:16:47okay and I go hi he didn't know it but that was Kristen Smart the newly minted adult now road testing her new nickname
00:16:57Roxy this was the party Kristen found after leaving her friend Margarita to Trevor she seemed confident
00:17:06flirty she grabs my hand and she takes me to the bathroom okay so my head spinning a little bit
00:17:14inside the bathroom they talked a bit and she goes okay I have to use the bathroom now and I'm like okay
00:17:20so I walk out of the bathroom and that's when he says he had another strange encounter this guy
00:17:29that I've never seen before like is right in my face and he's like what I'd like to know is what
00:17:35you did with her in the bathroom and I was like oh god is that her boyfriend I'm like what have I got
00:17:40myself into you know I'm like I like my head spinning and I go nothing man absolutely nothing and then he
00:17:46goes oh laughs it goes oh cool Kendra Cohen did not know Kristen Smart but she definitely noticed
00:17:54the tall young woman walk into the party and she also remembers the moment less than an hour later
00:18:01when she saw her fall to the floor for whatever reason I'm not even sure why I did it I didn't know
00:18:09her but I stood up and I walked across the room and she was on the ground and this guy that had
00:18:15kissed me was sort of hovering over her she learned the guy was named Paul he was also the same person
00:18:23who'd confronted Trevor outside of the bathroom and I was like just go away and me and a couple other
00:18:29people helped pick her up and I took her outside she had a cup in her hand so her and I went outside
00:18:37we went out the front and sat on the porch and I just sort of sat with her for a few minutes and
00:18:42I said are you okay stay away from that guy did she seem drunk she did seem very out of it she
00:18:49smelled like alcohol I don't recall but I do know that when I saw her walk in she seemed okay and by
00:18:55the time that she fell down and I picked her up and took her outside she did not seem okay anymore
00:19:00by the early morning hours Kristen was in bad shape she was in the front yard and seemingly unable to
00:19:10stand up and I recognized her obviously as the girl that I had tried to help earlier and I asked her if
00:19:17she needed someone to walk her home she's lying down at this point she's lying down yes and she says
00:19:23no I've got a ride and I'm sure I said are you sure and eventually we walked away Kendra could not
00:19:34have known what would happen later but she would be thinking about that moment for a long time the
00:19:40obvious victims in stories like this are the people who are no longer here but the people I meet are the
00:19:46victims who get left behind people who were tortured by what they did or maybe did not do years and
00:19:51sometimes decades ago I should have dragged her up and walked her home I just wish I'd done something
00:19:58differently hindsight right stories about that party would be told again and again the question was who
00:20:11was telling the truth Memorial Day weekend was over students at Cal Poly were back on campus and back to
00:20:36class word was spreading about a young woman who hadn't been seen since the early morning hours of
00:20:43Saturday May 25th Kristen Smart it was about 2 a.m. Saturday morning when Kristen Smart also known as
00:20:52Roxy said good night to friends no one has seen the 19 year old since I think I saw it on the news where
00:21:00this girl Kristen was missing and I saw her face and I was like oh my god that's the girl ever since
00:21:07that party Kendra had been thinking about her interactions with the young woman she only knew
00:21:12as Roxy and the guy she knew as Paul she called campus police tell me about that goal I just I relayed
00:21:20the whole story it was at the party I had this encounter with Paul at the beginning I had this
00:21:25encounter with Kristen in the driveway and you know on the porch and saw Paul leaning over her and I told
00:21:33him everything you told police that Paul seemed creepy yes and that he tried to kiss you yes a couple of
00:21:39times yes and that he'd shown some interest in her yes their response was okay we'll be in touch and how
00:21:47long until they were in touch never maybe she didn't hear back because campus police had spoken with other
00:21:54students from the party turns out Kristen did not have a ride home as she told Kendra apparently she'd
00:22:01walked back to campus with some other party goers one of them was Paul full name Paul Flores a Cal
00:22:09Poly freshman majoring in food science he'd grown up in nearby Arroyo Grande thanks for coming down
00:22:17this is Cal Poly police asked Paul Flores to come in so you were drinking let's see you were drinking in
00:22:28the residence halls Paul told police the evening began for him with a few beers in the dorm before
00:22:35the party how did you get to the party I walked up okay we're feeling the effects of the alcohol at
00:22:40that time yeah I was but it's pretty good Paul said that at the party Kristen aka Roxy approached him
00:22:48like I talked to her one time at the party and she says hi I'm Roxy you know how do you like me or
00:22:55something like that did you find Roxy attractive no how come she was drunk she was taller than me Paul
00:23:04told investigators that after the party he and another female student walked most of the way back
00:23:09to the dorms with Kristen other students said that was around 2 a.m. how did you end up with uh with
00:23:17Roxy I don't even know just we were just all leaving at the same time when you were walking
00:23:24were you helping her physically walk home no she wasn't leaving on you no she was walking just fine
00:23:30a couple of times gave her a hug when she said she was cold did she say anything with her was she feeling
00:23:35sick or anything on the way home Paul lived in the building right across this walkway from Kristen
00:23:42the other young woman left to go home and Paul said he and Kristen split off here a few steps away
00:23:51from her dorm where was she going was she walking was she standing still was she laying down she was
00:23:57walking he said he returned to his room threw up from too much drinking then took a shower around 5 a.m.
