Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Gorgeous Co-ed DISAPPEARS walking to dorm after party, KRISTIN SMART MURDER TRIAL NOW

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Gorgeous Co-ed DISAPPEARS walking to dorm after party, KRISTIN SMART MURDER TRIAL NOW · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:05
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace in the last hours, Will
0:11
Speaker 1: there finally be justice for a gorgeous young co ed
0:17
Speaker 1: christ and Smark? I mean, see Grace, this is Crime Stories.
0:20
Speaker 1: Thank you for being with us here at Fox Nation
0:22
Speaker 1: in series M one eleven. First of all, take a
0:25
Speaker 1: listen to what Christen's mom told me. We didn't know
0:30
Speaker 1: the first day, We didn't know the second day. We
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Speaker 1: didn't know the third day because cal Poly who did
0:36
Speaker 1: not take a request from her friends to look for her.
0:40
Speaker 1: So by the time Monday evening came around, which was
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Speaker 1: she disappeared Friday night, we didn't hear anything till Monday
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Speaker 1: evening and we got a call from the campus if
0:51
Speaker 1: we knew where she was. And I think every parent
0:55
Speaker 1: will tell you you have a gut reaction when you
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Speaker 1: know something's not right and someone calling you out of
1:01
Speaker 1: the blue and thing, do you know where your daughter is?
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Speaker 1: And she's two hundred miles away. Once again, just going
1:09
Speaker 1: back to their I think it says you referenced step.
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Speaker 1: It comes back. It just always comes back. And whenever
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Speaker 1: you hear about a missing child, you relive it for
1:21
Speaker 1: that family as well. Can you imagine your daughter going
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Speaker 1: missing a co ed two hundred miles away at school.
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Speaker 1: You spend your whole life planning, thinking, dreaming, praying, pouring
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Speaker 1: all your love, all your energy, all your money, your
1:43
Speaker 1: thoughts to somehow help your child do better in life.
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Speaker 1: Then maybe you have done and you finally get them
1:55
Speaker 1: to school, to college, and then you get the call,
2:01
Speaker 1: do you know where your daughter is from the college.
2:07
Speaker 1: Take a listen to what Krista's dad told me, And
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Speaker 1: that was very disappointing anyway. After that, and after looking
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Speaker 1: for and she wasn't appearing, and they had found her
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Speaker 1: purse and her belongings in the room, she had not
2:24
Speaker 1: taken those things with her. It was really apparent that
2:26
Speaker 1: something had happened to her. So it's a nightmare. Like
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Speaker 1: my wife had mentioned, I spent a lot of weeks
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Speaker 1: down there, in fact the whole summer looking for my daughter.
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Speaker 1: And I think I could have been a tour director
2:38
Speaker 1: for Saint Louis Bisbo County and just you know, a
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Speaker 1: lot of heartache from it. And as my wife had mentioned,
2:47
Speaker 1: when we hear about other people who have lost a
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Speaker 1: child and they're looking for their child or our hearts
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Speaker 1: go out to them. Right now as we speak, trial
3:01
Speaker 1: is commencing for a young man and his father. A
3:08
Speaker 1: father and a young man who reportedly went throughout the
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Speaker 1: area tearing down missing posters. Where is Kristen Smart tearing
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Speaker 1: them down? A family that called Kristen Smart a dirty slut?
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Speaker 1: With me an, I'll star panel to make sense of
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Speaker 1: what we know right now. First of all, before I
3:38
Speaker 1: go to our panel of experts, let me go straight
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Speaker 1: out to our colleague and friends, Stephanie Pogonis, crime reporter
3:45
Speaker 1: with Fox News Digital. I thank heaven. A trial is commencing,
3:51
Speaker 1: Stephanie Pogonas. But we've got a double trial going on.
3:56
Speaker 1: Explain that's right, Nancy. We've got a double trial. Both
4:00
Speaker 1: Paul Flores and his father, Ruben Floors are on trial
4:04
Speaker 1: simultaneously with two different panels of jurors. Now, this will
4:08
Speaker 1: make for an interesting case to watch, in a long one. Frankly,
4:14
Speaker 1: so far a court officials have estimated that this trial
4:18
Speaker 1: could last into October. Now, there will be times when
4:23
Speaker 1: the panel of jurors from either side or overseeing the
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Speaker 1: cases of Paul or Reuben will be separated so that
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Speaker 1: one panel will hear evidence that the other will not.
