Fresh heartache for Kristin Smart’s parents just months after daughter’s killer brought to justice

PAUL Flores, the man convicted of murdering college student Kristin Smart, has appealed his prison sentence.

Flores, 46, was sentenced to 25 years in prison without parole in March following his conviction.

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Court documents, seen by The Tribune, show that Flores has filed for an appeal.

Appeals must be filed within a 60-day window following conviction.

A jury convicted Flores last October of murdering Kristin, and he remains at the North Kern State Prison.

Flores is being represented by Soloman Wollack, rather than Robert Sanger.

Sanger represented Flores during the murder trial.

Kristin, 19, was last seen walking home from a frat party at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo over the Memorial Day weekend in May 1996.

She was found passed out on campus, before two students stumbled across the teen who decided to help her back to her dorm room, per witness accounts.

She was legally declared dead in 2002, but her body has never been found.

During the trial, prosecutors argued that Flores killed Kristin during an attempted rape in a dorm at the university.

He was the last person seen with Kristin as he walked her home.

Flores was found guilty while his father Ruben, 81, was later acquitted of being an accessory.

Monterey County Superior Court Judge Jennifer O’Keefe described Flores as a “cancer to society.”

She said: “You deserve to spend every day you have left behind bars.”

Prosecutor Chris Peuvrelle described Flores as a “true psychopath.”

Flores had long been considered a suspect in the case.

He was quizzed by officers and initially said that his black eye was caused when he played basketball with his friends. They denied his claims.

Flores then changed his account as he said he had bumped his head while working on his car.

Investigators conducted dozens of searches for Kristin’s body over the past two decades, but they proved fruitless.

In late 2019, musician Chris Lambert published a podcast series about Smart’s disappearance, which renewed public interest.

In March 2021, investigators named Flores the “prime suspect” in connection with Kristin’s disappearance as police used cadaver dogs to search his father’s home in Arroyo Grande.

Detectives said they found several physical and forensic evidence items relating to the teen in at least two homes linked to the Flores family.

Flores was arrested in April 2021 – almost exactly 25 years after Kristin’s disappearance.

Following Flores’ conviction, Kristin’s dad Stan Smart said he found “no joy or happiness” in the ruling.

Kristin’s former classmate Trevor Boelter, who had been with her on the night she vanished, told The U.S. Sun that he will never find justice until her body has been found.

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