00:24:05so it's very important that you realize you know how important this investigation is yeah yeah you're
00:24:13grasping this she hasn't surfaced we haven't had any sightings of her at this point you're the last
00:24:20person as far as they spoke something caught the investigators attention take your hand off for
00:24:27a second what happened to your eye I got a little play basketball Paul Flores had a black eye a shiner he
00:24:34said he got on Memorial Day the Monday after the party you've been completely honest here with
00:24:40everything that you told us okay as far as your injuries and that sort of thing yeah and that was
00:24:48that Paul Flores was sent on his way okay Paul thanks for coming down all right we don't know what
00:24:57campus police made of Paul Flores's story we do know that the next time he sat down with investigators
00:25:04Paul Flores was saying something different June 1996 Cal Poly students were packing up for summer break
00:25:26and lingering over those last days of the semester was a huge unanswered question what had happened
00:25:34to missing freshman Kristen Smart we've gone over and out around the campus talking to people her father
00:25:41Stan was still there in San Luis Obispo every day walking the campus and the surrounding community he
00:25:49wasn't leaving without his daughter people were really nice no one ever turned me away if there was a
00:25:54locked gate they would unlock it and say you go ahead and look you know we feel for you but they
00:25:58didn't have any information they didn't have any information that's right campus police were talking with
00:26:04people too with some help from San Luis Obispo DA detective Bill Hanley nearly one month after Kristen
00:26:11disappeared Hanley and his partner asked Paul Flores to come in for a second interview what do you think happened to Roxy what's your best your best guess as to what happened to her
00:26:21my best guess is maybe she know because her dorm was by the parking lot over there so then I would figure my best guess is she went off with someone
00:26:34it was clear that he possibly was the last one to see her
00:26:39once again he told them about his walk back to the dorms with Kristen I went off to my dorm because his walkway goes that way towards my dorm and then she started walking it that way
00:26:57By now investigators had been asking around about Paul Flores remember he said he'd gotten that black eye at a basketball game Monday well a friend told police he noticed it earlier that weekend
00:27:12last time we talked to you you had a black eye and what did you tell us I told you I got to play basketball
00:27:20investigators knew he was lying and now came a different story where did you get it in my car
00:27:28because I was uninstalled in my radio because I'm selling my truck and how did you get the black eye I hit the steering wheel
00:27:34why didn't you tell us that because it doesn't sound like a very likely thing
00:27:39well you lied to us though right well I guess you can call it a little white lie but
00:27:44how you got your black eye is a white lie yep
00:27:47so what's going on here this is a guy covering his tracks
00:27:51yes and not very effectively because you smell it
00:27:55he showed visible signs of being nervous he had a white t-shirt on he kind of put his arms inside of the shirt sleeves
00:28:03like he's protecting himself that's correct
00:28:10suspicious yes enough for an arrest not close
00:28:17well we know he's not being truthful that we're positive of and that was the frustrating thing
00:28:24in fact one day after this interview the campus newspaper the mustang put it bluntly
00:28:31investigators parents remain clueless about missing poly student
00:28:36the newspaper even quoted campus police as saying there is no evidence of any criminal activity
00:28:43it doesn't look like she was the victim of a crime
00:28:46a strange comment given that Cal Poly PD then handed over the case to the San Luis Obispo County
00:28:53Sheriff's Department for further investigation that was nearly one month after Kristen disappeared
00:29:02I find it unfortunate that they didn't reach out for some additional help
00:29:07the investigation definitely got off to a slow start
00:29:10Pat Hedges was a commander in the sheriff's patrol division back in 1996
00:29:15he was not assigned to the case at the time
00:29:18he is familiar with the investigation conducted by Cal Poly PD and the criticisms that followed it
00:29:25when we assumed the investigation 30 days later we weren't able to just start it at square square one
00:29:33we were like in a negative number
00:29:35campus police did look around Paul Flores' dorm room early on
00:29:39what they didn't do was take any photos
00:29:43seize any evidence
00:29:45nothing that could be tested for blood or DNA
00:29:48or some trace that Kristen had ever been there
00:29:52failing to process Paul's room as a potential crime scene early in their investigation
00:29:58suggests campus police were not equipped to handle a case like this
00:30:02actually that's being polite
00:30:05it was a huge mistake that could not be fixed
00:30:08any evidence that may have existed could have been removed
00:30:11degraded or in this case simply scrubbed away
00:30:15by the time the sheriff's department took over the case
00:30:19students had moved out for the summer
00:30:22and the dorm had been thoroughly cleaned
00:30:25all the dorm rooms had been sanitized
00:30:27so we were at a bit of a disadvantage on that
00:30:30because that might be your crime scene
00:30:32most likely everything indicated that that was at least a significant scene
00:30:37there may have been others but that would have been a place to start
00:30:41Kristen's family says campus police never should have been in charge of such a serious investigation to begin with
00:30:49they had background and if you're a double parked or you're drinking and underage
00:30:54or your bicycle got stolen
00:30:56right
00:30:57and there was something else
00:30:59from the start
00:31:00some of those interviewed including Kristen's friend Margarita
00:31:04remember campus police focusing on what Kristen wore and what she drank
00:31:10so campus police were asking us like how much did she drink
00:31:13did she drink every night
00:31:15you know sort of personality profiling her
00:31:19they also wanted to know about Kristen's sex life
00:31:22the type of questions that they would ask me were like really explicit in relation to sex
00:31:29we looked at the first audio interview with Paul Flores just a few days into the investigation
00:31:36the unredacted transcript shows campus police calling Kristen promiscuous or massively promiscuous three times
00:31:45an interrogation technique maybe but there's no reason to talk that way to Kristen's friend
00:31:52I remember one of the campus police was like oh well she was sexually promiscuous
00:31:57the Cal Poly police took me aside and said you know your daughter was doing some things that would put her at risk
00:32:05and that she had gone to a party and she had drank alcohol like that was unusual for college kids to go to a party and drink alcohol
00:32:15and that she was scantily dressed
00:32:18and I listened to all this and he was portraying to me that our daughter disappeared and if she was dead she'd brought it onto herself
00:32:28which was totally wrong
00:32:30I mean you think that you think they would have worked on it differently if she'd you know been coming back from the library
00:32:35and never had any boyfriends and you know was wearing a hazmat suit
00:32:39I would have been definitely would have been different because it was a different era
00:32:44and there was a lot of victim shaming and it's like women get with you know what they're asking for
00:32:52Now one month in the case was in new hands and with some new sniffing around they were about to discover something huge
00:33:05These dogs indicated that there had been a deceased person in that room
00:33:22Vanessa Shields went home for the summer heartbroken over her missing friend and dorm mate Kristen Smart
00:33:29She was replaying memories when it hit her
00:33:33That party on Crandall Way was not the first time Kristen ever met Paul Flores
00:33:39We were at a party and I just remember looking over and seeing this guy kind of you know behind staring
00:33:45Staring at Kristen?
00:33:46Staring at Kristen
00:33:47It was just a kind of very serious kind of intense and direct you know just kind of staring
00:33:51Now she says that memory gave her chills
00:33:56Then you saw him again
00:33:59Another party yeah about a few weeks later he actually came up to us
00:34:02And that's when he introduced himself and talked to her
00:34:05What did he say when he talked to you guys?
00:34:06You could just tell he was like kind of nervous but yet he had this little confidence to come up to her
00:34:10I was kind of surprised that he thought he had a chance with her because she was a really beautiful girl
00:34:13And you know he just wasn't her type
00:34:16The sheriff's office was now playing serious catch-up on an investigation they'd inherited from campus police
00:34:25Are you operating under the presumption that she's no longer alive?
00:34:29I would say that would be a safe assumption
00:34:32Even though Paul Flores had moved out his dorm room cleaned
00:34:37Detectives decided to go back in this time with cadaver dogs
00:34:44Out of the hundred thirteen rooms in Santa Lucia Hall
00:34:48All four dogs detected human decomposition in the same place
00:34:53The now vacant room of Paul Flores
00:34:57That was progress
00:35:00Just not enough
00:35:02That in and of itself is not
00:35:05That's not enough to go forward
00:35:06You can't arrest anybody on the basis of that
00:35:09Well no not really
00:35:11It indicated that there had been a situation there at some point in time
00:35:15It doesn't give enough for the prosecutors to prosecute a case
00:35:20It was all quite provocative
00:35:23But where was Kristen?
00:35:25Team number three behind the squad leader with his hand up please
00:35:29Hundreds of volunteers searched the Cal Poly campus and its surrounding hillsides
00:35:34Keep your eyes on the ground
00:35:36You're looking for anything that looks out of place
00:35:39The Smart family met with local politicians
00:35:42Asking for more to be done
00:35:44And at one of those meetings
00:35:46Someone tried to offer Denise Smart some advice
00:35:50He said Mrs. Smart
00:35:52He said
00:35:54This perpetrator took your daughter's life
00:35:58Don't let him take another life
00:36:01Don't let him take your husband
00:36:02Don't let him take your children
00:36:04Be present for your children and your husband
00:36:07I was so infuriated with him
00:36:09How dare he tell me that my daughter had died
00:36:13Right, we're still looking for her
00:36:16Yeah, we're 30 days in and we've not given up
00:36:19We're going to find her
00:36:20And I was so mad at him and upset
00:36:23By this time Paul Flores had stopped talking with police
00:36:29He ended up dropping out of Cal Poly and moving back home
00:36:34Denise Smart knew Flores was the last person seen with her daughter
00:36:38Now her desperation led her to do something unusual
00:36:43She decided to reach out to Paul's mother Susan
00:36:46Mom to mom
00:36:48With a campaign to present the story of her daughter's life
00:36:53I need to send their family
00:36:55This is who Kristen is
00:36:56So I made several pages of pictures of Kristen
00:37:00That this is who we're missing
00:37:01And that we would love to have
00:37:03Could they please help us
00:37:05And so you send all this to the Flores family
00:37:07Yeah, and it was returned
00:37:09She sent it back
00:37:10She said we have our own pictures
00:37:11Which tells me she opened it
00:37:13And then sealed it
00:37:15And then sent it back
00:37:18Stan Smart drove to the Flores home in Arroyo Grande
00:37:22To try to speak with Paul's father, Ruben
00:37:25So I drove up there
00:37:26And there was a fellow out in the front
00:37:28And I remember stepping out of my truck
00:37:31And introducing who I was
00:37:33And he didn't want to talk
00:37:35That was Ruben?