4:33
Speaker 1: Other than that they will be hearing the same case
4:36
Speaker 1: for the majority of the trial to Joshua Ritter are
4:39
Speaker 1: joining me high profile defense attorney and partner a big
4:43
Speaker 1: law firm, former LA County Assistant district attorney, and you
4:48
Speaker 1: can find him at Joshua Ritter dot com. I don't
4:52
Speaker 1: like anything. She just said, no off, it's Stephanie Pagonnis.
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Speaker 1: I don't like double trials. Don't like them as two
5:00
Speaker 1: trials being held at the same time. I've seen it
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Speaker 1: done before. It rarely turns out well. Why not a
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Speaker 1: try them together, or if you've got interlocking statements, try
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Speaker 1: one and then try the next one after that. Why
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Speaker 1: do they have to have simultaneous trials? I mean you
5:25
Speaker 1: know this, Joshua will Ridder. There's one only one best
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Speaker 1: trial lawyer within the DA's office. It's true, only one
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Speaker 1: best trial lawyer. Why wouldn't you have that trial lawyer
5:42
Speaker 1: completely familiar with this case. Try both cases in front
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Speaker 1: of one judge and they can be one after the
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Speaker 1: next consecutively, so the judge knows all the facts in details,
5:54
Speaker 1: the prosecutor knows all the facts in details. Why a
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Speaker 1: simultaneous jury? Have you ever seen that? Yes? I have
6:00
Speaker 1: seen it. I've actually conducted one myself. That's got to
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Speaker 1: be a very good reason for it. You would expect
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Speaker 1: that whatever evidence this is, and apparently there was an
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Speaker 1: interview that Paul gave that implicated his father. Whoa whoa,
6:13
Speaker 1: whoa whoa whoa? Hold on, slow down, mustang Sally. Do
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Speaker 1: you know Flores by his first name? What you've had
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Speaker 1: dinner together? You think he's coming over. That's not happening.
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Speaker 1: Just defendant number one, part of Flores, the then nineteen
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Speaker 1: year old young man that was last sane with Kristen
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Speaker 1: Smart and Ruben Flores, his father, the one that called
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Speaker 1: her a dirty slut. That's who you're talking about. That
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Speaker 1: is who I'm talking about. And apparently there was an
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Speaker 1: interview conducted with Paul Flores where he implicated Reuben Flores.
6:56
Speaker 1: And this must be incredibly damaging information. If they fell,
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Speaker 1: it was enough for them to get two juries to
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Speaker 1: hear this case. So you're right, they could have done
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Speaker 1: it with one jury, one trial and just admitted that evidence.
7:09
Speaker 1: But if they felt it was powerful enough, they had
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Speaker 1: to figure out a way to do it with two trials.
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Speaker 1: I don't think they could have admitted it. And I'll
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Speaker 1: tell you why, josh may I call you Josh absolutely
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Speaker 1: because I've had this before and what I did when
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Speaker 1: confronted with two co defendants with interlocking statements, they point
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Speaker 1: the finger at each other. You can't have that come
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Speaker 1: before the jury. And this is why everyone, including these
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Speaker 1: two POC's technical legal term, has a right to full
7:40
Speaker 1: cross examination of the state's witnesses. So let's just say
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Speaker 1: Paul Flores somehow points the finger at his father. Well,
7:48
Speaker 1: Reuben Flores has the right to cross examine him, but
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Speaker 1: he may not take the stand because he also has
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Speaker 1: the right to remain silent and not take the stand.
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Speaker 1: So basically, you're screwed. I don't know how you say
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Speaker 1: that in Latin terms, like a lot of law students
8:02
Speaker 1: would and a lot of lawyers sadly, but you're screwed
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Speaker 1: because you can't get that in. So the answer is
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Speaker 1: very clearly to have two separate trials one after the next.
