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foreign -year-old Christian smart disappeared on Memorial Day weekend of 1996. for more
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than two decades her family friends and supporters searched for answers and for justice
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in October 2022 the man long suspected in her disappearance was found guilty of murder his father charged with being an
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accessory after the fact was found not guilty we take you back to their arrest and how
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The Saga began foreign it's a landmark day in this very high profile casual development of Kristen
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smart Los Obispo County Sheriff's Office is set to release details about the latest developments today is a day that
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many had hoped for wished for and prayed for this is where it all began on the campus of Cal Poly University
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the last place that Kristen smart was seen alive it's my hope that we're able to take the
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first step toward Justice for the smart family I grew up not far from where Kristen
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disappeared the billboard and Arroyo Grande is visible it's got Kristen's photo on it driving past that billboard
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was a periodic reminder that oh yeah they still haven't found that girl I'm Chris Lambert I created the podcast
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your own backyard which focused on The Disappearance of Kristen smart other students left the party that night
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and walked back to their on-campus dormitory buildings we're here surrounded by dorms and yet nobody saw
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anything it was a very dead holiday weekend A lot of people had gone home and the amount
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of time that they were alone and whatever happened that her life ended I think there was plenty of opportunity to
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hide her body without anybody noticing my sister turned 19 in February she disappeared in May
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when she disappeared I was about to graduate eighth grade but my parents did a really good job of shielding us Stan
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and Denise they're wonderful parents very large group of friends went down to Cal Poly to help search for her the Stan
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was there Denise stayed back and I stayed back with her in case Kristen came home never would have dreamed in a
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million years that she would not return and Cal Poly is a safe place you do not think of this happening
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it's one of my favorites of her with this great smile that she has I just love that it's just to me that's just
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that captures her remember her wanting to like travel the world and be an architect
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I really miss her she should be here [Music] originally when we first took the case I
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was determined I would be able to find her in six months if you've ever been on one of these searches you walk up a
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canyon here in San Luis Obispo County and then there's another Canyon off that you get to the end of that one there's
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another Canyon there's billions of places to hide a body it's important to explain here that
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Kristen's case has never been declared cold a case is only considered cold when law enforcement decides that they've
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exhausted all of their leads but what makes it interesting to me is that they've had a suspect since pretty
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much day one hi Paul good morning I'm Jonathan Vigliotti with CBS News were you involved in The Disappearance of
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Kristen smart Paul can you tell us what happened that night between you and Kristen
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it's important that there's an arrest made you gotta move and you've got to do it now I'm here this afternoon to
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announce the rest of Paul Flores for the murder of Kristen smart [Music] foreign
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after almost 25 years of Suspicion on April 13 2021 San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian
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Parkinson announced the arrest of Paul Flores in The Disappearance of Kristen smart it's been a puzzle and it's a very
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slow process to find each of those little pieces some of that information came to light
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through the podcast that many of you are familiar with in the crowd taking it all
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in was that podcaster Chris Lambert it's hard to take too much credit but I was one piece of the puzzle that helped to
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make this all come together when it did Lambert was just eight years old when Christian smart vanished on her way home
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from a college party in San Luis Obispo California I remember seeing it on the news Chris
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freshman at Cal Poly hasn't been to class since before the Memorial Day weekend and Kristen smart left a party
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on the Cal Poly campus it was something scary and they were talking about it pretty regularly but 22 years later when
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he couldn't find any recent stories about the case he decided to do something it's a cold and cloudy winter afternoon