00:37:36That was Ruben
00:37:37And you said I'm Stan Smart
00:37:39I'm looking for my daughter
00:37:40Yeah, yeah
00:37:41And I'd like to talk
00:37:42He did not want to talk
00:37:44He indicated that I should leave
00:37:47Or someone's happy to get shot
00:37:48Well, that's silly talk
00:37:52Immature talk
00:37:53So I got back to my vehicle
00:37:55And I left
00:37:56Ruben Flores denies saying that to Stan
00:38:00Stan and Denise say
00:38:02The attitude of the Flores family
00:38:04Was all about protecting their son
00:38:07And then it was Memorial Day weekend
00:38:11Again
00:38:12One year had gone by
00:38:16So by May 1997
00:38:18They really hadn't made a lot of progress
00:38:20In the investigation
00:38:22Chloe Jones is the courts and crime reporter
00:38:25For the San Luis Obispo Tribune
00:38:28All they had at the time were the cadaver dog alerts
00:38:30And evidence that Paul Flores lied about having a black eye
00:38:34On the anniversary of her disappearance
00:38:37The sheriff showed his hand
00:38:39And it looked like a losing one
00:38:42Ed Williams, the sheriff at the time
00:38:44Told the Tribune that they had no other suspects in the case
00:38:47And that all roads lead to Paul Flores
00:38:50And they needed Paul Flores to tell them what happened
00:38:52That's pretty much like a memo to Paul Flores saying
00:38:54If you keep your mouth shut
00:38:56You have nothing to worry about
00:38:57It's like
00:38:58What are you saying?
00:38:59Do you understand what you're saying?
00:39:00That was in the newspaper
00:39:02You are telling us that he is the suspect
00:39:04And if the suspect doesn't talk
00:39:06Then the case isn't solved
00:39:10Paul Flores continued to keep quiet
00:39:13And the smarts' hopes for a break in the case faded
00:39:17When it went to the sheriff's department
00:39:20We were very hopeful
00:39:22That it was going to be moving forward
00:39:24And that we would have answers
00:39:26But that was short lived
00:39:28I didn't know Denise and Stan Smart
00:39:30Before we did this story
00:39:32The more I learned about them
00:39:33The more impressed I was
00:39:35They repeatedly banged on law enforcement's door
00:39:38But not in a confrontational way
00:39:41They didn't give up
00:39:42And when it looked as if the investigation had stalled
00:39:44They did not depend on others to make things happen
00:39:47Instead they figured out a way
00:39:50To get Paul Flores to talk
00:39:52Why did you file the wrongful death lawsuit?
00:39:55To solicit information
00:39:57Because we weren't getting any information
00:40:01In a civil case
00:40:02Their attorney could do what detectives could not
00:40:05Question Paul Flores
00:40:07Not in an interrogation
00:40:09But in a videotaped deposition
00:40:12Could you provide me with the names of the persons
00:40:15With whom you have discussed the Kristen Smart case?
00:40:20Well, sort of
00:40:22I refuse to answer that question
00:40:24Based on the fifth amendment
00:40:26Fifth amendment
00:40:27The fifth amendment
00:40:28Fifth amendment
00:40:29That's how he answered nearly every question
00:40:31Taking the fifth
00:40:33Perhaps knowing this civil deposition
00:40:36Could later be used by criminal prosecutors
00:40:39The United States Constitution
00:40:41Went back to the house
00:40:42The attorney for the Smarts
00:40:44Also deposed Paul Flores' father, Ruben
00:40:47Has your son ever told you
00:40:49That he did not kill Kristen Smart?
00:40:55We never asked that question
00:40:58Paul's dad was questioned
00:41:00Because investigators believed
00:41:01Kristen's murder happened in Paul's dorm room
00:41:04And her body was moved after that
00:41:07Was there a law enforcement theory
00:41:09Of how he got her body out of the dorm
00:41:12And what he might have done with it?
00:41:14There were several theories
00:41:16One that he had helped taken her from the college
00:41:20Paul did not have a car on campus
00:41:24And the morning after that party
00:41:26He made one phone call
00:41:28To his parents' house
00:41:30Investigators and the Smarts suspected
00:41:33His family was involved in helping Paul
00:41:36Cover up the murder
00:41:37Do you have any information whatsoever
00:41:40As to where Kristen Smart's body may be?
00:41:43No
00:41:44The depositions provided a lot to interpret
00:41:47But not hard evidence
00:41:49Kristen's family decided to put their lawsuit on hold
00:41:53They tried something else
00:41:56About a mile from the Flores' home
00:41:58The Smarts' lawyer put up a billboard
00:42:00Offering a reward for the missing Cal Poly student
00:42:04And then years went by
00:42:07And with them
00:42:08The answers the Smart family sought
00:42:11Seemed to slip away
00:42:13Paul Flores may have thought
00:42:15The Kristen Smart investigation was behind him
00:42:18If he did
00:42:19He was wrong
00:42:21Law enforcement kept eyes on him
00:42:23And
00:42:24Ears
00:42:25They're hoping he says
00:42:26Well I did kill this girl
00:42:38The most difficult part of my job
00:42:39Is seeing the toll of losing a child
00:42:42No parent chooses what Denise and Stan Smart have endured
00:42:46They've grown older with each passing year
00:42:48And their firstborn child is forever 19
00:42:52Would Kristen have kept the nickname Roxy?
00:42:54Would she have stayed at Cal Poly?
00:42:56What career would she have pursued?
00:42:58The Smarts will never know
00:43:01For more than a quarter of a century
00:43:03They have poured their energy into seeking justice
00:43:06For what was stolen from them
00:43:09I have seen couples driven apart by something like this
00:43:13It can ruin a marriage
00:43:15It can wreck a family
00:43:16That didn't happen with you
00:43:18Well we had two children that I think we were both
00:43:21With a glue to keep us together
00:43:23Remember that unsolicited advice about being present?
00:43:28The advice which so infuriated Denise
00:43:31Back when Kristen was just 30 days gone?
