Justice is coming. Within these discoveries, Buster alerted next to a building with a concrete slab. This time around, the authorities stated that they retrieved evidence regarding the murder of Kristin. Davis was going to walk her home with another student, Cheryl Anderson. Smart was declared dead in 2002. That lawsuit resulted in the 1997 deposition in which Paul pleads the 5th Amendment to all questions except for his name. In a statement, the Smart family described a long wait for this bittersweet day.. When Kristin Smart fell at the party, he helped her up. In March 2021, investigators used cadaver dogs and ground-penetrating radar to search Ruben Floress property in Arroyo Grande, Calif. Paul Flores was taken into custody at his home in the San Pedro section of Los Angeles on April 13, 2021, and was charged with murder. The prosecution then rested its case and the defense decided not to call witnesses following Holmans testimony. According to Dostie, the stronger the scent, the stronger the alert. Copyright 2021 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Unlike most cadaver dogs, Buster was trained to detect clandestine gravesan unrecorded burial grave. It was like he ran into a brick wall. Susan Flores' house, when it was rented by Mary and Joe Lassiter, December 1996 (Photo by Joe Lassiter) . Search warrants for issued for the Arroyo Grande home of Paul Flores' father, Ruben Flores, 80. In February 2020, the authorities executed search warrants at four locations in California and Washington State and recovered what the San Luis Obispo County Sheriffs Office described as items of interest. One location was the Los Angeles home of Paul Flores, KCAL-TV reported. Other witnesses included students who were at the party. Wonder who is paying the bill???????? He wasn't arrested, despite the fact that four cadaver dogs singled out his dorm room as having a scent of death when they searched the entire dorm building of 120 rooms. Not the Flores boys. 17:29 BST 19 Oct 2022 Paul Flores allegedly lied about how he got a black eye, not having any contact with Smart at the party, Smart not having trouble walking and not forcing a kiss on anyone the night Smart disappeared. The authorities have stated that Kristin's remains have not yet been found. When Teschendorf returned to their room, she noticed that Smart's keys and personal belongings that she normally took everywhere were still in the room, untouched, and her roommate was nowhere to be found. Flores's father, Ruben Flores, is also on trialfor allegedlyhelping dispose of Smart's body, which has never been found. For 25 years, you have lived free in the community while Kristins family has lived a nightmare, she said. Currently, Ruben lives in Abilene, TX. In another deposition with Murphys Office, Joe Lassiter said one of the planter boxes measured six feet long by three feet wide. They described dropping her off at the party at an unofficial fraternity house, and said that when it was over, she needed support to walk as she was being accompanied home by Paul Flores. Thedocuments detail the competing argumentsbetween prosecutors and attorneys for defendant Paul Flores over whatevidence should be allowed for Flores's trial, which began on July 18 at Monterey County Superior Court, Salinas. We have reached out to Mark Connely for comment but have not received a response. In 1997, Murphy filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Paul Flores on behalf of the Smart family. Now, Murphy believes there is enough evidence to show Ruben, who has pleaded not guilty, was an accessory to the murder of Kristin Smart and is suing Ruben on behalf of the Smart family for emotional damages. 2019: Your Own Backyard podcast airs on Spotify with host Chris Lambert. Archeologists put cadaver dogs to similar tests that Noah performed in Croatia. The whole thing about the black eye doesnt prove anything, Sanger said. Both men pleaded not guilty. FAX: (805) 489-0663, If you have any information, please call Murphy Law Corporation at, James R. Murphy, Jr. And John D. Barron, A Law Corporation. 'Conspiracy theories can be fun. The San Luis Obispo Sheriffs Office said, As a result of Judge Van Rooyens suppression order, in this case, the Sheriffs Office is unable to comment at this time., https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7401519/, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/dogs-archaeologists-detect-3000-year-old-graves-croatia-180973409/. He was also unable to search a garage building that was built on the East side of the home in 1997 because of wire mesh in the floor. She said that she and the other girls in the dorm grew uneasy when none of them heard from Smart as they decided to make their first call to police on Sunday, May 26. He told them he got it playing basketball with friends, who denied his account, according to court records. They went on trial in July 2022 in Monterey County, Calif. On Oct. 18, 2022, Paul Flores was found guilty of murdering Ms. Smart. 