True Crime with Kendall Rae - Kristin Smart: Arrests Made After Nearly 25 Years!

Episode Date: July 13, 2023

Kristin Smart was a 19 year old college student who went missing at the end of her freshman year in 1996. After being out at a party on her own, and too intoxicated to return to her dorm on her own, partygoers let her leave the party in the arms of another student, Paul, who had offered to bring her back to her room. She was never seen again. Years later, with new leads, police were able to continue their investigation and make arrests in connection with Smart’s case.  Know Something about this case or Paul? Contact: San Luis Obispo Sheriff’s Department: [phone] My Elizabeth Smart episode (unrelated to Kristin Smart) Donate to NCMEC through my campaign! https://give.missingkids.org/campaign/kendall-rae/c438796 This episode is sponsored by: Beam - promo code: KENDALLRAE ZocDoc Check out Kendall's other podcasts: The Sesh & Mile Higher Follow Kendall! YouTube Twitter Instagram Facebook Mile Higher Zoo REQUESTS: General case suggestion form: https://bit.ly/32kwPly Form for people directly related/ close to the victim: https://bit.ly/3KqMZLj Discord: https://discord.com/invite/an4stY9BCN CONTACT: For Business Inquiries - [e-mail]

Hey guys and welcome back to my channel. I'm so glad to have you back today and I'm really excited for this video actually because I get to update you on two cases that I have covered. For the majority of today's video, we're going to be talking about the Kristen Smart case and the latest updates on that which have been so exciting to see play out over the last couple of weeks. Kristen Smart's case was one of the first cases I ever covered on this channel and one of the cases that just got me

interested in true crime in general. So I'm really, really excited to see her case finally getting some movement and a lot more awareness about it as well. A lot of people are learning about her case right now. There have actually been some arrest made in her case. So very exciting stuff. We're going to see a lot more play out in the next year, but I wanted to just kind of do an update in case you wanted you to follow along with everything that's going on. But before I get started on Kristen's case,

I also have an update on Jessica Easterlaise case. After so many of you guys signed the petition and then emailed, which eventually those got blocked blocked and also called the DA's office for Jessica Her family actually heard back from them. They put out a public statement and this is totally thanks to you guys You know taking the extra steps being an active true crime viewer They got totally overwhelmed with calls and clearly it made a difference We heard back from them in like less than 48 hours. I know a lot of you guys were anxious about making those calls and you decided to do it anyway and I really want to thank you. I appreciate you. Jessica's family wants to say thank you. So hopefully there will be more updates on Jessica's case. I'm sure there will be

and I will keep you guys updated. So I definitely am pretty attached to the Kristen Smart Case just because it was one of the first cases I ever heard about and it was one of the first cases that I covered on this channel and it was also the first time that I got feedback from a representative of the family and from the family as well passed on through them that they liked the video and that it was helpful and hel meant a lot to me. Her f through so much with this if you haven't heard abo be blown away by everything

to deal with and they're nice people. So it's am finally starting to happen son, both behind bars arrested in connection with the disappearance of Kristen smart. She was a 19 year old student at Cal

Polly when she vanished almost 25 years ago. They're treating this as a murder investigation. It's my hope that we're able to take the first step toward justice for the smart family.

I mean, at some points, you just think with these cases that nothing's ever going to happen. It's just been too long and the police aren't going to do anything, but when it finally does happen, it's just so inspiring and it makes you want to keep fighting for other people. Also, I just want to say, if you guys are interested in this case, there's a great podcast. It's called Your Own Backyard podcast. It was done by Chris Lambert and it is so so well done.

He interviewed a bunch of people. There's so much new information. A lot of new information actually is from this podcast that has been re-reported. This podcast had a huge part in what's happened recently. I will explain more. So I just want to give them a shout out and say definitely go check it out. Download it, give it a rating if you can. So let's start with Kristen's pastener upbringing. Now oftentimes this case gets confused with the Elizabeth smart case, which I have also covered. I will link that one below.

This is a completely different case. There is no relation between Elizabeth and Kristen's smart. They just share the last name. So Kristen Denise Smart was born on February 20th, 1977 in Augsburg, Bavaria, West Germany. These are her parents, Denise, and Stan Smart. They're really chill, down-to-earth people, and they actually worked as teachers to kids of American military personnel. So they stayed overseas for three years, and then moved back to the US.

So Kristen was born while they were gone, and they were actually really excited and surprised when they had Kristen because they didn't think that they would be able to conceive. I'm not sure exactly why, but she was a surprise to them and they were really, really happy. And as she was growing up, Kristen was described as being an exceptional learner, a very brave child motivated.

And according to her parents, she was a really exceptional child. She was learning how to walk and talk very quickly. She was very motivated and full of life from a young age. She even talked early and as a baby, she was a super fast learner and just an overall overachiever. In October of 1979, Stan and Denise had another child, which they were thrilled about. You know, they didn't think they could have one, and then they had two, and then they had another

in 1982, a daughter. So now they had their son, Matthew, their daughter, Lindsay, and Kristen. Their family was complete. They ended up deciding to settle down and stocked in California to raise their family. This is a really beautiful area. I mean, it's

California. Most of it's beautiful. And Kristen was described as being a very involved big sister. She loved her younger siblings and loved being a big sister. She was funny. She'd play games with them. She wasn't afraid to spend time with them. She wasn't like bratty and wanted to just be off with her friends. She loved being with her siblings and they loved her too. Kristen was a good student. She worked really hard in school. She did have ADHD, and that sometimes presented challenges, but she didn't let that stop her at all. She really loved to be active,

especially anything that involved water. She loved to swim, surf, she loved the ocean. She also played soccer, and she was also involved in school plays, which was something she enjoyed as well. Eventually, when she was old enough, she got into babysitting, and she was also involved in school plays, which was something she enjoyed as well. Eventually when she was old enough, she got into babysitting and that was something that she truly loved because she really liked to be around kids. She had a very playful heart and so kids liked her because she would really actually play with them, make like little skits with them, do tie-dye shirts, different art projects, crafts, whatever. And parents obviously really liked her as well

because she was so genuinely interested in being with the kids and wasn't just there to collect money and kind of oversee. Growing up, Kristen wasn't like wildly popular, but she had some good friends. She met people through Girl Scouts, people just in her neighborhood and from school, sports, stuff like that. And she would always welcome people over to her house.

