What did Paul Flores tell Kristin Smart investigators in 1996? Read the transcripts
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Editor’s Note: This is another in a series of stories examining hundreds of improperly sealed documents in the Kristin Smart trial. The Tribune obtained the documents by joining with three other media companies to form a coalition that took the issue to court. The coalition won its argument, and the documents were unsealed.
Paul Flores sat down twice with investigators in 1996 to discuss his nicknames, his black eye and his last encounter with Cal Poly student Kristin Smart before she vanished, according to recently unsealed transcripts of those interviews.
Flores is currently on trial at Monterey County Superior Court in Salinas for Smart’s murder — along with his father, Ruben Flores, who is charged with helping conceal the crime.
The transcripts, which were among dozens of documents unsealed as the result of legal action by a news media coalition led by The Tribune, give insight into law enforcement’s initial investigation of Smart’s disappearance during Memorial Day weekend in 1996.
One interview with Paul Flores, who was a Cal Poly student at the time, was conducted in the days following Smart’s disappearance, and the other one occurred about a month later.
In both interviews, investigators told Flores they wanted to speak with him because he had been the last person to see Smart alive, according to the transcripts.
Jurors heard parts of both interviews, but did not hear either in full.
Interview: Paul Flores’ nicknames include ‘Chester the Molester’
The first interview took place on May 30, 1996 — four days after Smart was last seen alive, court documents show — and was between Flores, San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office Det. Mike Kennedy and Cal Poly Police Department Officer Robert Cudworth.
Kennedy began by telling Flores that he and Cudworth were not questioning him about a criminal matter, the transcript said.
Flores said he last saw Smart near the health center on campus, and the two walked their separate ways.
He said he remembers giving her two hugs because Smart said she was cold, but doesn’t remember much of what the two talked about.
The hugs were the only physical contact between Smart and Flores, Flores told investigators.
According to the transcript, he told investigators Smart was walking fine on her own.
The interview included a discussion of Flores’ many nicknames — one of them being “Chester the Molester,” the transcript alleges.
When asked about that specific name, Flores told investigators he had never heard it before.
Flores told Kennedy the only nicknames he had were “Paulie Shore” and “Paulo,” the transcript said.
According to the transcript, Flores Told Kennedy that he also had a nickname related to drag queen and singer RuPaul, namesake host of the reality competition series “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”
“The other one they called me — that lady — the lady guy — uh the singer person. RuPaul. That’s the only other one they called me,” Flores told Kennedy according to the transcript.
“Oh yeah. That — that’s a guy. Yeah,” Kennedy replied.
“Yeah a guy,” Flores said.
“Well I wouldn’t consider that too much of a compliment,” Kennedy said.
“Yeah,” Flores replied.
The existence of any nicknames was not admitted into evidence for the jury.
Flores also talked about a black eye he said he got while playing basketball with a friend, according to the transcript.
He contradicted that statement in a separate interview with law enforcement approximately two weeks later.
Investigator: ‘Are we going to go away? No’
A key part of the prosecution’s evidence against Flores is the video of his interview with law enforcement on June 19, 1996, during which he told investigators he was telling “fibs” — not lies.
The first 40 minutes of that video were shown to only Paul Flores’ jurors.
That section of the video shows him undergoing rigorous questioning from former San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office investigator Bill Hanley and former Sheriff’s Office Det. Larry Hobson.
Hanley admits to telling Flores many falsehoods in the interview, saying that is a common practice used in law enforcement to elicit confessions — as long as those confessions are true.
Unsealed documents reveal the latter half of the interview, during which investigators questioned Flores about an incident where San Luis Obispo Police Department officers helped escort Flores off a woman’s balcony.
The incident was also mentioned in Ruben Flores’ arrest warrant.
Investigators again asked Flores about his black eye, which he now said was from working on his car.
Throughout the interview, investigators continued to ask Flores why he was lying about his black eye and other details.
They also tried to convince Flores to take a polygraph test, according to the transcript, but Flores said he would need his parents’ permission — despite being old enough to consent to a polygraph himself.
At the end of the two-hour interview, the transcript said, Hanley told Flores he had “no doubt” Flores was involved in Smart’s disappearance.
“Now when we put this altogether, you know what happens? Everything goes to the worst,” Hanley told Flores, according the transcript. “We thought that you were a good guy. And is this eating you up? Yeah. Are we gonna go away? No. Not in your wildest dreams.”
This story was originally published September 27, 2022 at 10:32 AM with the headline "What did Paul Flores tell Kristin Smart investigators in 1996? Read the transcripts."