00:43:34It kept ringing in her ears
00:43:37And it helped
00:43:39I remember that conversation to this day
00:43:42And I did try to be present
00:43:44I went to their swim meets
00:43:46And basketball games
00:43:47And soccer games
00:43:48And I sat there
00:43:51You know for them
00:43:53And I thought you know Kristen's not here
00:43:55I need to be here for both of us
00:43:57So the Smart family tried to live their lives without her
00:44:02Kristen's friend Vanessa did the same
00:44:05I graduated
00:44:07Moved back down to San Diego
00:44:09And was in medical research
00:44:10And then I got married, got divorced
00:44:14All the ups and downs of life
00:44:18That Kristen never got to have
00:44:20I was always thinking about her
00:44:22Especially around Memorial Day weekend
00:44:24Since leaving Cal Poly
00:44:26Margarita has struggled
00:44:28Knowing she didn't stay with Kristen that night
00:44:31I had a lot of guilt and a lot of shame
00:44:34And humiliation
00:44:35My friend disappeared because I left her alone
00:44:39The way I got over my guilt and shame
00:44:43Was Kristen's mom
00:44:47She told me that if I would have stayed with Kristen that night
00:44:52It might have been two girls and not one
00:44:54Over the next decade
00:44:57Paul Flores finished school at Community College
00:45:00The smarts saw him as the only suspect
00:45:03And so did law enforcement
00:45:06Except Stan and Denise say they heard less and less
00:45:09From the Sheriff's Department
00:45:11You get the impression after a while
00:45:13That not much is going on
00:45:15But we knew and they had told us
00:45:17They couldn't share everything with us
00:45:19And after a while it gets a little draining
00:45:21I can't tell you how many times I wrote letters
00:45:24And I said will you just call us once a week
00:45:28And say we're working on something this week
00:45:31And use her name
00:45:33I had to tell them to use her name
00:45:36The smarts are complaining about
00:45:38The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Department
00:45:41Under Pat Hedges
00:45:43He had taken over the top job in 1998
00:45:47The smart family has this strong sense
00:45:50That there was a period
00:45:52During the time that you were sheriff
00:45:54When no work was being done on this case
00:45:56In which law enforcement's eyes
00:45:58Were essentially off of Paul Flores
00:46:00Are they right about that?
00:46:02No, no they weren't right
00:46:03We conducted both covert and overt surveillance on him
00:46:07Detectives had obtained warrants
00:46:10For wiretaps on the Flores family phones
00:46:13Perhaps we could get family talking about the case
00:46:17They didn't overhear anything unusual
00:46:21Sheriff Hedges also brought in undercover FBI agents
00:46:24To cozy up to Paul
00:46:26And get him talking about his past
00:46:29They're hoping he says
00:46:31Well I did kill this girl
00:46:33But he didn't do it
00:46:34He was one of the
00:46:37Toughest nuts to crack if you will
00:46:39Sheriff Hedges left office in 2010
00:46:44No closer to solving the Kristen Smart case
00:46:47Than investigators before him
00:46:50Do you think you did a good enough job
00:46:52Of keeping the smart family informed?
00:46:54Because they don't think so
00:46:56Yeah, in retrospect
00:46:58We probably could have done a better job
00:47:02Then someone else started investigating the Kristen Smart case
00:47:08Someone who'd been intrigued by that face on that billboard
00:47:13After all of these years
00:47:15And his interest would change everything
00:47:19I've driven by a thousand times
00:47:22And I was suddenly hooked
00:47:24And needed to know more
00:47:25Chris Lambert grew up more than a half an hour south of San Luis Obispo
00:47:42When Kristen Smart disappeared in 1996
00:47:45Chris was eight years old
00:47:48Over the years
00:47:50He drove past those billboards
00:47:52And the fading photos of Kristen Smart
00:47:55And each time I would pass it
00:47:58I would go, that girl's still missing?
00:48:00I live in Los Angeles
00:48:01And I saw the same billboards
00:48:03Whenever I drove up the coast
00:48:04They were impossible to miss
00:48:06Chris Lambert told me
00:48:08Seeing them again and again
00:48:09Jarred something in him
00:48:11I started asking friends and family members
00:48:14Do you remember the Kristen Smart story?
00:48:16And what came out was that
00:48:18A lot of people didn't know the details
00:48:20Or were confused about who she was
00:48:23Chris had never investigated any crime
00:48:26He was a musician, not a journalist
00:48:29He wasn't even a friend of the Smart family
00:48:32He did, however, have an idea
00:48:35I wonder if this is the kind of story
00:48:37That I could put together
00:48:39In a way that people would consume in podcast form
00:48:42In 2018, he began cold calling anyone
00:48:45Connected to the Kristen Smart case
00:48:48And people talked
00:48:50He started putting together the first episodes of a podcast
00:48:54Not sure what would happen
00:48:57One of my biggest fears early on
00:48:59Is when I reach out to Kristen Smart's parents
00:49:02They might say
00:49:03We don't want you to tell this story
00:49:05Chris attended a memorial the following year
00:49:08For what would have been Kristen's 42nd birthday
00:49:11And he approached Denise Smart
00:49:14Hi, I'm here to learn about your daughter
00:49:16And I think that they could see early on
00:49:18That I wasn't like anybody else
00:49:20That had approached them up to this point
00:49:22We've had people who wanted to write books
00:49:23People who wanted to write stories
00:49:25And you've turned them down
00:49:27They didn't feel right
00:49:29And very calmly, as Chris does
00:49:32He just sort of told me about an idea for a podcast
00:49:37It was an idea the Smart family liked
00:49:40It happened in my own backyard
00:49:42Which is why I named the podcast Your Own Backyard
00:49:45I'm retracing missing Cal Poly student
00:49:48Kristen Smart's last known steps
00:49:50It is how many around here either learned of
00:49:54Or remembered the story of the young woman on the billboard
00:49:57And the story of the man suspected of taking her away
00:50:01What Chris did not see coming
00:50:04Was that the podcast made more people want to talk with him
00:50:08How many people contacted you and said
00:50:10I have some personal knowledge of this case?
00:50:12I think hundreds if not thousands by this point
00:50:15Chris heard stories from people who knew Paul Flores as a little kid
00:50:19Some of them not very flattering
00:50:22There's an incident where he's swimming in the family pool
00:50:25At some point there's a girl that he gets into a fight with
00:50:28And suddenly he's holding her down under the pool
00:50:30So she can't breathe
00:50:32Finally an adult has to pull him off
00:50:34Chris learned that in the years after Kristen disappeared
00:50:37Paul Flores had moved south to Los Angeles County
00:50:40He worked for a while at a Coca-Cola bottling plant
00:50:43And was a regular at the local bars
00:50:46He was also arrested multiple times for drunk driving
00:50:50Chris interviewed one of Paul's girlfriends during that time
00:50:54There was something always odd about him and his family
00:50:57There was always lots of secrets
00:51:00He didn't have very many friends
00:51:02At first Chris expected only locals would listen to his podcast
00:51:08That wasn't the way it played out
00:51:10No, it blew up
00:51:11Your own backyard podcast gained millions of listeners
00:51:17It's different when someone goes missing in your own backyard
00:51:22It caught the attention of the latest sheriff in town
00:51:26Ian Parkinson
00:51:27Chris told the story that people didn't know
00:51:31And he opened the eyes across the country to Kristen
00:51:37Sheriff Parkinson had been in office for eight years by then
00:51:41He'd run on a promise to make cold cases like Kristen's a priority
00:51:46I promised that I would do everything I could
00:51:49To find Kristen and prosecute those that were responsible
00:51:55He just really cared
00:51:57We felt movement
00:51:59We felt progress
00:52:00And there was communication
00:52:02The smarts say Parkinson and his cold case investigator Clint Cole
00:52:08Stayed in regular touch
00:52:10Returned their calls
00:52:11And ran down tips that still trickled into the family
00:52:15None of that led to immediate answers
00:52:17It did make the smarts feel they had two real allies
00:52:21A podcaster and a detective
00:52:23Working together in an unorthodox relationship
00:52:27Chris is a good guy
00:52:29He gave us some valuable information
00:52:31Sharing information with the podcaster
00:52:34That's not in the manual, is it?