She loved having people over and her parents were really down to have anyone there, whenever or even bring people on vacations. They were just a really cool family who was very loving and accepting of everyone. Kristen had dreams of one day becoming an architect because she actually was really, really good at drawing, and one thing that she loved to draw was house plans, like really detailed versions of them on graph paper. She had a real natural talent for this, so she definitely had a bright future ahead of her. Kristen always been interested in architecture, but in another breath she might tell you

that she wanted to be Joan London and have the opportunity to interview a lot of interesting people and travel the world. No one could tell her that anything was impossible. Towards the end of high school, she got some opportunities to travel and she had a very adventurous spirit so she was totally down to go. First, she spent a summer in London with one of her friends' families and then she spent another summer in Venezuela as a foreign exchange student. Her junior year, she decided to go to high

school in a school in Napa, which was pretty far away from her She-Lib, but her dad was the principal and he was gone a lot because he had a pretty far commute. And she wanted to see him more, so her plan was to go to the school and hopefully they would spend more time together. So she transferred. And they also ended up moving around a little bit like they had some life changes. And so it was a harder year for Kristen, less stable than normal. She didn't have as many friends and she just felt sad. So her senior year, she actually went back to Stockton, where most of her friends went to school, and she was happy to graduate from there. Kristen graduated in 1995. There's this beautiful picture of her. I think this is my favorite picture of her because she just looks so genuinely happy. That summer Kristen wanted to spend as much

time as she could at the beach. She spent most of her time at this local beach called Shell Beach, but she wanted to branch out and see some other beaches in the world. So she ended up deciding to apply to be a lifeguard and a camp counselor at camp mokulai. I hope I'm saying that right, but this is a gorgeous camp in Hawaii. I'm sure you can imagine. She had so much fun that summer. She met a ton of people and became really close with this one girl, a co-counselor named Rachel Bird. And the two of them worked together with the younger kids in the camp, so Kristen loved it. Ocean, kids, Hawaii, I mean, perfect situation. Now she has some good friends there. She was really happy that summer. That summer Rachel's

cousin actually died while they were at the camp. And she was really close with her cousin. So she was totally heartbroken. And Kristen was one person that was really there for her during this time. She said that she was just really grateful that she was around. There's actually an interview with Rachel on the Your Own Backyard podcast if you want to listen to it. So with Kristen being such an adventurous person, you would assume that she might go away for college, but she actually wanted to stay close to home. She was very close to their parents, and she wanted to be able to get to them quickly if she needed to, but she was still independent and she told her mom that even though she was going to be close, she wasn't going to be calling her all the time. You know, she would still talk to her, but there was going to be some separation.

She was really going to be moving on into the adult world. Kristen had also taken some forces at the local community college to get into a better four-year program, and eventually she was accepted into UC Santa Barbara. But she had already accepted and put a deposit down on a dorm room at California Polytechnic State University or Cal Poly. This is in San Luis, a Bisbo California. So instead of going into architecture, Kristen had to change her heart before college actually started and she went into communications because eventually she wanted to travel the world as a journalist. And she actually had enrolled late to Cal Poly,

so she had to live in the off-campus apartment. But she was kind of bummed about because, you know, you want the freshman campus experience to be right there on campus. That year for Christmas break, she went and visited her friends in Hawaii. She had a really good time with them. And when she came back, a dorm had opened up on campus. So she was pumped. She moved into room 120 at Muir Hall in an area called the Red Bricks. She was super happy about this. She was going to be able to walk to her classes, walk to different things on campus very easily. It'll give her more of a social scene. You know, her roommate that she was living with off campus was nice, but she was just kind of shy and wasn't very social.

Kristen wanted to have more of the experience. She wanted to go to parties. She was a very social person. So this was going to be the start of her real college experience to her. And Kristen was on this whole journey in college to really figure out herself identity, like so many of us do in college. During this time, she was many of us do in college. During this time she was giving herself different nicknames, she dyed her blonde hair brown, she was just having a lot of fun.

And Kristen would socially drink, but she wasn't a big drinker, it was much more about the social aspect of it for her. During this time Kristen was working as a lifeguard at the Cowl-Polly pool, and she worked the 5am.m. shift so she normally had to get up at like 4.30 most mornings but she really didn't mind she loved the water. And during school she definitely was experiencing independence but she would call her parents once a week on Sundays and kind of check in. And that's spraying. Her parents visited her a few times and one of the times Kristen actually told her mom that she was just struggling in school. Her classes were hard to keep up with. They overwhelmed her. She felt like she never had enough time for anything other than school and

that she was tired all the time. So she felt like she kind of needed a change. She actually told her mom that she thought it would be better if she went to school in like the Virgin Islands or Puerto Rico somewhere where she could be closer to the beach and have a more chill college experience. At one point, things actually got so bad that she practically begged her mom to let her drop out of school. And as supportive as her mom is, she obviously wanted her to finish what she had started. She worked so hard to get into school there. She wanted her to graduate. Plus, it was her freshman year. Her mom felt like maybe she's needed

a little bit more time to adjust. In early May of 1996, Denise actually wrote Chris in a letter encouraging her to stay in school, encouraging her to continue working hard and to stick with it. She also told her that maybe she should quit her lifeguarding job and just focus on what's important. So then Memorial Day weekend comes along Memorial Day weekend, 1996. That Friday, May 24th, Kristen called her parents and left a message on their answer machine.

And the message was, good news, good news, I'll call you Sunday. So Kristen had one front at school that she was very close with. Her name is Margarita Campos and they both had ADHD. So they really connected on this and kind of struggling through freshman year. And so that night, Kristen wanted to go out with Margarita and go to some parties. It's, you know, towards the end of the year, she's starting to kind of relax, get ready for the summer. But Margarita said that she was tired and actually just wanted to stay in. But Kristen really wanted to go out. she didn't like going out by herself, so she begged her to

go with her. Eventually she agreed and they went out just looking for a party. But it was Memorial Day weekend, so there aren't as many parties going on, normally a lot of the campus clears on a holiday weekend. And recently, Kristen had lost her dorm key, so they only had margaritas to get them back into the building. And Kristen also did not have her ID, or even her wallet with her that night. She actually didn't drive herself, so she would just go around with people who did. She didn't even have a driver's license. It didn't seem to be something she was interested in. So they got ready that night, and on their way out, they ran into another group of girls

who kind of tagged along with them and they went looking for parties. The group ended up getting a ride with this one guy and he was like a friend of theirs and they went to this other house party at another friend's house and it was just kind of lame. Kristen said it was actually a dud and she wanted to find something more exciting

to kind of kick off the weekend. While she was there she only had like one beer and then they continued on looking for more parties. So they just drove around in this guy's truck looking for more parties and when they didn't see anything Kristen and Margarita actually got out at this one neighborhood hoping they you know come across a house party. But after walking a little bit Margarita was tired. She didn't want to go out in the first place. So she told Kristen, you know, hey, let's go back. And Kristen wasn't having it. She really wanted to have a good time that night. For some reason, that weekend, she was really determined to have fun. And Margarita just finally was like, hey, you can continue on. I'm going to go back home. And they decided to part ways and to this day Margaret

feels terrible about that because she said she was raised as a girl scout and she knows about the body system and she feels like she just never should have left Kristen that night and I can't imagine how hard that would be to have that guilt on your shoulders you know. So personally if I don't get at least eight hours of sleep at night, I am an actual monster. I can't get anything done, I'm in a horrible mood, I feel just awful. And sleeping less than six to seven hours per night is linked to reduced white blood cell count, which you may not have known.