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in San Luis Obispo and I'm retracing missing Cal Poly student Kristen Smart's last known steps
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even though he'd never investigated anything before Lambert quit his job to create a podcast at least once a day
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I asked myself what are you doing Lambert began looking into what happened to Kristen collecting articles and
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documents chasing down leads and tracking down anyone with information I didn't know
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the scale I didn't know how many people were going to listen but I knew that I could try to do a small part I Googled
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Kristen Smart's name every few years he never expected it would be a hit but his
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podcast caught the attention of millions of listeners and sparked new interest and this
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decades-old unsolved case back in May 1996 Christian smart was finishing her freshman year at
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California Polytechnic State University better known as Cal Poly her younger sister Lindsay says their mother urged
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Kristen to go there you should go to Cal Poly they're known for being a really safe School
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and it was only 250 miles from Stockton California where she grew up with Lindsay and their brother Matt her
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parents Denise and Stan were both Educators who encouraged their kids Passions [Music]
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she was who she was because of her parents for sure Anne-Marie Christian became friends with Kristen in
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elementary school her parents reminded me of my parents just very involved with their children a very close-knit family
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Kristen loves swimming and skiing but Lindsay says her sister was happiest when she was traveling
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she had traveled the world before she even made it to College by herself which is pretty amazing she spent a summer in
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London was an exchange student in Venezuela and a lifeguard at a camp in Hawaii she definitely like took advantage of
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Life seized the day she was super ambitious and was determined you know to find the next adventure to find the next
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challenge that turned out to be College like so many freshmen Kristen struggled classes
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were difficult she was trying to fit in and she missed her family Kristen broke down begging her mother to
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let her drop out and go somewhere else but every Sunday when she called her parents they encouraged her to stick it
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out longtime family friend Denise Pierce things were going to get better and you
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know and and they did Friday May 24 1996 was the start of the Memorial Day weekend most students had
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taken off but Kristen had stayed on campus so had Margarita Campos who lived in the Next Room in your hall they had
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become close friends despite their differences I was a little bit more introverted and inhibited and she was
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like no we have to go out and we have to go like live life and she was growing as
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an individual she was pushing herself out of her comfort zone and I was like no so when they were invited to a party
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that Friday night Kristen was excited to go Kristen was like come on let's go let's go and I was like nah I have to
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study and so she pulled me into this sort of like oh come on let's socialize and these girls are inviting us out
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let's go and I was like but when we got to the house it was pretty dead she was a really it was like
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a couple roommates hanging out playing video games and Kristen was like oh gosh there has to be something better than
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this [Music] girls walked to an area off campus where there were fraternities sororities and
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residential housing for students Margarita soon decided she'd had enough you want to go home and you were trying
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to find a way to break it to your friend that's exactly right a lot of this apartment complex
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I was like Kristen I'm gonna go back home I'm gonna go back to the dorms you can go and she's like please come with
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me please come with me I told her I didn't I didn't want to go Kristen did not have a purse money her
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ID or even her keys so before leaving Margarita handed over her keys to get back into Muir Hall she was absolutely
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sober when I left her I'll never forget her Shadow against the building this apartment complex just standing like
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kind of cross arm with a long leg and she was just kind of like looking at me like you're really walking away now like
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you're really you're leaving foreign the next morning Margarita waited to hear from Kristen I was expecting her to
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knock on my door and be like Oh Margarita you missed a rager and here's your key
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[Music] I knocked on her door and I thought she was just sleeping or she went out and
