Witness says Paul Flores seemed ‘nervous and edgy’ after Kristin Smart vanished

Two witnesses who were attending Cal Poly when freshman Kristin Smart went missing testified Thursday morning in the trial of the men accused in her murder.

Mario Garcia and Felipe Arias were both Cal Poly students in the spring of 1996. Garcia used to play pool with defendant Paul Flores, and Arias was a close friend of Smart.

Flores, 45, is accused to killing Smart after an off-campus party more than 25 years ago, while his 81-year-old father, Ruben Flores, is alleged to have helped his son hide Smart’s body. The two were arrested in April 2021.

The trial against the Flores men moved to Salinas after San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge Craig van Rooyen ruled they were unlikely to receive a fair trial in San Luis Obispo.

Monterey County Superior Court Judge Jennifer O’Keefe is presiding over the case.

Witness: Paul Flores had a black eye after 1996 Memorial Day weekend

Garcia testified Thursday morning that he saw Paul Flores with a black eye mid-week after Memorial Day weekend in 1996, the weekend Smart went missing.

He said Flores was wearing a black baseball hat angled low “as if to hide (the black eye.)”

When Garcia asked Flores how he got the black eye, Flores “seemed kind of nervous and edgy,” which was odd because Flores was “usually pretty outgoing.”

Flores told Garcia at the time that he got the black eye because somebody pushed him at a party. He said Flores did not elaborate on where the party was, exactly when the party was or who pushed him.

Both Robert Sanger, Paul Flores’ attorney, and Harold Mesick, Ruben Flores’ attorney, asked Garcia if Flores regularly wore a hat.

“He was notorious for wearing hats, correct?” Mesick asked, to which Garcia replied, “No.”

After different variations of similar questions, Garcia’s testimony established that sometimes Flores would wear a hat and sometimes he wouldn’t.

Sanger also alleged that San Luis Obispo County Deputy District Attorney Chris Peuvrelle told Garcia that his testimony should only focus on the black eye and the hat to avoid testifying about anything else so it doesn’t get “spun.” Garcia said this was not true.

Garcia testified he spoke about only what he knew, and it was the accurate truth.

Friend saw Smart night before she disappeared, he said

Arias was a close friend of Smart, he testified, and she would visit his residence hall room often to hang out.

The two met at an off-campus fraternity party, but didn’t go to parties together after that.

Arias said the last time he saw Smart was when she slept over at his dorm the night before she went missing, on May 23, 1996. It was one of maybe two times she’d spent the night, he said.

She had left a CD and her sandals at his dorm, which remained there after she disappeared, he said.

When Arias spoke with FBI investigators more than two decades ago, he reportedly said Smart had slept over five or six times — a detail the defense clarified several times. He testified he remembers her sleeping over at most twice, and visiting his dorm more often.

Arias never went to Smart’s dorm, he said.

Smart told Arias she was having roommate trouble at the time, and would sometimes need a place to stay when her roommate had a boy in the room, Arias said.

Arias was in his room the night Smart went missing, he said, adding that he doesn’t remember if anyone was with him because too much time has passed, he said.

There was no way to knock on Arias’ dorm window from outside because he was located on the second floor.

Arias was excused and the next witness was expected to testify after lunch at 1:30 p.m.

Smart’s parents, Denise and Stan Smart, and siblings Matt and Lindsey Smart, were among the first witnesses to be called to the stand after opening statements in July. Smart’s friends, and people who attended the party or saw her the night she disappeared have also given testimonies.

The trial is expected to last through October.

A hearing will be held at 3 p.m. Thursday regarding a motion to unseal documents in the Smart case filed by The Tribune, ABC News, the Associated Press and the Los Angeles Times.