California student ,Kristin Smart, , was killed in 1996. Paul Flores, the man convicted of her murder, received a 25-year prison term. According to the laws of California, Flores received the harshest punishment imaginable.
Death penalty
After twenty-five years, the police have finally caught up with the man. The man who was last seen with California student Kristin Smart before she vanished while returning to her dorm from a college party, Paul Flores, was found guilty of her murder. Smart, a 19-year-old, was never found dead. Billboards and a true-crime podcast pleaded for evidence as the case haunted the neighborhood for decades. Longtime suspect Paul Flores was finally taken into custody last year after a long search.
Following a three-month trial, Flores, who is now 45, was found guilty of first-degree murder on Tuesday by a jury in Monterey County Superior Court. The possible sentences for him range from 25 years to life.
As the judgements were announced, Dan Dow, the district attorney for San Luis Obispo, declared that Kristin had finally received justice from our criminal and victim justice system.
In passing judgement on Flores, Judge Jennifer O’Keefe stated that he ‘deserved’ to spend the rest of his life behind bars.
“You deserve to spend every day you have left behind bars,” O’Keefe allegedly said, according to Reuters. Additionally, she claimed that Flores had engaged in “predatory behaviour” that “has spanned your adult life” by continuing to drug and assault women.
In speaking for the prosecution, Deputy District Attorney Chris Peuvrelle referred to Flores as a “real sociopath” and said that the defendant still lies today.
Over a 25-year investigation that stunned both the detectives and the general public comes to a close with the sentencing
California girl’s murderer
When Flores vanished in May 1996, Smart and Flores were both Cal Poly Technic State University students. The night of the party, Flores was the last person to be seen with Smart as they made the ten-minute walk back to her dorm.
Prosecutors testified at the trial that Paul Flores had pursued Smart for months and may have even spiked her drink at the gathering.
Flores remained the major suspect in the case for a number of years. Yet since there was no evidence, he was not put on trial. Things changed in 2019 when independent journalist Chris Lambert’s documentary podcast, “Your Own Backyard,” assisted detectives in solving the case.
At the Monterey County Superior Court in October of last year, a jury found Flores guilty of first-degree murder. The jury found his father, Ruben Flores, not guilty of the charge of concealing the body.
Despite the fact that officials have looked in 18 different places, the corpse of Smart, 19, has never been located. Sheriff Ian Parkinson of San Luis Obispo County has sworn not to finish the case until Smart’s remains have been located.
The charges of being an accessory to murder and concealing her remains against Paul Flores’ father, Ruben Flores, were dismissed in a separate court.
Stan, Smart’s dad, stated: “There would be no happiness or excitement in this verdict without Kristin. We discovered that our 26-year search for Kristin’s justice will continue with today’s split verdicts.”
At a press conference, San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson informed the media that the inquiry will continue until Smart’s remains were located.
We have pledged from the start that this case won’t be closed until Kristin is brought back home. No breath is taken by us. We don’t disregard this.
The case had to be shifted from San Luis Obispo to the nearby Monterey county to ensure a fair trial when the public began discussing it on public venues, such as podcasts. In 2019, a witness told detectives that Flores had confessed to her about the crime.
The following year, activities at his father’s home, according to the prosecution, suggested attempts to relocate Smart’s remains.