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about you know it wasn't until Christian's roommate returned to their dorm room that Margarita realized
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Kristen never came home how did you know she hadn't been back nothing had moved all of Christian's
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personal belongings including her purse her money her ID were in the room exactly where she had left them I mean
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she was gone she was gone by the time they called the Cal Poly campus police Kristen had been
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missing for more than 48 hours but Margarita says the police did not seem concerned the campus police they were
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like are you sure she didn't go out of town it's like she has nothing on her how
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could she have gone out of town they thought she was off possibly having fun oh yeah but they could not have been
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more wrong to this day like I was like why why did I just Let Her Go by herself I did have guilt about that but you have
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to understand she's a really independent free spirit [Music] [Music] Kristen's mother Denise smart spent
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Memorial Day weekend at his swimming with her two younger kids she was looking forward to hearing from Kristen
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that Sunday and that phone call never comes the phone call Never Comes instead on Monday May 27th Denise Pierce
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says the smarts got a call from Cal poly's campus police asking if Kristen was with them
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Kristen hasn't come home and we're not sure where she is we don't know anything that's when
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Denise smart learned her daughter had not been seen all weekend and all her belongings were still in her dorm room
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she was becoming more and more alarmed you know she was she was frantic I don't understand this you know what's going on
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it is every parent's worst nightmare the smarts say they tried to file a missing
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person's Report with the local police but we're told it was too early and the FBI told them Cal Poly police were in
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charge but as Chris Lambert learned that campus police did not act right away at
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that point I don't think they had ever dealt with a missing person a possibly murdered person
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by the time the Cal Poly police began investigating Kristen had been gone for four days
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as they soon learned she had ended up at a party at this house it's mostly frat guys from the Kappa Kai
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fraternity I don't know if Kristen knew anybody there Chris Lambert who worked as a CBS News consultant pieced together
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what he learned from people who were there that night Kristen became incredibly intoxicated
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whether she was drugged or whether she just had a lot to drink in a short amount of time
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she ends up passed out on the lawn next door Lambert says Christian could not stand
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on her own so fellow student Cheryl Anderson who was also at the party began helping her back to campus they were
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soon joined by another party goer Paul Flores as they describe it Paul Flores just
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sort of appears out of nowhere and offers to help he gets his arm around her torso and her arm around his neck
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and he's helping her walk Paul keeps stopping along the way and letting Cheryl Anderson know you can go
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on ahead I've got her it's fine she didn't think that was okay so she slowed down and walked with them when
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they reached the turn off to Cheryl's dorm she says Flores tried to hug and kiss her she left them only after he
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promised to take Kristen back to her dorm I don't think she ever imagined that Kristen would end up dead by the end of
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the night Paul and Kristen then make their way here what happens next so if you believe Paul's story he goes
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into his dorm room here and he leaves her to walk up this walkway her dorm entrance is right over here
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I personally think that wherever Kristen went Paul was there with her I don't think that she went back to her dorm at
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all whatever happened in those early hours one thing is indisputable Christian smart has never been seen again
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she had just 40 yards to go and yet she vanished that's the upsetting part about it isn't it the
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investigation seemed to be hampered from the start by a series of missteps by campus police beginning with their
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assumption that Christian was off having fun and ignoring worried friends who said she was missing
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so much was lost in those first few days where if that very first phone call was
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taken seriously answers might have been uncovered the first week they also did not focus on
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Paul Flores immediately waiting six days to formally interview him even worse they never sealed his dorm room there
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was a lot of evidence that could have been gathered that wasn't why I wish I knew why they did an interview with the
