The California juries tasked with overseeing the months-long trial for Paul Flores, the man accused of killing college freshman Kristin Smart in 1996, heard Thursday from one of his ex-girlfriends, according to reports from the courtroom.
The woman, identified by her first-name, "Angie," took the stand late in the day on Friday, after the jurors heard from former certified human remains detection K9 handler Gail LaRoque, whose testimony was heated at times.
Paul Flores, now 45, has been charged with Smart’s murder. Ruben Flores, his 81-year-old father, was charged with acting as an accessory after the fact. Smart was a 19-year-old college freshman at California Polytechnic State University in 1996 when she was last seen with the younger Flores.
KRISTIN SMART CALIFORNIA TRIAL: PAUL FLORES’ ATTORNEY GRILLS WOMAN WHO SAYS HE SEXUALLY ASSAULTED HER IN 2008
The trial proceedings are not being televised or live-streamed, pursuant to a judge’s ruling. A handful of journalists — including KSBY.com, and the person behind the "Your Own Backyard" (YOB) Podcast that is credited with renewing interest in the case — have been reporting from inside the courtroom amid the media limitations.
Angie told the court she and Paul Flores dated from 2004 to 2006, beginning roughly eight years after Smart disappeared, the YOB Podcast reported in a series of tweets.
She said she met Flores’ father, his mother and her boyfriend when he took her to his hometown of Arroyo Grande.
Angie reportedly told the court she and Flores briefly went to his mother’s home, before going to Ruben Flores’ house.
KRISTIN SMART CALIFORNIA TRIAL: WOMAN TESTIFIES SHE WAS SEXUALLY ASSAULTED BY MURDER SUSPECT PAUL FLORES
"We walked through the living room, through the dining room, and then went out a sliding glass door," she said, according to YOB Podcast tweets. "There was a slab of concrete and a wrap-around porch or deck with white lattice underneath it."
She described walking toward an area of avocado trees, when the mood suddenly shifted.
"I went to walk up to get one, and I was quickly redirected away from that area and back around to the front of the house," she reportedly said. "The mood quickly changed."
PAUL FLORES TRIAL: KRISTIN SMART'S ACCUSED KILLER TOLD COPS HE BELIEVED SHE 'WENT OFF' WITH SOMEONE, WAS DEAD
When asked how the mood change, she responded: "They did not want me there."
According to the YOB Podcast tweets, she said she was "a couple yards away" from a tweet that was 9 feet from the deck.
Prosecutors have said they believe Flores killed Smart in his dorm room while he tried to rape her when they were both freshmen. A massive search ensued.
KRISTIN SMART MURDER TRIAL: CALIFORNIA POLICE RECEIVED 75-80 REPORTS OF SIGHTINGS IN WEEKS AFTER DISAPPEARANCE
They say his father then helped his son bury Smart’s body under the deck behind his Arroyo Grande home – and then later dug up her remains when law enforcement returned decades later.
Behind lattice work beneath the deck of Ruben Flores’ large house on a dead end street off Tally Ho Road – about 12 miles south of Cal Poly – archaeologists working for police in March 2021 found a soil disturbance about the size of a casket and the presence of human blood, prosecutors said.
EXAMINING CALIFORNIA'S KRISTIN SMART TRIAL: THE ANATOMY OF A CASE WITH NO BODY
Angie’s experience surrounding the avocado trees was further detailed in court documents unsealed earlier this month. According to the papers, Angie told investigators she was with Paul and Ruben in the backyard of the house.
She "walked towards the Avocado trees, got a couple of feet away from the deck, when both defendants re-directed her away from the area by asking her to leave that area," the documents state.
"Paul Flores asked her to come around the house and leave the area of the Avocado trees," the papers continue. "Ruben Flores had the same reaction and walked her towards the front of the house, the opposite end of the property away from the Avocado trees."
Earlier in Thursday’s trial proceedings, former K9 handler LaRoque told the court that her dog, Torrey, showed an interest in both beds in Flores’ Cal Poly dorm room in San Lucia Hall, KSBY reported. Torrey was the only of four K9s to do so, and also alerted to a trash can in Flores’ dorm room.
But the back-and-forth between LaRoque and the defense attorneys, often Paul Flores’ lawyer, Robert Sanger, at times got heated, according to reports.
"You don’t know the chemical compounds that dogs are alerting to, do you?" Sanger asked the woman.
The YOB Podcast tweeted that some members of the jury laughed as LaRoque responded: "No. Nor do I know the chemical compounds that make up a chocolate cake – but I know one when I see one."
Sanger quipped: "Did you see a chocolate cake, ma'am? Do you think this is funny? This is a murder trial!"
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Smart was a student at Cal Poly’s San Luis Obispo campus in 1996 when she was allegedly heavily intoxicated, with Paul Flores, after an off-campus party on Crandall Way. She was walked back from the party by three people — two people, a man and woman, and Flores. The others slowly peeled off after Flores allegedly insisted multiple times that he could get Smart home safely.
She was never seen again.
Dual juries were selected from a pool of more than 1,500 Monterey County residents to oversee each case separately but simultaneously. The trial is expected to last months.
A shooting outside Bullwinkle's Saloon in Minneapolis during the early hours of Friday, Sept. 9, 2022, left one person dead and two injured. Surveillance video captured the shooting, on which you can hear nearly 20 gunshots. Here's a breakdown of what happens in the video: - 0:00 - A white vehicle drives by the bar. - 0:25 - Gunshots ring out - 0:29 - People start fleeing - 0:30 - Gray vehicle speeds off - 0:32 - More gunshots are fired - 0:36 - More gunshots are fired - 0:40 - Gunshots still being fired - 1:05 - Truck that's been parked near the bar drives forward - 1:11 - Surveillance video gets a bit choppy, and remains choppy for the duration of the video - 1:15 - White truck drives by - 2:22 - Law enforcement lights are visible in the frame - 4:10 - Vehicles continue to leave the nearby parking lot - 5:45 - Crowds gather outside the bar, numerous vehicles on the street - 7:39 - What looks like crime scene tap is being put up outside the bar and across the street
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