White blood cells protect our body against illness, diseases, fighting viruses, bacteria, and more, and not many people realize this, but having a consistent nighttime routine is so, so important. A better tomorrow starts tonight. And before I go to bed, I love a nice warm drink, especially hot chocolate. Who does not love hot chocolate? Introducing Beam Dream.

Dream contains natural sleep promoting premium ingredients. It's triple lab tested and contains no THC, and you'll actually wake up feeling refreshed. And today, my listeners get a special discount on Beam's delicious dream powder. They're best selling healthy hot cocoa with only 15 calories. Better sleep has never tasted better.

A recent clinical study revealed dream helped 93% of users wake up feeling more refreshed and 93% reported that dream help them get a more restful night's sleep. Just mixed into hot water or milk, stir or froth, and then enjoy before bedtime. And I'm really surprised at how good beam dream tastes for only 15 calories. It's such a nice little treat before bed,

especially if you're someone with a sweet tooth, but you don't want to have a bunch of sugar before going to sleep. Find out why Forbes and New York Times are all talking about beam and why it's trusted by the world's top athletes and business professionals. If you want to try beam's best selling dream powder, get up to 40% off for a limited time when you go to shopbeam.com slash kennel ray and use the code kennel ray at checkout. That's shopb.baam.com slash kennel ray and use code kennel ray for up to 40% off. So the two of them had gotten in a little bit of an argument over this, not really an argument, just Kristen seemed annoyed

at the whole thing. They were kind of annoyed at each other. So Marguerita just gave Chris and her rim key so that she could get in that night. Chris and put it into her sock and continued on walking. Marguerita went the other way. That was the last time that she saw her. So around 10 p.m. about a tenth of a mile from where she left Margarita, she found a party. And this was actually a birthday party out of Returnity House, a Sigma Kai House and unofficial house. It was for a guiding Ryan fell who went by swampy. And it wasn't really a huge party like 20 people or so

were invited and people just kept coming and going. And according to people that were there, all the guys seemed very interested in Kristen right away. She looked beautiful. She's tall. She was wearing these vinyl shorts, crop top, and red Puma sneakers. During the party, Kristen went up to this guy named Trevor Bolter and told him that her name was Roxy and brought him into the bathroom. And he was really excited because he thought she wanted to hook up with him. But when they got in the bathroom, she said that she was only interested in this basketball player that was also at the party. Later that night, she apparently flirted with the basketball player, but he kind of brushed

her off. And Kr Kristen ended up drinking a lot that night much more than usual. Not really sure why. According to Trevor, when he saw her later that night, she was really, really drunk. So the party ended around 2 a.m. and two of the people that were there that night, Tim Davis and Cheryl Anderson were walking home from the party when they found Kristen's smart lying on the grass just outside of someone's lawn. So clearly she's very intoxicated. They try to help stand her up and she can barely walk. She barely has any idea what's going on. So they decided to take her back to her place, make sure she gets back safely. And as they're walking, another student catches up with them. 19 year old Paul Flores. And he was acting like this super nice hero guy coming up

and he puts his hand around her bare waist and kind of as if he knows her, but he doesn't. Later on, he would say that she was freezing cold during that time. And so he was hugging her to keep her warm. He said Kristen was holding onto to him as they walked, and the dorms were about a half a mile away from where they are,

which is hard when you're intoxicated and you can barely move. Paul lived in Santa Lucia Hall, which is really close to where Kristen was living in Mir Hall. So Tim, Cheryl, Paul and Kristen are all walking back towards the dorms. Eventually, Tim is the first one to kind of peel off from the group. He had his car parked pretty close, and's going to drive the rest of the way. So three of them

kept walking. Now, Cheryl lived in the Sierra Moderi Hall, which is in a different direction from the Red Bricks. So she's obviously cold as well and uncomfortable once to get home. So she thinks Paul has it from here. So she splits off from them and goes to her dorm and then Paul and Kristen continue walking towards the Red Bricks. Paul claimed that he continued walking Kristen to his building and then he watched her walk over to her building from his,

which is like 40 yards away. And then after he saw her safely go inside her dorm, he went inside of his and that was it for the night. But that night, Kristen was supposed to spend the night in Margarita's room, but she never showed up. So Kristen had a roommate named Crystal, and she was out of town that Friday night. But she came back Saturday morning,

and when she got back to the dorm, she noticed that Kristen's backpack was on the bed, but Kristen was not there. However, in college, you college, people sleep in all types of random places. You don't always think something bad has happened to somebody, so she assumed she'd be back later. But by Saturday night, she didn't show up,

and then she didn't show up on Sunday either. So, Crystal started getting worried, and she talked to Marguerita, who was also getting worried. So, they started asking around the campus to see if anyone had seen Kristen heard from Kristen but no one had. So obviously when she never called her parents that day, they were really concerned. But they knew that she was kind of figuring out her independence. They didn't want to bother her. Not any other Sunday you would have called, but because it was a long weekend, made the assumption that she would call on Monday. So that Monday morning, a bunch of her friends got together and kind of talked about what they

should do, and they eventually decided that they should call the police. It was her friend, Jennifer Fips, that actually called the police, the campus police, and reported her missing. But they actually would not take the report. They suggested that Kristen had just gone somewhere for a weekend getaway from a moral day. They figured she would be back soon. They even suggested that maybe she went to Hawaii for the weekend since she loved Hawaii so much. So Jennifer thought, you know, maybe this is just the campus police. Let me call the local police and see if they react any differently, but they didn't. They did not

seem to care or have any sense of urgency for Kristen whatsoever. Kristen had basically just disappeared from the campus. She didn't have her ID, her wallet, any money, or any credit cards on her. And she didn't pack up any of her stuff. She didn't bring any clothes, bag, any vertex books, nothing. So they tried their best to convince the campus police to take the report, but they just wouldn't do it. So they called Kristen's parents to see if she was there. And this really freaked out Kristen's mom. It was a police officer from Cal Poly Police.

We called to say that they had some concerns about Kristen and had she come home for the weekend. And that's when your mother's instant kicks in and you say, this is not right. Your heart is broken, but you can't let your will break because you have to be on your toes and you have to look for resources that can help you find your daughter.

But the police ended up reassuring her that, you know, students take spontaneous trips all the time. We even have this theory that she may have gone to Hawaii. They tried to reassure Denise that Kristen was probably just traveling or with friends and would check in soon that she just kind of forgot about her responsibilities to check in, which her parents felt like wasn't Kristen at all.

They knew that this just could not be true. Kristen would never just take off without telling them where she was going, or at least tell a friend. So it wasn't until May 28th that the police decided to actually file a report for Kristen. And the campus newspaper didn't even acknowledge the report until that Friday May 31st. And by this time her parents are freaking out. They know that Kristen did not just leave, definitely not voluntarily. So Stan decided to drive down there and talk to police himself and also physically put flyers up around the campus.

He and Denise already felt like they were on their own. Like the police just weren't going to do anything and they were so frustrated that it took so long to even file a report because they just wasted investigation time. And we all know that the first 48 hours that someone goes missing are the most crucial and you have a decreasing possibility of finding someone as the hours go by and And they were just doing nothing.