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Cal Poly Mustang daily and explained that they didn't think there was any evidence that a crime had taken place by
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the time they inspected flores's room Christian had been gone for 16 days school was over so campus police found
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an empty room that had been sanitized by the University's cleaning crew any evidence that might have been there was
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long gone the investigation was completely botched by the campus police there's no question about it and while
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they did not rush to investigate Flores Christian's family says campus police were very quick to judge her just days
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after she disappeared an incident report seemed to imply that Kristen's Behavior
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contributed to her disappearance there was a lot of focus on how Christian was drinking
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what sounded a lot like victim shaming right a hundred percent that was happening the report said smart does not
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have any close friends at Cal Poly smart appeared to be under the influence of alcohol on Friday night smart was
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talking with and socializing with several different males at the party but while campus police weren't doing
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much Kristen's parents were doing whatever they could to find their daughter Kristen's father would come
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down and Hike every Trail he could find on the Central Coast he'd go anywhere he'd go through tunnels under bridges
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looking for his daughter and expecting best case scenario he's going to find her body which is awful for a parent
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early on a small group of volunteers also looked for Christian but a massive search did not happen until she'd been
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gone for more than a month that's when the campus police finally handed the investigation over to the San Luis
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Obispo Sheriff's Office but they did not find Kristin [Music] four months after that feudal surge Paul
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Flores was brought before a grand jury little is known since the proceedings are kept secret but no charges were ever
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filed just Weeks Later Christian's frustrated parents contacted James Murphy a local civil attorney it was
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just a sad phone call to have somebody say our daughter disappear and we think she's the victim of Foul Play and we'd
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like to pursue the guy that we think is responsible Murphy and his wife Garen Sinclair
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agreed to take the case pro bono promising to go after Paul Flores and put pressure on the Sheriff's Office
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Murphy immediately filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Flores in civil court and it says wrongful death and not
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a good murder putting murder on the lawsuit was sending a message to Paul Flores and his
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family that we believe that he killed Kristen and that were coming for him but trying
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to get him hasn't been easy it just amazes me the amount of evidence that's available yet nothing has happened
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the day after my sister disappeared Paul Flores had a black eye and scratches on
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him [Music] [Music] you look at Kristen smart every day every day the Smart's Attorney James
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Murphy and his wife and office manager Garen Sinclair have had Kristen's billboard in their front yard since late
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1997. it's just a motivator for me I will go outside at night time and I'll look up at the full moon and I'll think
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that that kid's buried somewhere real close Murphy and Sinclair promised the smarts the billboard will stay until
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their daughter is found I'd love to do anything to end their suffering and that weighs on you
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yep is there any doubt in your mind that Paul Flores is responsible for The Disappearance of Kristen smart no no and
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Murphy and Sinclair believe they can prove it they were not able to proceed with this civil case while there was an
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ongoing criminal investigation but that did not stop them from following every lead and preparing for an eventual trial
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there has been no other suspect every piece of evidence points directly at Paul Flores
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taken by the Arroyo Grande police just by chance two days after Kristen vanished at the time they did not know
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about a missing college student they were after Paul Flores for an outstanding DUI warrant having a black
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eye doesn't make you guilty of anything but if the person you were with disappeared from the planet that's
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physical evidence Chris Lambert says two days after that when Flores was interviewed by campus police they asked
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how he got his black eye as well as scratches on his hands and knees he says he got a black eye playing basketball
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with his friends but one of those friends told police Flores already had the black eye when he arrived he told
