A man connected to the 1996 disappearance of college student Kristin Smart was arrested on a murder charge Tuesday, California arrest records show.
Paul Flores, 44, was arrested in Southern California on a count of murder, according to documents posted by the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office.
Kristin Smart, who in 1996 was a 19-year-old student at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, disappeared after going to a party. Flores, who was Smart’s friend, reportedly walked her home from the party.
Smart was never found and declared dead in 2002.
Flores’ father, Ruben Flores, 80, was also arrested on Tuesday. The elder Flores was charged with one count of being an accessory after the fact and bail was set at $250,000.
An attorney representing Flores, Sarah Sanger, told NBC News their firm will not comment on pending cases. Harold Mesick, attorney for Ruben Flores, declined to comment because he has not yet been able to contact his client.
Flores was long considered a “person of interest” in the case, which received renewed attention as the subject of true crime podcast Your Own Backyard.
An area near the Cal Poly campus where Smart was a student was excavated in 2016. In 2020, a Flores home in Los Angeles County was searched, NBC News reported, as well as other locations on the West Coast.
In a statement posted to Twitter, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff said that “major developments” would be shared in a Tuesday afternoon press conference.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated. Please check back again.
Andrew Blankstein contributed.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