2, 2014, Paul Dosties cadaver dog Buster made his first hit for human decomposition around the perimeter of 529 East Branch Street in Arroyo Grandethe home of Susan, Paul Floress mother. The Smarts filed a $40 million wrongful death lawsuit against Flores in November 1996, alleging that Flores murdered Kristin on the Cal Poly campus . In response, Lambeth said afterwards: 'I know that's just smear, that's their angle on it, but it couldn't be further from the truth. Ruben was fired from the Orange County Sheriffs Department for corruption. Ruben is charged as an accessory, accused of helping Paul hide Kristin's body. They had attended the off-campus frat party with other friends, and their dorms were close to each other. The blood was too degraded to extract a DNA sample. 'Know that your spirit lives on in each and every one of us, every day. In 1996, Cal-Poly student Kristin Smart vanished while walking home from an off-campus party. He said cadaver dogs play a significant role for them and are used frequently in their searches. The trailer was then pulled up along the side of the home near where prosecutors say Smart was buried. Conyers was not given permission to search the cement planters. Cadaver dogs were sent into Paul Floress dorm room. Paul was then named a person of interest in Kristins disappearance. And again, Susans backyard was searched in March 2007 using GPR. I'm not willing to turn that stuff over because there are so many anonymous sources I'm not willing to jeopardize. On July 21, Kristin Smarts parents and her brother, Matt, testified about how they had searched for her after her disappearance. By 2007 Dostie began training his new black labrador, Buster, in detecting human remains. 'Getting into court was not a goal of mine and I didn't see it happening. Buster then laid down, claiming that spot as an area containing human remains. The police searched her dorm room in Muir Hall, finding her wallet and reminders to turn in assignments. During Rubens' trial in October, Deputy DA Christopher Peuvrelle said during the closing statements: 'Only one spot in that entire backyard happened to have a surface disturbance showing it had been dug down into. This time around, the authorities. Investigators said the warrants were for very specific items. Don Kelsen/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images. Next, he brought the duo to an area where he knew there were recently recovered graves. Peuvrelle is a deputy district attorney for San Luis Obispo County, where the case against Flores was first filed. and
Murphy told KSBY News he also filed a lawsuit against both Ruben and Susan Flores in 1997, but it was dropped when the Flores family filed for bankruptcy. Then, when Mary and Joe Lassiter signed papers to rent and move into the Branch Street home in June 1996, they were told they could not move in until July because a concrete project in the backyard was not finished yet. He said he went through the case files with a fine-tooth comb. Over the years, the separate homes of Pauls parents, Susan and Ruben Flores, were, Furthermore, the searches at the homes of Ruben, Susan, Paul, and his sister had led to enough evidence to warrant a second search of Pauls home. Dostie trained Buster in 100-year-old cemeteries in Nevada and used techniques from bomb detection dogs. Paul Flores was then named by police as the "prime suspect" in March of this year, and cadaver dogs were seen scouring Ruben Flores' property the following day. Searches were conducted on campus and in her Muir Hall dorm room, where they found her wallet and other belongings. ', Mesick said the case has been the one he is 'most invested in on a personal level.'. At the time of their arrest, the Smart family said in a statement: 'It is impossible to put into words what this day means for our family. Paul Flores was the last person to have seen Kristin Smart on May 25, 1996. An additional search did indeed take place - a year later. And it was during the announcement of the arrest thatSan Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson gave credit to the tireless work of podcast host Chris Lambert. They said that they later dug up her remains and moved them when law enforcements returned to search the house in 2020. So if Vass finds human-specific chemicals in the soil sample, that means there are human remains in the area. They will decide whether or not Paul Flores is guilty of killing Kristin Smart. Ruben Manuel Flores, 64. ', Defense attorney Robert Sanger argued that the case is straightforward: 'There is no evidence of a murder, so that is really the end of it.'