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those friends he just woke up with the black eye when authorities later confronted him
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with the two stories Flores admitted lying and offered a new explanation he actually hit his eye on his steering
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wheel in the middle of the night while changing his stereo so now you've got three different stories about how he got
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that black eye he lied to the police about everything Flores claimed after walking Christian back from the party he
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went to his room in Santa Lucia Hall while she walked alone to her dorm but cadaver dogs told a different story
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just days after taking over the investigation the San Luis Obispo Sheriff's Office brought several dogs
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like these trained to detect human remains to the Cal Poly dorms they brought in the first dog
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and they had the dog go through the dorms there was no reaction until the dog reached Paul flores's room they let the
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dog in the dog makes a beeline to the bed of Paul Flores remember flores's room had been emptied
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and thoroughly cleaned but remarkably the same thing happened with three more dogs
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[Music] that suggests that something bad happened in Paul flores's dorm room the Sheriff's Office still wasn't
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convinced they had enough evidence against Flores but Murphy says there were other incidents that should have
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raised alarm Bells about him with law enforcement from the very beginning Paul Flores had a reputation amongst the
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girls that knew him at Cal Poly as being a creeper that he was always trying to hit on women
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Flores to walk Kristin back to her dorm alone told police that her friends called him Chester the Molester because
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he was known for groping girls so was Cheryl's account alone we have an unsettling picture of Paul
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just five months before Kristen disappeared San Luis Obispo police received a call from a student living
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off campus there was a man climbing her trellis and trying to get inside her balcony very intoxicated and refusing to
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leave when they showed up it was Paul Flores no charges were filed but Lambert discovered flores's troubles started at
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a young age in high school he was known as a loner Chris Lambert spoke with some
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women who knew Flores back then they asked him not to use their names well his nickname was scary Paul he wouldn't
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want to be alone in a room with him he wouldn't let any of her friends be drunk around him those were kind of unspoken
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things and they told Lambert they weren't surprised when they heard about flores's connection to Kristen's
00:25:18
disappearance I wasn't surprised but there's also that shock value of kind of oh my God I knew it although suspicions
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surrounded Flores almost from the beginning any hopes for an arrest were dashed in May 1997 when then Sheriff Ed
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Williams made an admission to the San Luis Obispo Telegraph quote we need Paul Flores to tell us what happened to
00:25:42
Kristin smart so absent something from Mr Flores I don't see us completing this case how significant was that I think
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that might have been the biggest misstep that investigators have made to this day
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to declare to the public if you stay quiet you will get away with this and six months later when Flores was deposed
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by James Murphy for the Smart's civil suit he kept quiet would you state your full name for the record please Paul
00:26:14
Reuben Flores the only thing he would confirm on tape is that his name is Paul Flores what is your present residence
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address on the advice of my attorney I refuse to answer that question based on the Fifth
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Amendment of the United States Constitution everything else he took the Fifth Amendment he wouldn't answer a
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single thing in May of 96 were you a student at Cal Poly on the advice of my attorney he invoked
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the fifth 27 times what is the name of your father on the advice and it worked you just
00:26:46
don't talk and you get away with it Flores wasn't talking but was there evidence possibly placing Kristen smart
00:26:55
at his mother's home somebody found an earring that they say plus Kristen Smart's jewelry in the driveway
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an earring that appeared to match the necklace Kristen is wearing on this billboard
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foreign what do you think was the biggest misstep in the initial investigation see
00:27:19
more photos from the case on Facebook at 48 hours when Christian smart disappeared Paul
00:27:32
flores's parents Susan and Ruben were separated and living apart four months later while attempting to reconcile
00:27:40
Susan rented out her house in Arroyo Grande a young couple moves into it with their
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kid the mother is washing her car in the driveway at one point something shiny catches her eye next to the front
00:27:51
driver's side Tire a single woman's earring that mother Mary Lassiter described it to Chris Lambert it was
00:28:00