00:52:38No, it's not
00:52:40It's a risk
00:52:41But we met with him
00:52:42And we got a good vibe from him
00:52:44Detective Clint Cole was now focusing on the Flores family
00:52:48He got warrants for new wiretaps
00:52:51And started monitoring their phone calls
00:52:54I heard you ordered some cookies
00:52:56Yeah, but I had them mailed
00:52:58Yeah
00:52:59The Flores family is very cautious
00:53:01They're very careful
00:53:02As Cole listened, he heard something interesting
00:53:06The other thing I needed to do is to start listening to the podcast
00:53:11On the wiretap, Susan, Paul's mom, says to him
00:53:15I need you to start listening to the podcast
00:53:17I need you to listen to everything they say
00:53:20So we could punch holes in it
00:53:22Wherever we can punch holes, maybe we can't
00:53:26You're the one that can tell me
00:53:29That told me that he's involved
00:53:32Why else would he be able to poke holes in the podcast?
00:53:38And he doesn't respond to that question
00:53:40He doesn't say why
00:53:41I don't know why
00:53:42I didn't do anything
00:53:43Detective Cole found that very suspicious
00:53:47Investigators also discovered the Flores family
00:53:50Had started secretly communicating
00:53:52Using encrypted messaging applications
00:53:56Together, it was enough to get new search warrants
00:53:59On properties owned by the Flores family
00:54:02Including the home Paul Flores owned in Los Angeles
00:54:06It was a total hoarder house
00:54:08Filthy, black mold
00:54:10It was such a mess
00:54:12Amid the mess, investigators seized
00:54:15Paul Flores' electronic equipment
00:54:18Computers, phones, hard drives
00:54:21We were looking for any correspondence
00:54:25Or text messages
00:54:27Any evidence that could be related to the crime
00:54:31And those devices had stories to tell
00:54:34Stories about what Paul Flores had been doing
00:54:37In the years since Kristen Smart vanished
00:54:40At the time, did you suspect that you might be drugged?
00:54:42No
00:54:43From the beginning, investigators heard Paul Flores had a reputation
00:55:01He was awkward
00:55:03Made some women uncomfortable
00:55:05And there was more
00:55:07Chris Lambert spoke with women who knew him
00:55:09In the years before Kristen Smart vanished
00:55:12They described him as frightening
00:55:15Well, his nickname was Scary Paul
00:55:18You wouldn't want to be alone in a room with him
00:55:20You wouldn't let any of your friends be drunk around him
00:55:23In 2020, investigators say they confirmed that and more
00:55:28When they scoured those computers and hard drives seized from Paul Flores' home
00:55:33In San Pedro, a waterfront neighborhood of Los Angeles
00:55:37We found Paul's search history
00:55:41And we found downloads of pornography film
00:55:45About raping drunk college students
00:55:49That he'd saved
00:55:51And in a file labeled Practice
00:55:55They discovered Paul Flores had stored some videos
00:55:59Starring himself
00:56:01They show Paul Flores having sex with girls that
00:56:06Are passed out
00:56:08They're clearly not in any state to give consent
00:56:11No, not at all
00:56:12I watched two of them partially
00:56:14And it was enough to make me sick
00:56:16That somebody could do that to somebody
00:56:18This is date rape that he's videotaping
00:56:20Absolutely
00:56:21Investigators learned Flores would approach women
00:56:24At bars in his L.A. neighborhood
00:56:27Around closing time
00:56:29That's where this woman says she met him in 2015
00:56:33He noticed you?
00:56:35I guess so, yes
00:56:37We agreed to conceal this woman's identity and call her Sam
00:56:41Before we hear more from her, here is how we found her
00:56:44Producers Ann Priceman and Stephanie Barber
00:56:47Put in long hours and miles of legwork on this story
00:56:50We knew Paul Flores had lost his driver's license
00:56:53And he'd been walking to bars near his home
00:56:56So we sent Stephanie to those bars with Paul's photo
00:56:59To ask if anyone recognized him
00:57:01Sam did
00:57:03And she told a story that sounded as if it could have been told
00:57:06By any of the women in the videos Paul recorded
00:57:09It was late, Sam says
00:57:12And she was tipsy and waiting for a ride outside a bar
00:57:16When Flores approached her
00:57:18He asked if he could take me home
00:57:21You know, like, I could take you home
00:57:23It's, you know, it's fine
00:57:25And, um, he was very persistent
00:57:28Describe him
00:57:29He was awkward and he seemed, um, meek
00:57:32That's how I felt
00:57:34Like, oh, he's just
00:57:35You know, it's one in the morning
00:57:37And he just wants to hang out
00:57:38And he's being awkward about it
00:57:40But let's go get something to eat
00:57:42She says she got into Flores' car
00:57:45And they drove to a restaurant
00:57:47After which, she agreed to go back to his place
00:57:51And when he opens the door
00:57:53It was just a hoarding mess
00:57:56And I thought, what in the world did you get yourself into?
00:58:01She says that on his couch
00:58:04She tried to think of an exit strategy
00:58:07He offers me water
00:58:09And we still talk
00:58:13He's not doing anything other than talking
00:58:15Yeah, he's not aggressive or anything
00:58:16But I know that I wanted to leave
00:58:18And I don't know why I didn't muster up the energy
00:58:24Or voice I want to go
00:58:27Which
00:58:28Because you would have had no trouble saying that
00:58:30No, never
00:58:31I'm very, um, I'm feisty
00:58:34If I don't like something, you'll know
00:58:37What happens next?
00:58:38We go to his bedroom
00:58:40And then we have relations
00:58:44That I'm not participating in
00:58:47Meaning he's forcing himself on you?
00:58:50Not forcing
00:58:51It's just, um, I'm just laying there
00:58:53And, um, just thinking to myself
00:58:56I want this to be over
00:58:59I want to go home
00:59:00But I never vocally said it
00:59:02Afterwards, Sam says she passed out
00:59:06Woke up a few hours later
00:59:08And went home feeling groggy
00:59:10All of which was weird, she says
00:59:12Because she hadn't had any alcohol
00:59:14For several hours
00:59:15It was about 1 a.m.