And we don't really know why. But eventually they realized that they had to do an investigation. So the campus police actually started the investigation. And obviously this is a huge case for the campus police. So the San Luis Obispo police also stepped in and kind of worked alongside them at first. They started by interviewing a bunch of witnesses that were at the parties that Kristen was at that night and tried to build a timeline of who she talked to and what that night really looked like.

And after they interviewed several people, it was clear that there was one person of interest that really stood out to them and that was Paul Flores. Tim Davis, the other guy who had walked Kristen halfway to her dorm, said that when they were at the party, he heard this loud crashing noise and he looks over and he sees Kristen on the ground with Paul Flores like on top of her, almost like they had fallen together or he had pushed her and jumped on top of her. Something just strange and he remembered feeling really weird about it at the time.

And then that guy Trevor, the one that Kristen like pulled aside into the bathroom, also had an interesting experience with Paul that night. When he was in the bathroom with Kristen at one point she like told him to leave because she was done talking to him about the other guy. And when he left the bathroom, Paul Flores was standing outside the bathroom door and he started interrogating him about what had just happened in there with Kristen and he seemed like really mad at first. And he got afraid and thought, you know, maybe this is like her boyfriend or something and he's gonna beat me up. But then as soon as he said nothing happened man, Paul completely switched his demeanor and was like, oh no worries, like laughing it off. And Trevor just thought that was really strange.

And then another student at the party said that when she was alone with Paul, he tried to kiss her. She said the first time he tried to do it, she pushed him off and tried to go back to the party, but the need followed her over to where she was and did it again. And so she pushed him again and then tried to just stay with her friend for like protection.

And multiple female students that night at the party said that Paul tried to group them, kiss them, that he was hitting on all these people and refusing to take no for an answer even when they would say they had a boyfriend or they weren't interested. He was just being an overall creep. That girl Cheryl Anderson actually knew Paul

from before that night. And her friends actually prefer to him as Chester the molester. So that tells you a lot. And Cheryl said that on the walk home, Paul kept trying to get her to leave and walk away from them. Like kept saying, hey, walk ahead of us, you know, because they were walking pretty slow, Kristen had drank a lot and Cheryl was cold and wanted to get back home.

So he kept telling her to go ahead, walk ahead of them, but she didn't want to leave Kristen alone with him, and she also didn't want to walk alone. And before she did split off from them, while Paul was still holding on to Kristen's waist, he tried to kiss Cheryl. And she said no, but he asked her for a kiss on the cheek, instead, she also said no to that. And then after this, even though she said no, but he asked her for a kiss on the cheek instead. She also said no to that.

And then after this, even though she was nervous, she went home and left Kristen with Paul. So of course, the campus police decides to interview Paul, and they do this several times. And he claimed that he ended up at the party randomly, that that night he was just drinking some beers, and then decided to walk over to his sister's place, but he saw this house party on the way and changed his plans. The police asked if he had called his sister before leaving that night and he said no, but phone records showed that he actually did call his sister at 859. Paul said that he remembered seeing Roxy. That was the name that Kristen was going by that night at the party and he said that she was really flirty with all the guys. But he claimed that he didn't interact with her at all until they were walking home and that he just helped

her get to her dorm and went back into his own. But that goes against what Tim said. He said that he saw Paul on top of her on the ground. He doesn't know if he pushed her or if they fell together, you know, that's still a big mystery. But he claims that Paul did talk to Kristen before they were walking home. So just a few weeks ago my husband and I were out of town and he started having some weird symptoms and my first thought was Zock-Dock. And of course, like always, through the Zock-Dock app, we found a good medical professional who listened, who helped us figure out what was going on, and it saved us tons of time and stress.

Zock-Dock has been my hero many times. I have found so many great medical professionals in various fields through the Zock-Dock app, and I've been using it for longer than they've been sponsoring me. Have you ever been on the hunt for a new doctor and you literally ask everyone for the recommendation? And then finally, after weeks of searching, you find the one. You

know it's going to be a good experience. So you call their office and they have an appointment available, which is awesome. But then the receptionist tells you that this perfect doctor doesn't take your insurance. It's the actual worst. And that's why you got to be using the Zock Doc app. Zock Doc is a free app where you can find amazing doctors and book appointments online. We're talking about booking appointments with thousands of top rated patient-reviewed doctors and specialists. You really shouldn't be doing anything in today's world without reading reviews first. You can filter specifically for ones who take your insurance or ones that are located near you.

And these doctors all have verified reviews from actual real patients, not bots. The average wait time to see a doctor booked on ZockDock is just between 24 and 48 hours. That's it. Sometimes you can even score same day appointments. Once you find the doctor you want, you can book them immediately with just a few app taps, no more waiting awkwardly, on hold with a receptionist. So go to zockdoc.com slash kennel ray and download the ZockDock app for free. Then find a book at top rated doctor today. That's zoc doc.com slash kennel ray. Z.coc.com slash kennel ray. Sock doc.com slash kennel ray. So when police interviewed Paul, they noticed that he had multiple injuries.

He had scratches on the back of his hand, rug burn on his knees, and a black eye. And Paul said that the black eye was actually from a pick up basketball game. He said it just happened that someday that his friend had elbowed him in the face. But then they went and interviewed this friend that he played basketball with and he said that Paul had the black guy before they even played. And when he asked Paul how he got it, he said he didn't remember. So police confronted him with this lie. And Paul said that the reason he lied was because he didn't want anyone to know the true reason for his accident because he was kind of bearish by it.

He said in reality, he hit his eye on the steering wheel of his truck. He was installing a stereo system into it and somehow as he's installing this new stereo system, he hits his eye on the steering wheel. Now he had hit his right eye and he's also 5'10", so it seems pretty impossible to just hit your eye like that, plus it doesn't explain all of the other injuries. And even though the place thought it was weird, they decided not to take any photos to document his injuries. Don't know why. A few months before this, Paul was actually

arrested for driving without a license, which violated the parole that he was on from previous charges. I'll explain. And he decided not to show up for court, so police got an arrest warrant for him. He was booked on May 27th, 1996, right after Kristen had gone missing, but before the campus police actually took the missing person's report. This mug shot is the only proof of the black guy, and it's still really hard to see. It was pretty much healed at that point, but this is all we have. When he was interviewed on June 19th, Paul was very anxious and just wanted to leave the whole time. He said that he had somewhere that he needed to be, and the officer asked twice where he had to go before Paul answered that he had to go clean up Some concrete when the officer asked where he said my mom's house

So I'm sure some of you are already putting together a picture for what has happened here now to add to this picture Paul has a history of violence and inappropriate behavior with women over pretty much his whole life. When he was in eighth grade, he flew into this rage and actually beat this other kid in the head so violently that he ended up in the hospital for a really long time. And so Paul's parents had to pay for all the medical bills for this kid.