like a red thing and it was like a smudge like fingerprinted look on the back just red like Maroon like old
00:28:06
looking and a smudge that it was like a half a fingerprint it was turned over to
00:28:12
a detective with the San Luis Obispo sheriff's office but Garrison Claire says the smarts never knew it existed
00:28:20
until the lassiters were deposed in January 1997. he never once turned to the smart family and said hey we have an
00:28:28
earring we'd like to show it to you to see if it matches any of your daughter's jewelry
00:28:33
the smarts then demanded to see it and that's when they're told that earring has been misplaced misplaced it was
00:28:41
never marked as evidence apparently but Mary Lasseter says the earring matched the necklace Kristen is seen wearing on
00:28:49
this billboard if it was in fact a piece of jewelry that matched Kristen's jewelry it would
00:28:56
have been Blockbuster evidence and might have connected Kristen to Susan flores's
00:29:02
house says James Murphy there's no way to get evidence back once you've lost it [Music]
00:29:13
at the time Kristen disappeared investigators weren't aware that Paul flores's parents were separated and
00:29:20
living apart so they did not immediately get a warrant to search Susan flores's home
00:29:26
even more difficult to understand was why they waited two months to search this house the family home where Paul
00:29:34
Flores was living with his father Reuben and when they did they didn't bring cadaver dogs with them they didn't bring
00:29:41
a forensics team they didn't look at the Flores family's Vehicles they might have
00:29:46
found evidence in those vehicles Paul Flores did not have a car on campus so Murphy surmises he had to have had
00:29:55
help and it's 2 30 and 3 o'clock in the morning at Cal Poly this is not a location from which Paul alone could
00:30:04
easily move a body without a vehicle but Flores is two trucks seemed impossible in the months after Kristen's
00:30:15
disappearance one truck was traded in the other was reported stolen but it's Susan flores's concrete
00:30:24
backyard that initially received a lot of attention it had been the focus of widespread speculation for more than two
00:30:31
decades especially her planter boxes around the time Kristen disappeared they cut out planter boxes in the backyard so
00:30:39
they cut out big chunks of concrete and filled it in with soil in one of Paul's police interviews he mentioned that he
00:30:47
wanted to be let out of the interview because he needed to help clean up concrete at his mom's house so what was
00:30:54
being done in Susan flores's backyard in the weeks after Kristen went missing Susan's house was finally searched in
00:31:01
March 1997 nine months after Kristen disappeared but but nothing was found it would be three more years before the
00:31:12
property was searched again at 8 am on June 19 2000 team of Sheriff's investigators knocks
00:31:19
on the front door of Susan flores's East Branch Street home with them is a group of FBI evidence
00:31:26
response team members and a search warrant that warrant allowed them to dig up the backyard but deputies chose not
00:31:34
to excavate Denise Pierce says that was a crushing blow for the smart family to be almost there to think that you know
00:31:42
you're going to finally get some resolution and then you know it doesn't happen the way it's supposed to
00:31:48
devastating and there would be more disappointment in 2007 after the smarts legal team searched a small portion of
00:31:56
Susan flores's backyard with ground penetrating radar and did not find any evidence they just have never given up
00:32:05
and are never going to give up on their daughter Ruben Flores and his estranged wife
00:32:10
Susan have always denied any role in Christian Smart's disappearance do you have any information as to where Kristen
00:32:18
Smart's body is located of course not your husband have any information as to work with some smarts bodies located no
00:32:29
when they were deposed by James Murphy they also insisted their son was not involved
00:32:35
does your son have any information as to where Kristen Smart's body is located nope has your son ever told you that he
00:32:46
did not kill Kristen smart we never asked that question we just do you know anything about it he
00:32:59
says no through the years the smarts have kept pressure on the Flores family but the
00:33:06
Flores have fought back suing the smarts for intentional infliction of emotional
00:33:12
distress like the smart civil case theirs was also on hold in the meantime Paul Flores moved to
00:33:22
Southern California where he's bounced from job to job but as Chris Lambert learned flores's pattern of behavior
00:33:29
with women didn't stop full time I would take home when he was just come on just give me a kiss
00:33:44
Paul Flores may have wanted a fresh start in Southern California but Chris Lambert says he could not seem to break
00:33:52
old habits Paul worked with a number of women that he made incredibly uncomfortable girls
00:33:58
who he tried to make a pass at sexually girls that he tried to force to kiss him
00:34:03
some of those women who did not want their real names used told Lambert about their encounters with him so I walked
00:34:11
him up to his sister's apartment and all of a sudden he just like picked me up carried me inside turned around he shook
00:34:20
so I said you better turn some lights on right now and let me out or I'm going to
00:34:23
scream So eventually he'd unlocked you know the apartment door and I left Lambert also interviewed a woman who
00:34:31
dated Flores until she says he became physically and verbally abusive when he had like a butter knife and he like held
00:34:39
it to my neck and I was screaming and my roommate actually kicked down the door to make him stop
00:34:45
[Music] but Paul Flores was never charged with any of these incidents back in San Luis Obispo the smarts
00:34:54
feeling ignored by the Sheriff's Office continued a Relentless campaign to get them to do more to find their daughter
00:35:02
what toll over time did this have on your parents I think they're like carrying Boulders on their back then in
00:35:10
2011 Ian Parkinson was elected Sheriff if you were making a film about a new law enforcer who's coming to a small
00:35:19
town to save the day you'd probably cast Parkinson he promised the smarts that solving
00:35:25
Kristen's case would be a priority I committed to them that I was going to go back to the beginning and re-examine
00:35:32