00:59:17When I had my last drink
00:59:19And then just had water
00:59:20At the restaurant and at his house
00:59:22Sam was not one of the women in Paul Flores' videos
00:59:26However, when investigators saw those videos
00:59:30They suspected Flores was drugging and raping women
00:59:34From the search warrant, they found meds in his house
00:59:38We found Flexeril and Tramadol
00:59:41And speaking to a local doctor
00:59:44He said that Tramadol and Flexeril mixed together with alcohol
00:59:51Could produce a sedative state of mind for someone who had ingested them
00:59:57A sedative state of mind
00:59:59Similar to what you see on those videos with those women
01:00:02Correct
01:00:03Years after her encounter with Paul Flores
01:00:06Sam listened to Chris' podcast
01:00:09And started connecting the dots
01:00:12Oh my gosh
01:00:13Now it all makes sense
01:00:14Why everything happened the way it did
01:00:17Sam flashed back to that glass of water
01:00:20Paul Flores handed her at his place
01:00:23He went to the kitchen
01:00:24And grabbed me a glass of water
01:00:26That I did not see
01:00:28So he was alone with your glass of water for a few seconds
01:00:32As well as when I was at the restaurant with him
01:00:35I did get up to go to the restroom
01:00:37Twice
01:00:38That brings us back to a detail on the night Kristen went missing
01:00:43Despite all the talk about her being intoxicated
01:00:46People didn't report seeing her drink much
01:00:50I left her around like 10.30 or 11
01:00:53Dead sober by the way
01:00:55I never saw her actually drinking
01:00:58But she was definitely under the influence of something
01:01:00All these years later
01:01:02A clear picture was starting to emerge for investigators
01:01:06They believe in all likelihood
01:01:08Paul drugged Kristen the night she disappeared
01:01:11And went on to do it to other women
01:01:13Again and again and again
01:01:16If Paul Flores is guilty of Kristen Smart's murder
01:01:20Then he wasn't prosecuted for it back when it happened
01:01:24And he was free then
01:01:26Yes
01:01:27To assault you
01:01:29Chemically and literally
01:01:31And other women too
01:01:33Yes
01:01:34All because of the inaction of law enforcement back then
01:01:39Yeah they dropped the ball
01:01:40When you see Paul Flores essentially assaulting women who cannot resist
01:01:46You got to know
01:01:47That's the price of not arresting him up here
01:01:50Yep
01:01:51Yep and
01:01:52And that told us that we need to get this done
01:01:58Right?
01:01:59He doesn't belong out in the street
01:02:01Investigators hoped this would be their shot
01:02:04To finally lock up Paul Flores
01:02:06If not for Kristen's murder then maybe on rape charges
01:02:10So we involved LAPD to help identify these women
01:02:16We had crimes that we were witnessing
01:02:18We had many many conversations with LAPD and Los Angeles DA's office
01:02:25Those attempts to build a rape prosecution against Flores in LA were unsuccessful
01:02:31He was still out there free to walk the streets or go to any bar
01:02:37And 24 years later the smarts still had no answers
01:02:41What investigators really needed was to dig up some new evidence
01:02:45And in 2021 they quite literally did
01:02:50I was sitting right there heart pounding thinking we were going to find her
01:03:07More than two decades after Kristen Smart's disappearance
01:03:12Paul Flores was still a free man
01:03:15Then in 2021 a tip came in
01:03:19Relayed by podcaster Chris Lambert
01:03:22Chris told detectives that a guy who rented a room on Ruben Flores' property
01:03:27Had moved out and he was now talking
01:03:30He told us that no one was allowed underneath the deck of the house for any reason
01:03:38And to the naked eye what was under the deck?
01:03:41Just some yard tools, nothing really
01:03:45But it was off limits
01:03:47It was off limits according to this renter who lived there for 10 years
01:03:51On March 15, 2021
01:03:54Cole's team served another search warrant at Ruben Flores' home
01:03:58This time they came equipped with cadaver dogs
01:04:01A couple of archaeologists
01:04:04And some ground penetrating radar
01:04:07The search lasted two days
01:04:10They found a very suspicious location underneath the deck
01:04:14Six foot by four feet deep
01:04:16Even to the uneducated eye
01:04:18You could tell that that was a hole that had recently been dug
01:04:22Yes, you could see actual shovel marks in some of the areas
01:04:25And then as we got down
01:04:27About 18 to 24 inches
01:04:29We started seeing very suspicious staining
01:04:32That the archaeologist who was helping us said
01:04:35Was consistent with human decomposition fluid
01:04:38They kept digging
01:04:40I was sitting right at the hole
01:04:43Heart pounding thinking we were gonna find her
01:04:45This is it
01:04:46This is it
01:04:47Except it wasn't
01:04:50If Kristen Smart had been buried under that deck
01:04:54She was there no longer
01:04:56Before they left
01:04:58Investigators took samples of those stains
01:05:05And then Paul Flores' mother Susan agreed to talk on camera
01:05:09With a reporter from NBC affiliate KSBY
01:05:12But they keep trying to find the answers with us
01:05:17And they keep failing
01:05:19Because the answers aren't here
01:05:21Yeah, it was surprising
01:05:22They've always been very quiet
01:05:24Not wanting to discuss things
01:05:26So when I saw that tape
01:05:28I was shocked
01:05:29This is ridiculous what happened here today
01:05:32They took his life away from him too
01:05:37Susan Flores said she had no idea what happened to Kristen Smart
01:05:42And that her family was being targeted unfairly
01:05:46And were you guys anticipating this?
01:05:48Were you guys surprised at all?
01:05:50No, I'm not surprised at anything they do
01:05:54They're harassing maniacs
01:05:56It's not gonna change the fact that we can't help this family find their child
01:06:03The woman Denise Smart had once tried to reach mother to mother
01:06:08Still had nothing to offer
01:06:11Investigators rushed those stain samples from the dig to the lab
01:06:15And finally, a break
01:06:20They tested it
01:06:22It's positive for human blood
01:06:24Four feet down
01:06:25That blood was too degraded for a DNA test
01:06:27Yes, it was too degraded
01:06:29But who has blood in their soil four feet down
01:06:34With human decomp stains and a previously dug area
01:06:38If that's not Kristen Smart, then who is it?
01:06:40Who else did you have buried in your backyard?
01:06:42That's what finally gets you over the arrest hurdle
01:06:45Yes, that finally got us to a point where we felt
01:06:49The case was chargeable
01:06:51And winnable
01:06:54On April 13, 2021
01:06:58Almost 25 years after Kristen Smart disappeared
01:07:02Detectives made the more than 200-mile trek
01:07:05From San Luis Obispo
01:07:07To Paul Flores' home in San Pedro
01:07:10And finally put him in cuffs
01:07:13When it finally happened, it was that surreal moment
01:07:17It's like, they really arrested him?
01:07:20They really arrested him?
01:07:22I didn't really know how I should feel or how to process it
01:07:26But, of course, it seemed like a fantastic outcome
01:07:30I was so happy and relieved to know that a day that I had hoped would happen for years finally came
01:07:37So I was just relieved that someone I felt was violent was, yeah, off the streets
01:07:42The charge against Paul Flores?
01:07:45Murder during the commission or attempted commission of rape
01:07:49And that same day, the sheriff's office made a second arrest
01:07:54Ruben Flores was charged as an accessory after the fact
01:07:58Accused of helping his son conceal Kristen Smart's body
01:08:02Then we found out they'd arrested Ruben and it's like
01:08:06It was a good day
01:08:08It was a good day
01:08:10Ruben Flores' attorney said his arrest was simply a tactic to try to pry a confession out of his son Paul
01:08:19So, would Paul Flores finally talk?
01:08:23Or maybe, he already had
01:08:26He just words this out?
