Kristin Smart prosecutors have a decent case without a body: Attorney
Criminal defense attorney Mark Eiglarsh analyzes the Kristin Smart murder case and explains what may happen as the trial resumes.
The California juries tasked with overseeing the months-long trial for Paul Flores, the man accused of killing college freshman Kristin Smart in 1996, heard Thursday from one of his ex-girlfriends, according to reports from the courtroom.
The woman, identified by her first-name, "Angie," took the stand late in the day on Friday, after the jurors heard from former certified human remains detection K9 handler Gail LaRoque, whose testimony was heated at times.
Paul Flores, now 45, has been charged with Smart’s murder. Ruben Flores, his 81-year-old father, was charged with acting as an accessory after the fact. Smart was a 19-year-old college freshman at California Polytechnic State University in 1996 when she was last seen with the younger Flores.
The trial proceedings are not being televised or live-streamed, pursuant to a judge’s ruling. A handful of journalists — including KSBY.com, and the person behind the "Your Own Backyard" (YOB) Podcast that is credited with renewing interest in the case — have been reporting from inside the courtroom amid the media limitations.
This undated photo released by the FBI shows Kristin Smart, the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo student who disappeared in 1996. ((FBI via AP, File))
Angie told the court she and Paul Flores dated from 2004 to 2006, beginning roughly eight years after Smart disappeared, the YOB Podcast reported in a series of tweets.
She said she met Flores’ father, his mother and her boyfriend when he took her to his hometown of Arroyo Grande.
Angie reportedly told the court she and Flores briefly went to his mother’s home, before going to Ruben Flores’ house.
Paul Flores stands during his murder trial in Monterey County Superior Court in Salinas, Calif., Monday, July 18, 2022. (Daniel Dreifuss/Monterey County Weekly via AP, Pool)
"We walked through the living room, through the dining room, and then went out a sliding glass door," she said, according to YOB Podcast tweets. "There was a slab of concrete and a wrap-around porch or deck with white lattice underneath it."
She described walking toward an area of avocado trees, when the mood suddenly shifted.
"I went to walk up to get one, and I was quickly redirected away from that area and back around to the front of the house," she reportedly said. "The mood quickly changed."
When asked how the mood change, she responded: "They did not want me there."
According to the YOB Podcast tweets, she said she was "a couple yards away" from a tweet that was 9 feet from the deck.
Prosecutors have said they believe Flores killed Smart in his dorm room while he tried to rape her when they were both freshmen. A massive search ensued.
They allege Ruben Flores helped his son bury Smart’s body under the deck of his Arroyo Grande home – and then later removed and relocated her remains when law enforcement returned decades later.
In March 2021, archaeologists enlisted by police discovered a patch of disturbed soil roughly the size of the casket, and the presence of what investigators determined to be human blood, according to prosecutors.
EXAMINING CALIFORNIA'S KRISTIN SMART TRIAL: THE ANATOMY OF A CASE WITH NO BODY
Kristin Smart went missing on May 25, 1996 while attending California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo and has not been heard from since. (Photo by Axel Koester/Sygma via Getty Images)
Angie’s experience surrounding the avocado trees was further detailed in court documents unsealed earlier this month. According to the papers, Angie told investigators she was with Paul and Ruben in the backyard of the house.
She "walked towards the Avocado trees, got a couple of feet away from the deck, when both defendants re-directed her away from the area by asking her to leave that area," the documents state.
"Paul Flores asked her to come around the house and leave the area of the Avocado trees," the papers continue. "Ruben Flores had the same reaction and walked her towards the front of the house, the opposite end of the property away from the Avocado trees."
In this Thursday, April 15, 2021, file photo, defendants Paul Flores, top left, and his father, Ruben Flores, bottom right, appear via video conference during their arraignment in San Luis Obispo Superior Court in San Luis Obispo, Calif. (AP Photo/Nic Coury, File)
Earlier in Thursday’s trial proceedings, former K9 handler LaRoque told the court that her dog, Torrey, showed an interest in both beds in Flores’ Cal Poly dorm room in San Lucia Hall, KSBY reported. Torrey was the only of four K9s to do so, and also alerted to a trash can in Flores’ dorm room.
But the back-and-forth between LaRoque and the defense attorneys, often Paul Flores’ lawyer, Robert Sanger, at times got heated, according to reports.
"You don’t know the chemical compounds that dogs are alerting to, do you?" Sanger asked the woman.
The YOB Podcast tweeted that some members of the jury laughed as LaRoque responded: "No. Nor do I know the chemical compounds that make up a chocolate cake – but I know one when I see one."
Sanger quipped: "Did you see a chocolate cake, ma'am? Do you think this is funny? This is a murder trial!"
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Smart was a student at Cal Poly’s San Luis Obispo campus in 1996 when she was allegedly heavily intoxicated, with Paul Flores, after an off-campus party on Crandall Way. She was walked back from the party by three people — two people, a man and woman, and Flores. The others slowly peeled off after Flores allegedly insisted multiple times that he could get Smart home safely.
She was never seen again.
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Dual juries were selected from a pool of more than 1,500 Monterey County residents to oversee each case separately but simultaneously. The trial is expected to last months.
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