At this time, and remember, this was in eighth grade, the court recommended anger management for him. And his parents actually declined. They did not think he needed it. There's also a long list of people that have had strange interactions with Paul over the years. So many people just describe him as weird, slightly aggressive, and the main one that people seem to use is just creepy. Multiple women have reported being harassed by him, stalked by him, or just have reported some type of creepy exchange with him. A lot of women called him either psychopal or scary Paul. So he definitely had a bad reputation. And Paul also didn't really have any close friends. He would kind of linger

around other groups of friends, but he was always that guy that no one really wanted around, you know. He had a habit of just showing up to parties uninvited, weirding everybody out there, oftentimes getting kicked out. And when he was working at his part-time job, he would often grope the other female co-workers. And he thought it was like funny to do this, that they were kind of into it. It was such a weirdo that sometimes you would evenworkers, and he thought it was like funny to do this that they were kind of into it. It was such a weirdo that sometimes you would even follow people home. And it seems like once he got into college,

things got even worse. In December of 1995, he climbed up the side of an apartment to look inside of a window in the middle of the night. A woman who lived there saw him, called the police, and when they got there, they just told them to get down and told him to leave. That's it. Like he didn't get any trouble. A few months later three different women who lived in that building claim that

they were being harassed and were also getting repeatedly called by Paul all the time and that he would not leave them alone. He was scaring them but nothing was ever done about Paul. No one ever looked into it further. During the first part of the investigation, Kristen's parents really weren't told anything. They had no idea, you know, what was actually being done if anything was being done, and it was really stressing them out. They said that they felt like Kristen's case was being treated more like a missing bicycle than a missing person. And they were also really upset with the incident report that came out on May 31st about Kristen's case. It was bad. After interviewing multiple people at the party, the officer wrote down that Kristen was really drunk

and was flirting with a bunch of men at the party, and he actually wrote in his notes, she lives in her own way, not conforming to typical teenage behavior. And he noted that these things did not imply that her behavior caused her to go missing, but he did know that they provide a picture of her conduct on the night of her disappearance. Basically, victim-shaming her right away. Passed aggressively, saying that this is somehow Kristen's fault. And then on June 20th, an investigator actually talked with the school newspaper and was quoted saying this, there is no evidence of criminal activity.

It doesn't look like she was the victim of a crime. So we are pursuing this case as an adult missing under unusual circumstances. Luckily, the campus police weren't in charge of things for very long, which they really shouldn't have been handling this from the beginning, but on June 26 26, 1996, they San Luis Obispo County

and within three days, they that included over 400 helicopters, cadaver dogs, all things that would have been really helpful to have when she first went missing. In the meantime, until the mystery is solved, Roxie's classmates say they will not take their safety for granted.

I don't know, it really makes me cautious about walking around at night and just I mean, it's I really can't believe it. It doesn't seem real. I used to tell a friend just to walk back to her going alone, you know, nothing's going to happen, but now it's like I won't let her anymore.

We saw her on Saturday and her Friday night before she disappeared, she was standing on the corner. And that's really strange that we haven't this year, and people are just wondering what happened to her. The dogs were brought to the campus. They were walked through all of the dorms, and the handlers weren't told any details of the case, or about, you know, where specifically to look so that they couldn't sway the dogs in any way. So four dogs ended up picking up something outside of room 128 in

Santa Lucia Hall, which happens to be Paul Flores' room, which he shared with another roommate named Derek Say. And by the time campus police had searched his room, he had already left for the summer, and it was cleaned by the janitor. So who knows what they could have missed. They literally cleaned his entire bed sheets all that, you know, of course they do when someone leaves a dorm. But when the dogs were let inside of the room, they still hit on Paul's mattress. Investigators actually removed the mattress and the box spring from the room, let the dogs back in and they still

Detected something on Paul's bed frame itself and not only that They also detected that same scent on a telephone and a trash can in the room So the investigators took that trash can and set it out in the hallway with a bunch of other random trash cans from other rooms And the dogs still identified the scent on Paul's trash can. So a little bit more about his roommate, Derek. He said that he was out of town that weekend. And when he got back, Paul told him that he had walked Kristen back home that night. And at the time, Derek said that he jokingly asked Paul, what did you do with her? Which I don't really understand how it's a joke,

but anyway, Paul responded and said, she's at my house having lunch with my mom. And that's important, remember that for later. [♪ Music playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background,'t in school, he would stay at his dad's house most of the time. His father's name is Ruben. His mom, Susan, was not staying there at the time because she had filed for legal separation in April. But sometimes she would stay there for multiple nights at a time.

Finally, on July 22nd, 1996, the police served a search warrant at Ruben's house. They waited a week after getting the warrant to actually serve it. Don't know why. And they did the most half-ass job with this search. I mean, truly. They didn't bring any cadaver dogs, they didn't even bring a forensic team, and they didn't search any vehicles while they were there. It was just an inspection, a visual inspection, to see the house and look around and see if there was any clues about Kristin. Also, Ruben has an avocado grove on his property. It's like one to two acres and they never searched that. The most significant thing that they found while they were there

were newspaper clippings about Kristin's disappearance, which is odd. And they were in all random parts and his wife, who was a woman who was a woman who was a woman who was a woman who was a woman who was a woman who was a woman who was a woman who was a woman who was a woman who was a woman who was a woman who was a woman who was a woman who was a woman who was a woman who was a woman who was a woman who was a woman who was a

woman who was a woman who was a woman who was a woman who was a woman who was a woman who was a woman who was a woman who was a woman who was a woman who was a being just flat out angry about everything. I worked with her and she shared with me that Rubin in the middle of the night had gotten a phone call and he just, you know, took off and she was very puzzled by that. And the week after Kristen disappeared, Susan actually told her that she was really annoyed with Rubin because he had to take this late night phone call on Memorial Weekend and then he just left and she felt frustrated because she didn't know what was going on and she felt like maybe he was hiding something from her. So it seemed like if he was

involved he hadn't told her anything. But they ended up searching Susan's house multiple times. Like I said, she wasn't staying with Rubin. She was actually living at her rental property on East Branch Street. But during the first search, police didn't actually know that. They just assumed that she lived with Rubin full time. So when Paul told police that he had to go deal with concrete at his mom's house,

no one even made the connection that he was talking about a completely different location, not Rubin' house. So then that August, Susan ends up putting her house up for rent, and it was rented by Mary and Joe Lasseter and their six-year-old son, and they moved in on October 1st. So Mary's mother lived next door, and all three adults worked at the local hospital,

so they would carpool together is a perfect situation. But right when they moved in, Susan, their landlord, tells them that there is this aluminum trash can out front and they just shouldn't touch it, don't throw anything away in it and someone will pick it up. Mary remembers thinking this was strange, it's just a trash can. Why do you have such specific rules about it and why are you so afraid of us touching it? And then Ruben came and picked that trash can up the next day. So that next month,

Mary and Jell are in this new rental property and they start getting mail from random people. And it was clearly not directed at them. It was threatening messages saying, come forward, come talk to the police. Be honest about what your son has done. You know what your son has done. And at first, they were confused,

but they started looking into everything and decided it would be best if they kept all of this mail. So they create a special file. Then one day, Mary was outside cleaning her car when she noticed something shiny near her front tire. And it was an earring. It was a, as she describes it, a silver earring with a turquoise colored stone on the front. And then it also had a dark reddish fingerprint smudge on the back of it. So she decided to put it in a little baggy and saved it.