01:08:28Yes
01:08:29No smirk
01:08:31No smile
01:08:32No
01:08:33Oh, I'm screwing with you
01:08:34He just says it
01:08:35Straight face
01:08:36For 26 years, the Smart family waited and waited and hoped for this day
01:08:57July 18, 2022
01:09:00The criminal trials of Paul Flores and Ruben Flores began
01:09:04Paul was 45
01:09:06The same age Kristen would have been
01:09:09During the trial, the judge allowed still photography but no audio or video
01:09:14Father and son would be tried in the same courtroom at the same time
01:09:18But with separate juries
01:09:20Prosecutor Chris Pouvrell
01:09:23Young, vibrant, 19-year-old women don't just vanish into thin air
01:09:28And leave all of their earthly possessions and belongings behind
01:09:31It just doesn't happen
01:09:33The case against Paul Flores was almost entirely circumstantial
01:09:38No DNA
01:09:39No eyewitnesses
01:09:40And of course
01:09:42No body
01:09:43And I'm trying to build that circumstantial evidence to show there's just no other explanation for what happened to Kristen
01:09:50The prosecutors
01:09:51The prosecutors spun a decades long narrative
01:09:55From the night Kristen disappeared
01:09:57All the way to those searches at the Flores home
01:10:00Party goers and Kristen's friends like Vanessa Shields took the stand
01:10:06What's it like to walk in that courtroom and he's there?
01:10:09That was terrifying
01:10:11I was anxious, I was nervous, but then I just kept thinking, you know, you have to do this for Kristen
01:10:17The jurors watched that 1996 interview with Paul Flores
01:10:21Why was it so hard for you to tell us that you got that black eye hit in the stern? It didn't really matter
01:10:27They listened to his changing explanations of his black eye
01:10:31And they saw what investigators believed was telling body language
01:10:36The backbone of the prosecution's case was the forensics
01:10:42Starting with the cadaver dogs alerting at the door
01:10:45And then decades later
01:10:47The discovery under Ruben Flores' deck
01:10:50The prosecution brought in a scientist to explain something called a
01:10:54HamDirect test
01:10:56That determined the samples were human blood
01:11:00Were you worried at all the jurors weren't going to really grasp the technical stuff?
01:11:05I feel like people today were really pretty savvy
01:11:08Thanks to shows like yours
01:11:09I think people understand that
01:11:11If you test for human blood, it's human blood
01:11:14The state's theory was that Flores murdered Kristen while raping her
01:11:18Part of a pattern of sexual assault that continued for years
01:11:22Prosecutors documented numerous rapes they believe Paul Flores committed
01:11:26By drugging and assaulting women
01:11:29And then recording it on video
01:11:31The judge allowed two of those women to testify anonymously
01:11:37They said they met Paul at a bar
01:11:39And they went home with him
01:11:41They were given a drink
01:11:42And then they don't remember anything
01:11:44Besides bits and pieces of being assaulted
01:11:46They gave very emotional
01:11:48Very, very powerful testimonies
01:11:50To the point that even some jurors cried during it
01:11:52Prosecutor Puvrell saved one witness until the last days of his case
01:11:57This woman
01:11:59Her name is Jennifer Hudson
01:12:01She says she met Paul Flores in 1996
01:12:05Just weeks after Kristen disappeared
01:12:08We were at a skateboard ramp
01:12:11At someone's house, a college kid's house
01:12:13Jennifer was just 19 then, hanging out with friends
01:12:17This guy comes up and sits across from a buddy and myself
01:12:23Someone had the radio playing
01:12:25And after a few songs, a public outreach commercial came on
01:12:30Looking for Kristen
01:12:32Mentions Kristen Smart by name
01:12:33Right, right
01:12:34She says that guy had a dramatic reaction
01:12:38To hearing the name Kristen Smart
01:12:41And says the bitch was a
01:12:45And I'm sick of dealing with her
01:12:48So I put her under a ramp at his place in Wasna
01:12:52Wasna is a rural area not far from where the Flores family lived
01:12:57The implication being that Kristen was buried there
01:13:01Near a skate ramp
01:13:03You believe him?
01:13:04A thousand percent
01:13:05You know when a person has a soul
01:13:07He did not
01:13:08And that's what made me believe him
01:13:12She says she later saw a story on the Kristen Smart case
01:13:15And recognized Paul Flores
01:13:18However, she did not go to police back then
01:13:22Because she says she was scared
01:13:25And she didn't think it would do any good
01:13:28Had I gone to the law on my own
01:13:31And said at any point
01:13:33I ran into this guy
01:13:34And this is what he said
01:13:36Would that have been enough to arrest him?
01:13:38No
01:13:39And you would have felt in danger?
01:13:41Absolutely
01:13:43The one person that I did tell in 2002
01:13:46Was a roommate of mine
01:13:48That roommate later left a tip on a website dedicated to finding Kristen
01:13:53Years later Chris Lambert saw that post and tracked down Jennifer
01:13:58And he passed her name to Detective Clint Cole
01:14:01Which is how Jennifer ended up telling her story in court more than 25 years later
01:14:08If Chris Lambert had not created his podcast
01:14:10And if Sheriff Parkinson had not been open to collaborating
01:14:14Paul Flores might never have ended up in that courtroom
01:14:17Chris was not a journalist or a detective
01:14:20But information was coming to him and he was also digging it up
01:14:24And the sheriff was willing to listen and act on it
01:14:28Over the years, countless times, we've seen the opposite
01:14:32Law enforcement turning down information
01:14:35Because it did not come from the right source
01:14:38Jennifer Hudson wants to apologize to the smarts
01:14:41For not speaking up sooner
01:14:43It still bothers me
01:14:45If it didn't bug me, I'd be as evil as Paul is
01:14:49Over three months, the prosecution built its case
01:14:54While the defense argued, the whole thing was shaky
01:14:58I mean, it was hocus-pocus
01:14:59The verdict is passed up to the judge
01:15:02Your heart starts pounding out of your chest
01:15:04The trial of Reuben and Paul Flores lasted months
01:15:24At the defense table, father and son sat side by side
01:15:29The two defendants were represented by separate attorneys
01:15:33Robert Sanger defended Paul Flores
01:15:36Reuben's attorney was Harold Mezek
01:15:39What was your strategy going into trial?
01:15:42Attack the prosecution's lack of evidence
01:15:45Prosecution was very deft in this case
01:15:48They took what little they had
01:15:50And they spun quite a story
01:15:52His central focus was on the forensics
01:15:56The evidence dug up on the florist's property
01:15:59I mean, it was hocus-pocus
01:16:01What was buried under there if it wasn't Kristen Smart?
01:16:04Nothing was buried under there
01:16:06It was just disturbed soil
01:16:08From a tree being pulled out
01:16:10So when the prosecution says they have tests
01:16:12Confirming human blood in the soil
01:16:14What, they're lying about that?
01:16:16They misused the heme direct test
01:16:19It was specifically not approved or validated
01:16:22For use to discover soil in blood
01:16:26To hear the defense tell it
01:16:28If the case against Paul Flores was weak
01:16:31The case against his father was virtually non-existent
01:16:34Certainly Reuben would do anything for his son
01:16:37But Reuben didn't have to do anything for his son
01:16:40There was never a body in Reuben's yard
01:16:43Ever
01:16:44Also not credible to the defense
01:16:48The prevailing notion that over the years
01:16:51The florist family protected Paul
01:16:54They're a sweet family
01:16:55They've been totally mischaracterized in the press
01:16:58Why do you think the florist family
01:17:00This sweet kind family
01:17:02Would be so antagonistic
01:17:04And so unwilling to help the smart family
01:17:07When they reached out for help for their missing daughter?
