Kristin Smart’s mother is first witness to take stand in daughter’s murder trial
In an emotional testimony delivered during her daughter’s murder trial, the mother of Kristin Smart recalled the last time they saw each other before her death.
Denise Smart told jurors on Thursday that the last time she saw Kristin alive was 26 years ago on Easter. The last time she heard her voice was in a voicemail from Friday, May 24, 1996. Less than 24 hours later, Kristin disappeared from a dorm on the campus of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.
Denise Smart with her daughter, Kristin, are pictured in an undated photo.
Well into her freshman year at the time, Kristin was still struggling to find her place at the school. Her mother testified that she found it difficult to balance her school and work load and that she’d started to wonder whether Cal Poly was a good fit.
A couple of weeks before she went missing, Denise sent her daughter a letter reading, “buckle up, buttercup,” urging her not to give up.
The mourning mother struggled to contain her emotion at times on Thursday. She was the first witness to testify in the case, with other family members including Kristin’s younger brother, Matt, and her father, Stan, also set to take the stand.
Paul Flores puts on a new N95 mask Aug. 3, 2021, at a preliminary hearing in San Luis Obispo, Calif. (David Middlecamp/)
Paul Flores is accused of killing 19-year-old Kristin during an attempted rape in his dorm room on May 25, 1996. He was spotted leaving a party with Kristin, who was intoxicated at the time, around 2 a.m. that night. Flores, now 44, has long maintained his innocence in the slaying, claiming that he walked Kristin back to her dorm, where they parted ways.
His 81-year-old father, Ruben Flores has also been charged with her disappearance. He’s accused of helping his son hide Kristin’s body, which still has not been found.
This photo provided by the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office shows Ruben Flores, who was arrested in connection to the murder of college student Kristin Smart at his Arroyo Grande home on Tuesday, April 12, 2021.
In the days after her daughter’s disappearance, Denise testified that she felt brushed off by staff at California Poly Tech, CBS Sacramento reported. She said she initially reached out to the university president but was instead referred to the Residential Advisor at Kristin’s dorm, who said they could not disclose information about a student due to privacy.
Then, she told jurors, she called the San Luis Obispo Police Department and the sheriff, who told her they did not have jurisdiction over the Cal Poly campus.
“For the next 25 years, I did whatever I could and looked for answers wherever I could,” Denise told the court.
“I felt like the life of my daughter was of no value to anyone except her family,” she added.
Both the father and son suspects are being tried at the same time in the Monterey County Superior Courthouse, but they each have their own juries.
San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge Craig Van Rooyen ordered the pair to trial following a 22-day preliminary hearing in which he found a “strong suspicion” that they committed the crimes they were charged with, saying that a grave existed under Ruben Flores’ deck, which likely once held Smart’s remains.
With News Wire Services