She was smart enough to know that that's probably connected to the letters that people are sending. Then in October, investigators actually came to talk with them at their house and Mary wasn't there at the time. Only Joe was and he mentioned, you know, my wife found this earring and they asked if they could have it. And he said yes, so they took it in for evidence, at least they thought. The detect have it and he said yes, so they took it in for evidence, at least they thought.

The detective's name has never been released, but this guy apparently took the earring with him and brought it back to the sheriff's department and put it somewhere safe. So as soon as the local police department took over the case, Paul Flores completely stopped cooperating. In October of that year, investigators called a grand jury not for an indictment, but just so that they could have questioning on the record for Paul Flores. They wanted the witness testimonies, you know, documented under oath. They called in Paul, his parents, his sister, or Melinda, and her husband Brett. And then they had a deposition on November 14th, 1997.

And during this, Paul refused to answer any questions. He even refused to verify his own family's names. His lawyers literally told him to just cite the Fifth Amendment after every question, every single question. What is your president's address? On the fight for my attorney, I refused to answer that question based on the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Are you under the influence of my attorney, I refuse to answer that question based on the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Are you under the influence of any medication which at this time would interfere with your ability to give clear and accurate testimony today?

On the advice of my attorney, I refuse to answer that question based on the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution. You reported your Nissan truck stolen in San Diego recently. Is that correct? On advice my attorney, I refused to ask that question based on the fifth and the minute A-NICE's constitution. Ruben also did a deposition, but he could not plead fifth, so he did answer the questions. Sorry, that was your son, a minor at the time,

that a person made a claim against him for damages in a civil action. I'm not sure. I believe there was a settlement, but I'm not sure. He was giving very conflicting answers, especially about the family's vehicles. So they had a Nissan and a Ford Ranger, but he said that Paul never drove the Nissan, but his co-workers all confirmed that he did. He also said that no one had access to the Ranger that may, but that was a lie as well. And of course, the Flores family no longer owned either truck. They had traded in the Ranger, and then the ownership of the Nissan was transferred over to Paul, but it was actually stolen right

before the deposition. And then that fall, Paul tried to enroll in the Navy. So he could flee the situation essentially. But the smart family decided to file a $40 million wrongful death lawsuit against him so that he wouldn't be able to leave. Later they tried to add Cal Paulie to this lawsuit as well for failing to protect Kristen, but the university had immunity as a government entity. Luckily Paul ended up being rejected from the Navy, and because of the lawsuit, they were able to subpoena him and a few other people. This included other students that walked home with them that night,

some of Paul's co-workers, and even the tenants that were living in Susan's house, which they definitely had a lot to say. So the deposition started in January of 1997. And what was really strange is Tim Davis, the one who had also walked with Kristen home that night, didn't show up. And they called him, and he basically told off the smart family attorney, and they never talked with him again. Cheryl Anderson, the other person who walked home with him that night, really didn't have anything new to say, except for she did not think Tim was involved at all. But when they interviewed the tenants, Mary and Joe, the smart family was shocked to hear about this earring.

No one had ever told them that an earring had been found. And of course, this is potentially huge evidence that they definitely should have been notified about. So of course, their lawyer put a number quest for them to see it, possibly identify the earring, see if it really did belong to Kristen, but they never heard back for over a month. So eventually Stan and Denise just decided to go down to the police department themselves and demand to see this earring. And when they did, they found out that the earring was lost. Someone had literally put the earring in a desk drawer, closed it up, forgot about it, and they just lost it. At least that was their story. They were told that the police did a visual inspection of the earring

and decided that it was not related to the case. So years later, Mary ended up buying a pair of earrings that she said were almost identical to the one that she found. Here is a picture of the earring, which we definitely can't prove that it really did look like this, but if Mary's telling the truth and remembers it correctly, what's crazy is if you look in Kristen's missing photo, it actually matches the necklace that she's wearing. So it definitely could have been hers. But investigators claim that Mary's description and memory of the earring is just wrong. They claim that the earring that was found does not match the necklace at all, but there is no way to determine this

because they lost it. But Mary had something even bigger than the earring. [♪ Music playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background, playing in background So in their backyard along one of the walls of their house, there were four planter boxes. Three were small about one foot around each way and the fourth was much larger, about six feet long and three feet wide. Here's a picture of them in front of the boxes. Now Joe had tried to grow flowers in this box but they kept dying. He thought it was really weird. He was normally pretty good at growing things. So when he inspected the planter, he realized that there was actually a layer of cement underneath the dirt. So that's why the roots weren't actually growing down. They thought this was really odd for a planter.

So they asked a neighbor about it. And the neighbor said that the planters were added in summer of 1996, the same year that Kristen went missing. In fact, it seemed like there was a lot of construction happening around the house that year. And then get this. After they had first moved in to Susan's house, they started hearing a weird sound every morning around 4.20 a.m. They would hear the sound of a watch alarm going off. One night when Mary's mother was staying over, they went outside and tried to figure out where the sound was coming from.

They were literally crawling on the ground trying to see if they could hear it in the bushes, buried in the grass, but they could never figure out where this beeping sound was coming from. And over time, eventually the beeping stopped. Mary thought it definitely wasn't watch it really sounded like a watch so she figured the battering must have just died and she thought it was a really strange time to set an alarm for I mean 420s pretty early but Kristen was a lifeguard she had to be at the pool by 5. It's quite possible she would set her alarm for 420. So after Susan Flores found out that Mary and Jo had done the deposition against her. She was pissed and she retaliated

by kicking them out of her house, which at that point they were more than happy to leave. So by law, they had 30 days to vacate. So they were gonna use this time to bring in some experts to search the property. On March 3rd, 1997, a geologist came in and did a ground penetrating sweep of the backyard, and they also brought in cadaver dogs. And they actually alerted to an area in the backyard where the aluminum trash can had been. And when the geologist looked in the backyard, he said that there were some anomalies in the ground,

but he couldn't tell if they were natural or not, because he had actually never personally searched for a body before. But he did note that there were several broken pieces of concrete all around the backyard. And there were also stains on the side of the house that looked like dirt had been piled up there. Like someone was burying something. And like I said, neighbors had come forward and said that there was lots of construction

going on in that backyard after Kristen went missing in 1996. A neighbor across the street actually said that he had seen Paul right around that time outside late in the night with some other man digging something of doing something in the backyard in the dark for five hours. And not only that, he saw that they were pouring concrete and he actually claims that he saw them dig a hole that was four feet wide and seven to eight feet long and then drop something in it that to him looked like a carpet, a rolled up carpet.