every piece of evidence that we had but Parkinson acknowledges it hasn't been easy there was early mistakes made that
00:35:41
you can't recover from when you're missing those vital pieces is this a case that takes a miracle to solve I
00:35:49
hope not since Parkinson came on the scene investigators have dug up hillsides searched the homes and properties of all
00:35:58
the flores's collected evidence seized Paul flores's computers monitored his cell phone and text messages and found
00:36:07
new Witnesses some with the help of Chris Lambert I brought them a number of witnesses that they were very interested
00:36:13
in I also brought them witnesses that they had no interest in whatsoever and then months and months later they'd
00:36:18
reach back out and say can you get us in touch with this person again in April 2021 investigators finally put the
00:36:25
pieces of the puzzle together and decided they had enough to charge the then 44 year old Paul Flores with
00:36:32
Kristen's murder and his then 80 year old father as being an accessory after the fact
00:36:38
the allegation against Reuben is that he helped to conceal Kristen's body after the murder was committed San Luis
00:36:47
is a district attorney Dan Dao we don't have evidence sufficient to charge anyone else at this time but the
00:36:53
investigation is ongoing and for the first time clues about what may have happened to Kristin smart
00:37:01
forensic physical evidence was located and yes we believe it's it's linked to Kristen and yes we did find physical
00:37:09
evidence at at least two homes like what may have been discovered in March 2021 when investigators searched Ruben
00:37:18
flores's House using cadaver dogs and ground penetrating radar they did a significant amount of digging underneath
00:37:25
the house they took in soil I assume for some kind of analysis according to a County Probation bail report obtained by
00:37:33
the San Luis Obispo Tribune biological evidence was found under Reuben's deck the question for decades was well where
00:37:42
did the body go Murphy has filed an additional civil suit against Ruben Flores and others for the intentional
00:37:49
infliction of emotional distress and the complaint has some claims about what led
00:37:55
investigators to focus under rubin's deck in the first place the podcast is out people are watching
00:38:03
Reuben Flores and Susan Flores and Paul Flores suddenly major pieces of evidence
00:38:12
came forward an important tip came in after a February 2020 search of Paul Susan and Ruben's properties Murphy
00:38:21
alleges four nights later strange activity was seen at Reuben's house an eyewitness actually
00:38:29
documented the fact that throughout the night there was activity in the area of the underside of that deck
00:38:37
I'm not at Liberty to describe how it was documented but I've seen it that witness initially came forward to
00:38:46
Chris Lambert who passed the information to the Sheriff's Office and Murphy in his complaint Murphy alleges along with
00:38:55
Reuben there were two other unnamed individuals but he says they are rubin's ex-wife Susan and her boyfriend so why
00:39:04
would Susan Flores her boyfriend and and Reuben Flores be up all night long working under that deck the lawsuit
00:39:14
claims they were moving Christians Remains the location where all this activity occurred is where they found
00:39:22
the biological materials and the body's not there now and there are more horrifying allegations about what may
00:39:31
have happened to Kristen after she was last seen with Paul Flores it is alleged that Mr Flores caused the
00:39:38
death of Kristen smart while in the commission of or attempted rape because of the statute
00:39:45
of limitations Dao says Paul Flores cannot be charged with rape but the allegation that he was committing or
00:39:53
attempting to commit a rape when he killed her is the basis for which we are able to file first degree felony murder
00:39:59
charges authorities made clear that they plan to use flores's alleged predatory behavior against him we intend to use
00:40:08
evidence of other sexual crimes in this prosecution to prove the facts necessary
00:40:14
for the attempted rape in this case and according to that probation report dozens of women have recounted Paul
00:40:21
flores's sexual assaults and predatory behavior that document his 25 years as a serial rapist he has not been charged in
00:40:31
those incidents we have evidence that we do believe there are other people that are not yet identified that have had a
00:40:37
some kind of a criminal act perpetrated on them by Mr Flores 48 Hours has learned these suspicions center around
00:40:45
evidence found during that 2020 search of Paul flores's home sources tell us investigators discovered photographs and
00:40:54
videos on flores's computer showing him engaged in sexual activity with at least
00:40:59
10 different different women apparently in various states of consciousness Paul Flores and his father both pleaded
00:41:08
not guilty to all charges at their arraignment Reuben's attorney Harold Messick dismissed the evidence against
00:41:14
his client as quote so minimal as to shock the conscience he later argued that the biological
00:41:22
evidence found under the deck was not conclusively human blood and DNA evidence could not be found linking any
00:41:30
other evidence to Christian Susan Flores and her boyfriend were never charged in the case Reuben Flores
00:41:37
was released on fifty thousand dollars bail to his ex-wife he was required to wear an electronic ankle bracelet but
00:41:45
Paul Flores remained Behind Bars without bail to see them in custody was a feeling of great joy for me
00:41:54
my job was to hunt them and that's what I've been doing for a long long time along with a lot of other
00:42:02
people that's been our goal it is also what the smarts have been waiting for for more than a quarter of a
00:42:12
century [Music] Chris Lampert says they're cautiously optimistic they're hopeful but they've
00:42:21
also been let down so many times before I think they are just waiting to see what the outcome is going to be they're
00:42:28
interested in seeing Paul Flores get convicted and Reuben floors get held accountable
00:42:33
[Music] most importantly they want to find their daughter foreign [Music] they force themselves in with guns they
00:43:10
take her by force they hooded me as soon as I went into the van a deputy chases them down I opened the rear door of the
00:43:16
van and scared me so I jumped back and I shut the door 48 Hours next on CBS streaming on Paramount Plus