Latest ‘Your Own Backyard’ episode features ‘new information’ about Kristin Smart case
A popular podcast about the 1996 disappearance of Cal Poly student Kristin Smart released two new episodes Tuesday morning that focus on the latest developments in the case.
The ninth episode of “Your Own Backyard,” created by Orcutt resident Chris Lambert and release Tuesday morning, provides new details on the case “just as it begins to wind its way through the judicial system,” John Segale, a spokesman for the Smart family said in a news release.
Episode 10, titled “The Beginning of the End, Part 2,” was released Tuesday afternoon.
“With so much new information, Lambert decided it would require two episodes to properly tell the story,” Segale said.
“In the new episodes, Chris recounts the search that led up to the arrests and provides a timeline of the spot where investigators believe Kristin Smart’s body was buried,” Segale said the release. “Lambert conducted dozens of interviews following the arrest of Flores and his father. Lambert was overwhelmed by the number of people who were interested in speaking to him about their experiences, relationships and knowledge of the suspects.”
The episode released Tuesday, titled “The Beginning of the End, Part 1,” discusses the April arrests of Paul Flores and his father, Ruben, in connection to the case.
San Pedro resident Paul Flores, 44, is charged with murdering Smart, who went missing May 25, 1996, after attending an off-campus party. The 19-year-old was last seen with Flores walking back to the Cal Poly residence halls.
Flores is being held at San Luis Obispo County Jail without bail.
His father, 80-year-old Ruben Flores of Arroyo Grande, is accused of helping his son hide Smart’s remains. He was released from County Jail on April 22, hours after van Rooyen significantly lowered his bail determining he is not a flight risk or a risk to public safety.
“The Beginning of the End, Part 1” examines the behavior of Flores family members as Ruben Flores’s home was being searched in April, suggesting that Paul Flores’ mother, Susan Flores, was “disassociating” from Kristin Smart in an interview with KSBY-TV in March.
In the episode released Tuesday, Lambert says that a plumber hired by Ruben Flores to work on a sink was told not look under the house after he said he needed to inspect the piping and Flores told him to abandon the job altogether.
Lambert also recounts the times he says the Smart family unsuccessfully tried to contact various Flores family members — pleading with the Floreses to help them find their daughter or share any information they had.
In addition, the newest episode of “Your Own Backyard” includes an interview with former Smart family attorney James Murphy, who discusses early negotiations for a possible plea deal for Paul Flores.
Murphy tells Lambert that an attorney who represented Flores initially, Melvin DelaMotte, extended an offer to the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office that Paul would lead investigators to Smart’s body in exchange for a minor criminal charge.
“The way it was communicated to me, Paul Flores would allegedly come forward with information about the location of the body provided he’d be allowed to plead (no contest) to an infraction,” Murphy said.
An infraction is the type of criminal charge that applies to jaywalking or a parking ticket, typically not a murder or involuntary murder charge, and not a reasonable offer, Murphy said.
Murphy added that, after DelaMotte retired, he allegedly told another lawyer that he thought he could get Paul Flores to reveal the location of the body in exchange for an agreed upon penalty.
Murphy’s comments were anecdotal and hadn’t yet been made public by a law enforcement agency.
Additionally, the episode discusses Susan Flores’ hospitalization at Arroyo Grande Community Hospital after she overdosed on sleeping pills as the Smart investigation was unfolding in late summer 1996, which nurses said in a report they thought was a suicide attempt, according to documents from a deposition that Lambert cites. Another report alleged Ruben Flores shortly after pushed her and he hit her head, the podcaster added.
The San Luis Obispo Superior Court judge presiding over the Smart case, Judge Craig van Rooyen, has issued a gag order preventing parties involved — including San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow and San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson — from making any public statements regarding the proceedings outside the courtroom.
Murphy received a gag order, as well, according to the podcast, but the interview was conducted before that was issued, Lambert said in the podcast.
Since it debuted in September 2019, “Your Own Backyard” has since garnered more than 11 million downloads.
Law enforcement officials and Smart’s family have credited the podcast with renewing interest in the case and bringing forth fresh information, including several new witnesses.
The new episode of “Your Own Backyard” is available for free on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Lambert also posts content on the podcast’s website.
This story was originally published July 6, 2021 at 2:14 PM with the headline "Latest ‘Your Own Backyard’ episode features ‘new information’ about Kristin Smart case."
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