He said it definitely looked like something heavy was inside because it took both of them to move it. He watched them put dirt back over it and then pour concrete on top. And since then they have actually built a garage on top of this spot. And this garage actually blocks access from the backyard to the driveway. So after Mary and Joe moved out of the house, Susan actually just moved back in. Obviously she's not gonna let another render come in. And once people got word that she was back in the house,

tons of people would drive by all the time in honk. People take pictures, even knock on the door to try to get information out of her. But despite all of that, Susan has never left. And he got a wonder why. So the FBI considers Kristen's case a high priority missing person's investigation. They have offered a reward of $75,000 for information

that could lead to finding her or solving her case. In early 1999, the police went and did interviews with over a thousand students at Cal Poly and they also did another physical search of the campus, but they did not find any new evidence. In 2000, the FBI and Sheriff's Department reviewed the case and they decided it was quite possible that Kristen's body was buried at Susan's house. So on June 19th of that year, they served a search warrant at her home. An investigator searched her house for nine hours

and this time they used a more advanced ground penetrating radar hoping to find some new evidence. And because they had this advanced technology, apparently they didn't need to actually dig up the concrete. And her family was really hoping that something would come out of this, but the results came back inconclusive, and as soon as they left her property, the warrant expired. Then there's another very important person in Kristen's case, and that is Dennis Mann. And he's actually a citizen's detective, like he just volunteered. And he started following Kristen's case in the late 90s

and there's a really good interview with him on your own backyard podcast and he was introduced to Kristen's family and has been a huge part of the case and part of their efforts to get justice for Kristen ever since. So while he was working on Kristen's case he ended up talking to one of the lead investigators on the case and he asked why Susan's guard was never dug up and Allegedly this investigator told him that it was because the group of investigators did a vote and all decided It was not worth it because if they didn't find anything and they damaged the concrete It would be too expensive to repair it of course Chris and family was very upset to hear, and when Dennis went public with this information, the police basically said it was all lies.

They denied ever saying it, and said that it was simply because they couldn't authorize the dig. What's strange about this case is the issue of cost seems to keep coming up as an excuse for investigators, even though the community has volunteered tons of funds and also volunteered services. People have been wanting to volunteer for free. Members of the community have even volunteered equipment and stuff. It just doesn't make any sense. Dennis felt like the only way they were gonna really get

movement on the case was if he started trying to talk to the Flores family himself, which, you know, isn't recommended always, but hey, you gotta give him the credit for being ballsy about, you know, isn't recommended always, but hey, you've got to give him the credit for being ballsy about it because the police weren't doing it, and he would just go to their house and try to talk to them. At one point, he had even tried to talk to Paul and Paul started talking back, and then his parents quickly brought him into the house. At one point, Susan was actually arrested for tackling him outside of her house. And according to Dennis, she

actually said, yes, Paul killed Kristen. And he also killed that modafary girl too. After that, he realized that he could take pictures of the family. As long as he wasn't standing on their property when he took the photos, they could also take photos of him as well. So they started just taking photos of each other. The Flores family was very irritated by him, and eventually they got a restraining order against him. And it actually went through, and he didn't really care. He just violated the restraining order anyway, and they did call the police on him one time, and he was arrested. And then get this. In August of 2005, the Flora's family actually files a

lawsuit against the smart family. In it, they claim that Dennis was working on their behalf. So they were responsible for all the harassment and stalking that they had been going through with Dennis. They tried to say that they were legally and financially responsible for the distress that they had been through by being harassed by Dennis. We have been harassed. We've had a restraining order. We've had Mr. and Mrs. Mark's henchmen put in jail

for harassing us, stalking us. And when I say us, I mean, Rubin and I, I mean Mike, my daughter, her husband, my son. We were all on the restraining order, protected. He violated the restraining order. He went to jail.

And like I said, he was their henchmen. But jokes on her because with this new lawsuit came new opportunity to dig it more info about the case. The Flores family's property could be searched again now because they had to prove that Dennis had a reason for being out there. And luckily the lawyers were able to negotiate the terms of the search without the police department being involved. So in March of 2007, a prominent ground penetrating radar expert was brought into search their

property. But he couldn't get a reading on those planter boxes or the newly built garage because he couldn't search the area where the cadaver dog had picked up a scent. He was allowed to look at the rest of the yard, but not that area specifically, which is obviously very frustrating. In excavation crew was able to dig into this spot and take some of the concrete out and test it and somehow they ruled out that this was a potential burial spot. But this crew was not actually allowed to dig into the planter, which is where she most likely would be. During all this time, the smart family was so frustrated, but they never gave up

hope. Kristen was legally declared dead in May of 2002 and her family was starting to get worried that people were forgetting about her. There was just a lot less media going on. People weren't talking about her as much. In the years following, they asked for donations from the public to keep billboards up in the area, which can be really expensive, but it can really keep someone's name out there, which is just so valuable. but it can really keep someone's name out there, which is just so valuable. In 2011, everything changed.

There was a newly elected sheriff named Ian Parkinson, who took over the case in order to complete full review of all the evidence. I claim that he was dedicated to finding answers for the smart family. And so they felt hopeful for the first time in a while, but things moved painfully, slowly. I mean, wow, it wasn't until September 6th, 2016

that the Sheriff's Department announced that they were investigating a new lead. They had launched another search of the campus with cadaver dogs and earth movers this time. So this was gonna be a big deal. I actually remember this happening. They spent four days excavating these areas around the campus,

and the case was finally starting to make progress for the first time in 20 years, and that's when I first heard about it was because of that progress. And just from what I researched about it, I felt like things were going to move a lot faster. It seemed like there was a lot of evidence on Paul. I mean, that's definitely the takeaway I got from it when I covered it years ago. And when this search was going on, it seemed like there was just a renewed sense of urgency to actually figure out what had really happened to Kristen. Then in 2019, something huge happened for the case. From someone not expected, Chris Lambert, he's a musician,

he decided to make this podcast, and he was genuinely concerned about Kristen and wanted to find her, he said almost as much as her family did. So he released the podcast in your own backyard and it included a lot of new information and really compelling interviews. He said he was motivated to make this podcast after driving by the billboards for Kristen over and over again and just wondering what happened. And this podcast did really well. It gave the case a new spotlight. I mean, they had barely been getting any coverage. I remember when I covered it, it was one of the first times

it had been covered in a long time and they were really happy to just get the coverage of my small YouTube channel at the time. So when this fully dedicated, professionally done, beautifully done podcast was put out, they were ecstatic. So with the case being back in the news, they figured that the e-flourist family was probably talking about it amongst each other, possibly on their devices. So in 2019, they got a court order to monitor Paul's cell phone. And this podcast made a serious difference, like the police learned things about the case that they didn't even know. They ended up going and interviewing people that he had on the podcast that they had never even interviewed before.

