Prosecutor: Missing student killed during 1996 rape attempt

LOS ANGELES — The San Luis Obispo County district attorney said Wednesday that missing California college student Kristin Smart was killed in 1996 during an attempted rape by a fellow student and the suspect’s father helped hide her body.

District Attorney Dan Dow said Paul Flores will be charged with first-degree murder and his father, Ruben Flores, will be charged with accessory after murder.

The son and father were arrested Tuesday.

Smart, 19, of Stockton, was last seen May 25, 1996, while returning to her dorm at California Polytechnic State University campus in San Luis Obispo after an off-campus party. She was inebriated at the time and Flores, a fellow freshman at the school, had offered to walk her home.

Flores killed Smart in his dorm room, Dow said.

Dow said in more recent years Flores frequented bars around his home in the Los Angeles area of San Pedro and may have committed other sexual assaults. He urged the public to come forward with any information.

A lawyer for Paul Flores has declined to comment. A lawyer for Ruben Flores said his client is innocent.

Agencies via Xinhua