Kristin Smart's case has new set of red flags as indicated in interrogation video of killer Paul Flores
SAN LUIS OBISPO, CALIFORNIA: The missing case of Kristin Smart unfolded another revelation as San Luis Obispo Police Department released yet another interrogation video of Paul Flores. In the video from June 19, 1996, Flores can be seen speaking about his black eyes.
Smart, 19, disappeared in 1996 from California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo. The last person to meet her was Flores as they headed toward the campus dormitories of California Polytechnic State University on May 25, 1996. Flores' father Ruben Flores, 81, was acquitted of being an accessory to the murder.
RELATED ARTICLES
Kristin Smart: 19-year-old California student vanished from her dorm in 1996 never to be seen again
What was the red flag in Paul Flores's initial interview?
In the video released by William Hanley and Larry Hobson, investigators with the San Luis Obispo Police Department, Flores can be seen facing questions related to his black eye. Hobson asked, “Why was it so hard for you to tell us that you got that black eye hitting the steering wheel?." To which, he responds, “It didn't really matter." “What do you mean it didn’t matter?” asked Hobson. “It was days later,” Flores responded. Flores was later asked, “If it didn't matter, then why did you lie about it?." Florbes then questioned, “Why does it matter if I leave out little details?"
Hobson then asked Flores if there was "anything else that you told us that you didn’t think it was a big deal?” Flores answered, "No." Hobson added, “It’s not a big deal if you haven’t told us the truth." Again, Flores said, "No." Hobson then asked, "How do we know that?" “Take my word for it, I guess,” Flores stated.
“You're not acknowledging any of this ever happened, and yet all these other people are telling us it did happen,” Hobson said in a recorded interview. "I guess I had a blackout at that time […] but I remember her walking away though,” Flores said.
How did Paul Flores get a black eye?
Flores has delivered different stories regarding his black eye. According to documents, "On Memorial Day 1996, Paul Flores was driven to the Arroyo Grande Police Department station by his father, Ruben Flores, “to handle a warrant that was outstanding for his DUI arrest from February 1996. " Here, one of his mugshots was taken, which indicates he has a black eye. This, in fact, became a topic of concern for the investigation as to how come he had the bruise.
Flores arrived at the Arroyo Grande police station sometime before 11 pm on Monday, May 27, 1996, with a black eye. Meanwhile, Cal Poly police investigation noted “a slight discoloration, yellowish, under his right eye” when officers first contacted Flores the day after he came to the Arroyo Grande police station: May 28, 1996."
On May 30, 1996, in an interview with Cal Poly police and the Sheriff’s Office, Flores said he “got elbowed playing basketball” with friends the previous Monday, due to which he got the black eye. In an interview in June 1996, he admitted that he lied regarding the black eye in the earlier interview. This time, Flores said he got it while removing the radio in his truck early on the morning of Memorial Day 1996. When asked the reason behind lying during the interview, Flores said that “because it doesn’t sound like a likely thing and would make him sound like a klutz."
Dr Kusomoto claimed that the bruise could be “either accidental or non-accidental” and “could have been inflicted by having been hit by another person or by an object such as a basketball." It can be as old as only three days, as per The Tribune.
Where is Paul Flores now?
Flores was found guilty of first-degree murder even though authorities never found Smart’s body and has been sentenced to prison for 25 years. He is currently being held at the San Luis Obispo County Jail.
Where is Kristin Smart's body?
Though Flores was found guilty, Smart's body has not been found yet. San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson once said, "This case will not be over until Kristin is returned home, and we have committed to that from the beginning. We don’t take a breath. We do not put this aside.” Police had once dug up an area under the back deck of 710 White Court in Arroyo Grande. Prosecutors said that they found a human-sized disturbance and blood in the dirt. Prosecutor Christopher Peuvrelle said, "The excavation below his deck at 710 White Court showed damning evidence that a body had been buried in that location and then recently moved." As traces of human blood were too deteriorated for DNA testing, it is still unconfirmed if it was her body, as per SF Gate.