. On May 25, 1996, friends dropped her off at an off-campus party. Flores . Kristin Smart, 19, of Stockton, California vanished. The contamination of these surfaces with fungi, although undesirable, is highly difficult to avoid. fromStockton, California, was in her freshmen year at college when she disappeared after a party on May 25, 1996. If you have any information, please call Murphy Law Corporation at 805-489-8929 or San Luis Obispo Sheriff at 805-781-4500. And it was very rewarding at the same time because we found what we were looking for, said Noah. We love to hear them. It's believed that the new-found impetus was driven by the fresh interviews police conducted, which first came to light via the Your Own Backyard podcast. Paul Flores sued by Kristin Smart's family. There are typically seven stages of decay: pallor mortis, algor mortis, rigor mortis, liver mortis, putrefaction, decomposition, and finally, skeletonization. By 2020, it had amassed thousands of listeners and, police suspect, spooked the Flores family. In 1997, Murphy filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Paul Flores on behalf of the Smart family. The eight-episode series investigates the case of Kristin Smart, a 19-year-old college student who went missing in 1996. San Luis Obispo attorneys weighed in on the legal processes and said civil cases usually take a backseat when a defendant is also facing a criminal case. Paul was convicted of murdering her while trying to rape her after the pair attended a party at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. Four days after her disappearance, police filed a missing persons report. That lawsuit resulted in the. Ms. Smarts family declared her legally dead in 2002, but the search, and the investigation, continued. It would be one of several home searches . That stunt resulted in a murderer going free. However, the two were prevented from returning to the backyard by the homes owner (it turned out permission was given by a roommate and not the owner of the home). On March 10, Paul Flores was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison, the maximum allowed. The search for Ms. Smart, who was nicknamed Roxy, took many forms. With this new information, police gained permission to intercept Pauls electronic communications. It resulted in the deposition of Paul and Ruben Flores and the 2007 dig of Susan Flores's Arroyo Grande home. However, about three years later, another witness, who had not been previously questioned, was brought in as well. By the end of the night, college kids who had seen Kristin arrive sober said she was drunk and passed out on the lawn. He then noted the $500,000 this case has cost the Flores family. Sanger picked holes in the witness testimony, noting it had been 26 years since Smart's death, and questioning their memories. 'Happened to be the perfect size for a human burial site,' he said. 19, 1996, he left early to finish concrete work at his mothers home on Branch Street. Ruben Flores son Paul Flores is accused of murdering Kristin Smart during an attempted rape in 1996. Kristin Smarts family in 1999, three years after she was last seen walking home from a party in San Luis Obispo, Calif. Earthmovers were used in searches on and near the California Polytechnic State University campus in 2016. Closing statements conclude and jurors are dismissed for deliberations. Now, partly thanks to the podcast and its hostChris Lambert, Smart's family have finally received some measure of the closure they have been seeking after their daughter's death. On Thursday, James Murphy, the Smart family's attorney, filed an intentional infliction of emotional distress lawsuit against Ruben Flores less than 24 hours after he was released on bail. The jury rejected that theory, acquitting Ruben on Tuesday. When you have a situation like this where you have dual court cases at each venue, if you cannot get him on a screen in front of a judge, then you are going to have a warrant of some kind in order for the court to obtain some kind of jurisdiction," Taylor said. 2020: Neighbors report seeing Paul Flores bring a tractor to his backyard, April 13, 2021: Paul Flores is arrested on suspicion of murder and Ruben Flores is arrested on suspicion of being an accessory to murder, July 18, 2022: Trials for Paul and Ruben Flores begin in Monterey, California, after being moved out of San Luis Obispo, October 17: Jury reaches verdict in case of Ruben Flores, October 18:Jury reaches verdict in case of Paul Flores. 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