One person they found from the podcast and interviewed was an Australian exchange student named Neil Van Est. His story had been just dismissed for some reason by detectives years before, but with fresh eyes, he ended up being a huge part of the whole case. The night that Kristen disappeared, he was riding his bike back from the library, really late at night around 2 a.m. and he actually saw a man and a woman inside of Sierra Modre Hall, which is Cheryl's dorm, and they were struggling and fighting. It looked like the woman was trying to get away, and he described this man as average height about 5-10 and the woman about a few inches

taller closer to six foot just like Paul and Kristen. He said the light was on in that lobby area. You can kind of see where they would be standing and you got a clear view through the Florida-Stealing windows on the front of the building. So now the case was really starting to come together. A picture is being painted finally after all these years of what could have happened that night. And then in January of 2020, police announced that they actually have recovered both of the Flores family trucks that they had tried to get rid of, the Nissan and the Ford Ranger. So we don't know what could have been possibly found in the trucks at this point.

And then in February, police executed four search warns in California and Washington state at the homes of Paul, Rubin, Susan, and his sister, Irmelinda. And we don't know exactly what was found, but they did say items of interest were found. Then that April, some new evidence, which we don't know exactly what it is, there's still a lot we don't know at this point. But this new evidence led to a second search warrant of Paul's home in San Pedro, California. And investigators said that they were looking for specific items of evidence. This new evidence led to a second search warrant of Paul's home in San Pedro, California, and investigators said that they were looking for specific items of evidence. And during this search, they ended up bringing a bunch of electronic devices into evidence,

including cell phone towers, cell phones, and other electronic devices, some of them decades old. And they actually took Paul into custody this time, but he was released right after. Then recently, in March of 2021, a search warrant was issued for Rubens' home, and investigators used cadaver dogs and ground penetrating radar to search the whole property. And they also took one of his cars, a Volkswagen, in as evidence as well. As of right now, not a lot of information has been released to the public at all, especially about what they have found, and that's all for a reason, hopefully.

But finally, I guess they had enough to make arrests in the case. On April 13th, 2021, place arrested now 44-year-old Paul Flores and his 80-year-old father Ruben Flores at each of their homes. And this was super excited to see us finally happen after all this time. Paul was charged with first- murder and held without bail finally. Now, investigators have come forward and said that they believe that Paul killed Kristen in some type of attempted sexual assault or rape. And then they believe that Rueben helped him to hide her body.

And they said that based on biological evidence that they believe that Kristen's body was actually first at Rubens House underneath his deck. So not at Susan's house, which still needs to be searched. And they think that if her remains were there, that they were moved recently. The statute of limitations has expired when it comes to sexual assault, but murder committed in the course of a rape or attempted rape is justified as a first degree felony charge. So the statute of limitations does not apply. Ruben was charged with being in accessory after the fact and was released on bail. And what's really cool is when the sheriff did announce this arrest, they credited Chris Lambert for his amazing podcast and all of the incredible interviews

that he did. In 2019, we interviewed several witnesses that had not been previously interviewed, and I'll say some of that information came to light through the podcast that many are you familiar with. That was produced and eventually led to our interviewing that witness. They also said that they believe that Paul has committed several sexual assaults over the years.

And if anyone has any more information on Paul to please call them. So if you for some reason know something, I will have that information below as they're working to build the best case against him as possible right now. And it would be very helpful. Paul has already been accused of three other assaults dating back to January of 2007. So clearly, Kristen wasn't the last one. Most recently on April 19th, Paul and Rubin both pled not guilty. After the arrests were made, the smart family filed their own lawsuit against Rubin Flores for intentional inflection of emotional distress over the last 25 years.

He has caused this distress by concealing Kristen's body, which prevented them from giving her a proper burial all this time. The lawsuit alleges that Kristen's body was buried under his deck, and that after the police searched his property in February of 2020, he and two others, Susan Flores and her boyfriend, Mike McConville, moved her body somewhere else. And it also says that Susan Mike will be added as defendants at a later date. So clearly, there's more evidence for Kristen being buried under the deck than we know about at this point. And we've also learned that a confidential witness who the police say is

credible has claimed have actually seen them moving the body. Whoever this is and more information about this is being kept from the public at this time. The smarts are also suing for an unspecified amount of damages exceeding $25,000 and the first hearing is scheduled for August 2021. This has been a long and painful road for the smart family. Of course, they're so happy to finally have movement now, but it's taken way way too long. One positive thing that has come from this case is the Kristen Smart Campus Security Act, and this law requires that campus police immediately report potential violent crimes or missing persons cases involving students to the local police force. And this went into effect on January 1st, 1999. But from the time that Sheriff Parkinson took over the case,

so much more has been done. Investigators executed over 41 search warrants, and that included 16 physical searches of different locations. They also submitted 37 different pieces of evidence that were just sitting around from the early days to be tested with modern DNA technology. And not only that, they also found 193 new items of physical evidence. They have conducted 137 in-person interviews

and completed over 500 additional police reports. So a ton is being done right now. A ton has been done and hopefully it all pays off in the end. I have hope that it will. I have faith that this family is really good to see justice. But there's obviously still so many unanswered questions. I know you guys want to know more about Susan and this guy Mike more about her property and what has been done, what hasn't been done, I have many questions too. We're just not going to get the answers to those right now,

but hopefully all of this new information, new witness testimonies, new evidence, all leads to a really strong case, and hopefully they're finally able to get justice for Kristen's family. As of right now, they don't have Kristen's body, but Sheriff Parkinson has promised Kristen's family that one day he will find her and bring her home. Obviously, there will be more to come out about this case. I will post any important updates to my Twitter, which is Kennell Ray on YT, and then hopefully one day I'll get to do another good update on this case and we will see things move forward even more. I'm so beyond happy for this smart family to finally see this happening. I was just afraid that too much time had passed. For a while there just felt

like it had been so long and nothing was being done and there were so many dead ends and lack of information that it really felt like this day would never come. To see Paul Flores and handcuffs outside in those pictures was so satisfying. I can't imagine how their family felt. There's something about Kristen's case that will just always stay with me. Maybe it's something to do with the fact that it could have been me. You know, I was that drunk college student walking around campus not that long ago and I know what it's like to be out of control in those early years of school when you're just trying to

live life and get a taste of the real world and you can end up in such a scary situation so fast. It could have been me, it could have been anyone of my friends. You know, there's just something about it that's so eerie. And for it to be so obvious that it was Paul, all this time was just so maddening. It's one of the things that really got me into true crime because I was just like, wow, how can there be such an obvious suspect and still nothing is happening.

And this guy is just getting away with it because he's refusing to say anything. He's just pleading the fifth. So to see this now is very satisfying and makes me motivated to continue to work on other cases that haven't gotten their justice, that haven't had anyone talking about them for a long time. I mean seeing what Chris Lambert has done here with this podcast is truly inspiring to me, and it just makes me really, really proud of the true crime community. There are some people who really care out there and are doing a lot of good things right now and it's

really cool to see so much progress happening in several different cases that I've covered. So hopefully this trend continues. That is going to be it for me today guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode and make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple podcasts. It really does help me out. If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Ray. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there.