Paul Flores guilty in murder of Cal Poly student Kristin Smart; his father acquitted
June 17, 2015
On April 18 2012, a Cal Poly student was found dead in her room. Her body was stiff and cold. She was taken to the hospital in critical condition and was pronounced dead eight days later.
The Cal Poly Police Department received the call of a student in apparent trouble at the University police station at 4:45 p.m. that day of April 18, 2012. The student reported that she was sexually assaulted and murdered in her room.
The student’s roommate, Kristin Smart, was in her room at the time. She told police that she had seen the assault about 45 minutes earlier. When the roommate, she told police, tried to call 9-1-1 and ask for an ambulance and was told to leave.
Kristin Smart was the only victim in a series of violent attacks involving a sexual nature that were discovered by Cal Poly police, in the months preceding the assault.
On March 18, 2011, Kristin was raped at a fraternity party. She reported the rape. She told the police that she called 9-1-1 to speak to a Cal Poly police officer and requested police protection.
She was arrested the following day in the presence of police officers and taken to San Luis Obispo County Jail, where she was booked on suspicion of sexual battery and attempted extortion of a public servant and misdemeanor charges of harassment and dissuading a witness.
In August, 2012, Kristin was arrested again. This time she was charged with the murder of a Cal Poly student. She was also accused of possessing marijuana and a gun.
On the day of her death, Kristin Smart was in her room at the Cal Poly Inn when the victim, Jessica Ramirez, came into the room and asked Kristin for a drink of water. Kristin’s roommate asked the victim to leave. The victim told Kristin to call the police and she did.
Kristin called 9-1-1 and identified herself as the woman who called.
Kristin Smart was charged with murder.