California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) has issued an apology to Kristin Smart’s family for the first time since she disappeared from the college campus 27 years ago.
The Stockton native went missing on the Cal Poly campus in 1996 and after campus police refused to file a missing person report, the school told her family she had just been camping.
In March, Paul Flores was jailed for 25 years for the student’s murder.
The polytechnic has now issued an apology to the family, with President Jeffrey D. Armstrong writing, “We are truly sorry for what the Smart family has endured. What they’ve been through is incredibly heartbreaking, and I feel for them in a way I can’t put into words.
“While this is a different administration than was in place in 1996, we recognize that things should have been done differently – and I personally wish they were.”
Kristin Smart went missing on the Cal Poly campus in 1996 and after campus police refused to file a missing person report, the school told her family she had just been camping. Earlier this year, Paul Flores was found guilty of her murder
Now the polytechnic has issued an apology to the family for the first time, with President Jeffrey D. Armstrong writing, “We are truly sorry for what the Smart family has endured. What they’ve been through is incredibly heartbreaking, and I feel for them in a way I can’t put into words.
Armstrong went on to say that “Kristin’s story is something that is always with us and weighs heavily on our hearts” and that the school is “committed to doing everything we can to help keep everyone safe. our students now and in the future. ‘
“While we can never control what a malicious individual decides to do, we are constantly working to help ensure that such things never happen again at Cal Poly,” he wrote.
“Cal Poly places the highest priority on the safety of members of its campus community. The university has strong programming aimed at providing public safety services to all of our students, employees, and visitors.
Smart went missing in 1996. The case went unsolved for decades, but a 2020 true-crime podcast rocked local police.
Flores, now 46, was also a student at California Polytech University in San Luis Obispo.
Although the police never found her remains, they believe that Flores raped her in her dormitory and then murdered her.
Smart left an off-campus party on May 25, 1996 around 2 a.m., accompanied by Flores.
He claimed to have accompanied her to her dormitory, but she was never seen again.
In March, Paul Flores was jailed for 25 years for the student’s murder
Both Smart and Flores were students at California Polytech University in San Luis Obispo. Flores, now 46, was arrested as a result. Although the police never found her remains, they believe that Flores raped her in her dormitory and then murdered her.
A missing person report was filed three days later.
Friends said she was drunk, and Flores repeatedly said he would walk her home.
He was identified as a ‘person of interest’ early in the case, but to this day he insists he is innocent.
On Friday, the judge said he was a dangerous predator.
“This predatory behavior has lasted your entire adult life,” Judge Jennifer O’Keefe said.
“You deserve to spend every day that you have left behind bars.
‘M. Flores, you have been a cancer to society.
Smart left an off-campus party on May 25, 1996 around 2 a.m., accompanied by Flores. He claimed to have accompanied her to her dormitory, but she was never seen again. A missing person report was filed three days later
Friends said she was drunk and Flores repeatedly said he would escort her home
“For 25 years you lived freely in the community” and continued to drug and assault women, she said, according to the San Luis Obispo Grandstand.
Flores was ordered to pay a total of $10,000 in restitution to his victims. He must also register as a lifetime sex offender because he assaulted and killed Smart for the “purpose of sexual gratification and sexual compulsion,” O’Keefe said.
Flores and her father, Ruben, have both been charged in connection with her death. Prosecutors say Ruben helped his son by hiding Smart’s body under their back patio for years.
The couple are believed to have moved his remains once suspicions began to grow in 2020.
Flores was convicted of murder in October last year.
A jury found Flores guilty of first-degree murder in October. A separate jury acquitted Ruben Flores, 81, of being an accomplice.