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Speaker 1: But hey, you know what, have at it. That's the
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Speaker 1: way they're doing it. They've had a venue change. It's
8:17
Speaker 1: to you, Joshua Ritter, there's no need to even try
8:20
Speaker 1: to be PC politically correct on crime stories because I
8:24
Speaker 1: figured out a long time ago. When I die, I
8:27
Speaker 1: ain't going to Washington, d C. I hope I'm going
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Speaker 1: to heaven, So no need for that, Stephanie. The venue
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Speaker 1: has been changed from where to where. The venue was
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Speaker 1: changed from San Luis Stobisco County to Monterey County, a
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Speaker 1: courthouse in Salinas. The judge made the decision a couple
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Speaker 1: of months back, thinking that it might be able to
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Speaker 1: provide a more pure panel of jurors. Jury summons that
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Speaker 1: were sent out to about fifteen hundred jurs whoa, whoa, Stephanie, Stephanie,
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Speaker 1: I got a drink it all in, Okay, right now,
9:01
Speaker 1: you got me, Jakie from the fire Hyjian. Too much,
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Speaker 1: too fast, did you say? Gurr summons went out to
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Speaker 1: fifteen hundred perspective girrs. Yes, actually more than fifteen Wow, wow, okay,
9:12
Speaker 1: I mean out of all that, it seems to me
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Speaker 1: you should get an impartial jury. Now. They moved from
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Speaker 1: San Louis Obispo to Salinas, and the jury was selected
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Speaker 1: from Girars and Salinas. Yes, that is correct, Monterey County
9:26
Speaker 1: as a whole, and forty jurors were picked between both cases. Okay,
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Speaker 1: Josh Ritter and Karen Starr now New York psychologists joining
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Speaker 1: us from New York, and Lisa Daddio, former police lieutenant
9:39
Speaker 1: and director of the Center for Advanced Policing. And jos
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Speaker 1: Got Morgan and he's got such a long resume. I'll
9:46
Speaker 1: do that when I get to him. I'm gonna get
9:47
Speaker 1: right to you. But I got to talk to josh Ritter.
9:49
Speaker 1: I'm sure you, like I, have struck many many juries,
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Speaker 1: and that is a good jury pool. I mean, of course,
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Speaker 1: you're gonna have a lot of bad apples, people that
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Speaker 1: have already and I mean that in a legal sense,
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Speaker 1: not that they're a bad person, but people you can't
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Speaker 1: put on the jury, like you're going to have a
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Speaker 1: couple of cops or their wives or their children, or
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Speaker 1: their uncles, or somebody related to law enforcement, somebody that
10:12
Speaker 1: knows the defense attorneys, somebody there's a distant cousin of
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Speaker 1: a witness, someone that's already decided they did it or
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Speaker 1: they didn't do it. Those are the bad apples I'm
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Speaker 1: talking about that have got to be called out of
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Speaker 1: the jury pool. But out of fifteen hundred jurars, for
10:29
Speaker 1: Pete's sake, Joshua Ritter and then you call it down
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Speaker 1: to forty. You've got the general questions you ask everybody,
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Speaker 1: and if somebody says, hey, I've been a crime victim,
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Speaker 1: they raise their hand. Then you mark that on the
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Speaker 1: jury digest and you void or question them separately. But
10:48
Speaker 1: that's a pretty good jury pool, Josh Ritter. Absolutely, that's
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Speaker 1: a huge jury pool. And you know that they went
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Speaker 1: under extensive questioning to sit on a trial like this,
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Speaker 1: especially Trauva's gonna last this long. I imagine if a
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Speaker 1: large group of those folks weren't time qualified, who can
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Speaker 1: take four months of their life to sit on a trial.
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Speaker 1: In an interesting movement, the judge moving it for out
11:12
Speaker 1: of stand Luis obispo. That is such a rare thing
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Speaker 1: to do, but it must show you just how inflamed
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Speaker 1: and still kind of scarred that community is from her murder. Well,
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Speaker 1: I guess so. I hate change of venues, but I
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Speaker 1: think it's best in this case, as in many other cases.
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Speaker 1: Whether I like it or not, having to drag off
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Speaker 1: to a distant jurisdiction to try a case, I wouldn't
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Speaker 1: like that, but for the sake of a potential conviction,
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Speaker 1: you've got to change the venue. You have to you
11:45
Speaker 1: just got to relocate the prosecutors and the defense. There's
11:48
Speaker 1: really no question about it. If you want to preserve
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Speaker 1: a conviction on a peal, or if you really want
11:53
Speaker 1: a change of venue for the defense, then you've got
11:57
Speaker 1: to take that bitter pill and swallow. Prime stories with
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Speaker 1: Nancy Grace. Guys, we're talking about finally will there be
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Speaker 1: justice for this family? Christinas? Start now? How did the
12:24
Speaker 1: whole thing get started? Take a listen to our friends
12:28
Speaker 1: at Ksby. With shovels in hand, investigators dug underneath ro
12:33
Speaker 1: windfloors as a royal Grande home and at specific locations
12:37
Speaker 1: in the backyard. A neighbor sent me this video showing
12:41
Speaker 1: a part of the excavation site. I mean, it's really
12:44
Speaker 1: nice to see that they're finally making moves on it.
