New evidence shows Kristin Smart's body was 'recently' moved
New evidence has been released in the cold case of Kristin Smart, suggesting that her body was buried under a house and was recently moved. Fox News legal analyst Mercedes Colwin discusses the latest developments.
Paul Flores, the California man charged earlier this month in connection to the 1996 disappearance of Kristin Smart, was accused of sexually assaulting several women in the years after the Cal Poly freshman vanished, according to a report.
The earliest of the three alleged assaults that the 44-year-old Flores is accused of happened in January 2007, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday. The paper reviewed details of the allegations presented in a police officer’s crime report and a county prosecutor’s memo from the time.
The documents said that a Redondo Beach woman told police that she had met some friends at a bar for drinks and later woke up naked in a bed next to a man she did not know, without any recollection of how she got there.
A medical exam at a hospital confirmed that she had sex, although it showed no signs of force or assaultive behavior, and a urine test showed no traces of date rape drugs, the documents said.
Four years after the incident, the DNA sample taken from the woman was matched to Flores, the paper reported. However, authorities did not charge Flores in the case because it could not be proven that he forced her to have sex.
Flores was taken into custody in the San Pedro area of Los Angeles on April 13 for the murder of Kristin Smart. Flores has been accused of sexually assaulting several women in the 25 years since Smart's disappearance, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday. (FBI / San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office via AP)
Flores is also a suspect in two later sexual assault cases that occurred in the San Pedro area between 2013 and 2017, the paper reported. Police have not decided on whether to file charges against Flores in those cases.
Flores and his 80-year-old father, Ruben Flores, have been charged in the disappearance and presumed death of 19-year-old Kristin Smart, a student at California Polytechnic State University who vanished in 1996 while walking back to her dorm following a party. Her body has never been found.
Prosecutors have alleged that Flores, who was also a Cal Poly student at the time, attempted to rape Smart in his dorm room. He has been charged with first-degree murder.
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Ruben Flores was charged as an accessory after the fact for allegedly hiding her body. His home is about 13 miles away from the campus.
Investigators believe Smart’s body was buried beneath the home of Ruben Flores in San Luis Obispo and was "recently" moved, according to court records obtained by the San Luis Obispo Tribune.
Last week, both men pleaded not guilty to the charges during a hearing. Ruben Flores was released on bail while the younger Flores is being held without bail.