01:17:10They were approached in a way
01:17:11That they were this evil crime family
01:17:14That caused the disappearance of a young girl
01:17:17And that's just not true
01:17:20In court, Misik echoed a theory
01:17:22Campus police had pursued
01:17:24More than a quarter century earlier
01:17:26Maybe Kristen just took off
01:17:30What I said was
01:17:31Without a body we can't be sure she's dead
01:17:34And I know that's hurtful maybe
01:17:36To hear the smart family
01:17:38But Reuben's not a part of this
01:17:41And we don't know where Kristen is
01:17:44You're a smart guy
01:17:45I don't even think you believe Kristen Smart's alive somewhere
01:17:48I do believe with all my heart that she may be alive
01:17:52It may be a slim chance
01:17:54But there's a chance
01:17:56That's why we need a body
01:17:58Let me ask you the question
01:17:59Why do you believe she's dead?
01:18:01Because she's missing
01:18:04No, not just that she's missing
01:18:06She hasn't contacted her family
01:18:08She didn't contact any of her friends
01:18:10She wasn't the sort of person to just up and disappear
01:18:13If she had disappeared
01:18:15She would have taken her stuff with her
01:18:17And she was last seen in the company of a guy
01:18:20Who previously had a history of weird sexual behavior towards women
01:18:26And later was accused of a number of rapes
01:18:29And of drugging women and having sex with them
01:18:32And he was the last person to see her alive
01:18:34That's why I don't think she's around
01:18:37The defense concedes none of that
01:18:40The evidence in this case again is weak, insufficient
01:18:43And I'm going to get a lot of heat for that
01:18:45But I'm a defense attorney so I get a lot of heat
01:18:48After four days of deliberation
01:18:52The juries were back in the courtroom
01:18:54This time with verdicts
01:18:56Paul Flores, guilty of first degree murder
01:19:01I mean, I just kind of doubled up
01:19:04Even though I wanted it
01:19:06It was just so unreal
01:19:09That this jury had actually listened
01:19:13Ruben Flores' jury found him not guilty
01:19:17We got the elephant, we didn't get the mouse
01:19:19Can you live with that?
01:19:21Do we have an option?
01:19:22Do we have a choice?
01:19:23Do we have a choice?
01:19:24This is a parent's worst nightmare
01:19:28The smarts came to Paul Flores' sentencing
01:19:31And spoke one by one
01:19:34And we have waited long enough for this day
01:19:37They addressed the judge and Flores
01:19:40And they fought back tears
01:19:42Denise was last to speak
01:19:47With one final appeal to Paul Flores
01:19:51Return Kristen to her family
01:19:54It is clearly too late for us
01:19:56But Paul, it is not too late for you
01:20:00To tell the truth
01:20:02To free your soul and your heart
01:20:04From the weight it must be carrying
01:20:06You are, after all, a human being
01:20:08During that, Paul Flores didn't do
01:20:12As much as turn his head
01:20:15He's, he's just a soulless
01:20:18A soulless creature
01:20:20The judge agreed
01:20:22You have been a cancer to society
01:20:25You are committed to the maximum sentence
01:20:28That I can impose by law
01:20:30An indeterminate term of 25 years to life
01:20:34If it were up to the smarts
01:20:36His sentence would be longer
01:20:38My next mission in life
01:20:40Is to ensure that there is an enhancement
01:20:42For those who murder someone
01:20:46And harbor their body
01:20:47How would that help you?
01:20:49It would help us
01:20:50Because there would be an incentive
01:20:51For him to come forward
01:20:53And tell us where Kristen is
01:20:55If they added 10 years to his sentence
01:20:57It's probable that he might give this
01:21:00A second thought
01:21:01Another mission
01:21:03In the wake of their frustration
01:21:05With Cal Poly campus police
01:21:07The smarts took action
01:21:09They helped pass the Kristen Smart Safety Act
01:21:12In California
01:21:13Requiring campus police
01:21:15To coordinate with local law enforcement
01:21:18Now they want that expanded
01:21:21Well it should be nationwide
01:21:23We're not training campus police officers
01:21:26To deal with homicides
01:21:28Or kidnappings
01:21:30In response to our requests for an interview
01:21:33After the verdict
01:21:34The Cal Poly administration said Kristen's case
01:21:37Was an anomaly
01:21:39And said
01:21:40Terrible things can and do still happen
01:21:43In safe places
01:21:45The university also said that
01:21:47It is never appropriate to describe a victim as promiscuous
01:21:51And it runs completely counter to our practices and procedures
01:21:56In May of 2023
01:22:0027 years after Kristen disappeared
01:22:03Cal Poly's president issued the school's first apology to the smarts
01:22:09We are very sorry for what the smart family has endured
01:22:12While it is a different administration now than was in place in 1996
01:22:17We recognize that things should have been done differently
01:22:21The smarts sued Cal Poly for negligence and wrongful death
01:22:26Cal Poly argues the two-year statute of limitations has long passed
01:22:32And that under California law
01:22:34The smarts cannot sue the university
01:22:37Because it is not liable for an injury caused by the act of another person
01:22:43The case is still pending
01:22:46Chris Lambert released the final episodes of his podcast
01:22:52Very much aware of what his curiosity helped bring about
01:22:57I've been absolutely devastated
01:23:00By the loss of somebody I never even got to meet
01:23:03And I can't imagine
01:23:05Had it been my own family member
01:23:07Time has not dulled the smarts memories of Kristen
01:23:12She just always believed in her future
01:23:17She just knew what she wanted to do
01:23:19She had wonderful hugs and smiles
01:23:21And she was a cheerleader for our other two children
01:23:24Long ago the smarts found a way to navigate their loss
01:23:29To take that advice
01:23:31To be present for one another
01:23:34I'm glad you listened to that
01:23:37Well, I wasn't happy at the time
01:23:40But in retrospect it was the right thing
01:23:44The right thing to hear
01:23:46A strong family
01:23:47A happy one
01:23:48That love fuels the smarts
01:23:51Even though they still don't have a daughter to bury
01:23:55It's impossible to know if anyone could have prevented
01:23:58What happened to Kristen Smart
01:24:00Here's what's certain
01:24:01The way campus police responded
01:24:03Made it harder to build a forensic case against Paul Flores
01:24:07At the Crossbar Hotel
01:24:09Where he now lives
01:24:11Paul has been attacked more than once
01:24:13His throat slashed
01:24:15He is every bit as unpopular inside prison
01:24:18As he was outside
01:24:20And Denise and Stan Smart
01:24:22Are serving a different kind of sentence
01:24:24Theirs are for life
01:24:27You know, there's this feeling out there in the world
01:24:30By people who don't know you
01:24:32That now we're at the end
01:24:35You know, he's been locked up
01:24:37You should be okay now
01:24:39It's not the end
01:24:41Yeah, and this doesn't go away, does it?
01:24:43No
01:24:44You know, as a mother
01:24:46I feel like I have a piece of her within me
01:24:50So it's, you know, it's a death that is never going to go away
01:24:55You know, it's never going to go away
01:24:56You know, the whole world
01:24:58But it's still very young
01:24:59I know you have to take place
01:25:00Once again
01:25:01Whatever this feels like
01:25:02To the end
01:25:03I've been living
01:25:04I know you know
01:25:05You know, I'm a man
01:25:08I'm going to go away
01:25:09I'm not going to go away
01:25:10You know, I don't want to go away
01:25:14What else?
01:25:15I don't know
01:25:16How else maybe
01:25:18I need to live
01:25:20I'm not going to go away
01:25:20I'm not going to go away
01:25:21I'm not gonna go away
01:25:22I'm not going to go away
01:25:23If I'm going to go away
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