Closing arguments have concluded in the trial of Ruben Flores — who is accused of helping his alleged killer son bury the body of missing teenager Kristin Smart under his deck for nearly two decades.
Flores, 81, was arrested in April 2021 and charged with accessory to the crime. Jurors will soon reach a conclusion at the Monterey County Superior Court in Salinas, California.
The 81-year-old reportedly helped bury the slain student, 19, behind his home in the nearby community of Arroyo Grande and later dug up the remains and moved them.
Both he and his son Paul Flores, who is accused of murdering Smart, have pleaded not guilty.
Deputy Solicitor Christopher Peuvrelle told the court on Wednesday: ‘Justice delayed does not have to be justice denied. Yes, it’s been 26 years.
‘In the years since, Ruben Flores continued to hide Kristin’s body under his deck and Paul Flores continued to rape women.
‘We don’t have an intact body – but we have human blood.’
Ruben Flores, now 81, is charged with accessory after the fact. His son is accused of murder
The freshman was last seen after a party in May 1996. Investigators have been searching for her killer ever since. Paul Flores, who was also a 19-year-old freshman at the time of her death, was charged with her murder in 2021
Behind lattice work under the deck of his large house on a cul-de-sac off Tally Ho Road, archaeologists working for police in March 2021 found a coffin-sized earth disturbance and the presence of human blood, prosecutors said.
He told the jury: ‘Your role here is simple. Did. This. Spoon? That’s all you have to decide. What happens after this is up to Judge O’Keefe.’
Neither verdict will be read until both juries have finished deliberating.
Their sentences are independent of each other – meaning one can be found guilty even if the other is not.
Once both decisions have been received, they will be read separately.
In March 2021, detectives served a search warrant on the father’s home.
Behind latticework under the deck of his large house on a cul-de-sac off Tally Ho Road, archaeologists working for police in March found a coffin-sized earth disturbance and the presence of human blood, prosecutors said.
The blood was too degraded to extract a DNA sample. While a blood expert said it was human blood, the test used did not rule out the possibility that it was from a ferret or primate, although court documents said no remains of such animals were found there.
A lawsuit filed against Ruben Flores claimed that ‘under cover of darkness’ the father and unnamed co-conspirators moved the body four days after investigators searched his house.
Closing arguments for Rubens’ son Paul, 45, ended on Tuesday after the court heard Smart was ‘disposed of worse than a pet’.
Prosecutor Peuvrelle asked the jury to find Paul Flores guilty of first-degree murder and summarized the evidence that had been presented during the trial, which began on July 18.
Sometimes we tell our kids that monsters don’t exist, but they do. We have seen one in this trial. I ask you to render a true verdict that Paul Flores is guilty of first-degree murder,’ he told the jury.
Paul Flores, now 45, is accused of killing Smart in 1996
Search warrants were issued for the Arroyo Grande home of Paul Flores’ father, Ruben Flores, 81
Prosecutors told jurors that ‘the truth is that Kristin Smart is dead and the evidence is clear that she was killed by Paul Flores.’
Robert Sanger, the attorney defending Paul Flores, argued that the case is straightforward: ‘There’s no evidence of a murder, so that’s really the end of it.’
Paul Flores, now 45, is accused of killing 19-year-old student Kristin Smart during an attempted rape and hiding her body with the help of her father – and prosecutors said Monday he was ‘guilty as sin’.
Smart and Paul Flores were both students at California Polytechnic when she disappeared in May 1996 after an off-campus party.
On Monday, the long-awaited trial, which began in July, neared a verdict — after countless delays and two months of testimony.
Both juries are currently out for deliberations. A verdict is expected in the coming days.