12:46
Speaker 1: You know, it's taking so long for them to dig
12:48
Speaker 1: up this backyard. You could see deputies camped out near
12:51
Speaker 1: the house, going underneath the deck at two entry points
12:54
Speaker 1: with shovels. A panel of this lattice wall was removed
12:57
Speaker 1: to get underneath the house. The areas were extensively searched
13:02
Speaker 1: with cadaver dogs and ground penetrating radar. Monday and Tuesday,
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Speaker 1: crews also moved this blue pump up tent to another
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Speaker 1: section of the backyard, where they dug for about an hour.
13:12
Speaker 1: Thick foliage around the property made it difficult to see
13:15
Speaker 1: the activity. By two pm, yellow tape around the floors
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Speaker 1: his home was taken down the floors, family returning just
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Speaker 1: thirty minutes later. I just hope they find her soon.
13:25
Speaker 1: Sheriff's officials are not releasing any further details about what evidence,
13:29
Speaker 1: if any, was found here. You know what, So much
13:33
Speaker 1: went wrong at the get go, starting with campus police
13:37
Speaker 1: with their thumb up their rari ends calling the family saying, hey,
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Speaker 1: have you seen her? They sat on it for days
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Speaker 1: and did nothing, as so often as the case to you, Karen,
13:49
Speaker 1: start joining me renowned psychologists out of Manhattan. You can
13:52
Speaker 1: find her at Karen dot com. Karen with a C Karen.
13:57
Speaker 1: How many times have you and I sat together other
14:00
Speaker 1: in a darkened studio going, oh, my stars, they've done
14:06
Speaker 1: it again. A woman goes missing and they go, oh,
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Speaker 1: she's probably off with their boyfriend having sex at the
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Speaker 1: motel somewhere, or she ran away. Ran away. Yes, they
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Speaker 1: so many women just run away, don't they wrong? And
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Speaker 1: here it is again, and it has cost all these
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Speaker 1: years because the cops, the campus security cops, screwed up.
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Speaker 1: And I don't like saying that, Karen. You know I'm
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Speaker 1: on the cops side for Pete's sake, but they screwed
14:34
Speaker 1: this up. There's no doubt about it. Nincon. It makes
14:38
Speaker 1: you wonder, you know, you hear too many stories about
14:41
Speaker 1: the fact that, you know, she just didn't want to
14:44
Speaker 1: be found, she was with her boyfriend, she ran away,
14:47
Speaker 1: blah blah blah. I don't want everybody to go crazy
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Speaker 1: on me for this, Karen Start, but I swear I
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Speaker 1: think it's some misogynist thing. You know. Maybe it's not misogynist.
14:59
Speaker 1: Maybe it's that people don't want to accept world where
15:04
Speaker 1: these sorts of things happen. But if I hear one
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Speaker 1: more story about she ran away to be with her
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Speaker 1: pretend boyfriend, I'm going to do a backflip. And we
15:16
Speaker 1: don't want that to happen, Karen Start. We've lived through
15:18
Speaker 1: this so many times. Why do you think cops and others,
15:23
Speaker 1: not just cops, still do it. What do we don't
15:25
Speaker 1: want to believe the girl has been kidnapped and killed?
15:28
Speaker 1: I think that it's not just that they don't want
15:30
Speaker 1: to believe it, Nancy. It's that they don't want to
15:33
Speaker 1: take that response. If you're thinking about Canthic cops the school,
15:38
Speaker 1: you know, they don't want the school to look bad.
15:40
Speaker 1: They don't want to have their reputations tarnish, and it's
15:44
Speaker 1: like they have wishful thinking. You know, maybe this really
15:48
Speaker 1: isn't as bad as it sounds. Well, in this case,
15:51
Speaker 1: the security guard said she quote went camping with friends.
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Speaker 1: Take a listen to County sheriff in Parkinson beginning here today,
16:00
Speaker 1: because this is where it all began, on the campus
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Speaker 1: of Calpola University on May twenty fifth, nineteen ninety six.
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Speaker 1: This was the last place that Kristen Smart was seen alive.
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Speaker 1: It has been twenty four almost twenty five years since
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Speaker 1: Kristen went missing, twenty four years without a resolution until today.
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Speaker 1: I'm here this afternoon to announce the rest of Paul
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Speaker 1: Flores for the murder of Kristen Smart, and the rest
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Speaker 1: of his father, Reuben Flores, as an accessory to the murder.
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Speaker 1: You don't say that a lot. The father arrested along
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Speaker 1: with the son, and I think this maybe before they
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Speaker 1: knew the father called this little girl scrubbed in sunshine,
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Speaker 1: a dirty slut. Now that was a Saint Louis Bespoke
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Speaker 1: County Sheriff in Parkinson. Now listen to our friends ak
16:50
Speaker 1: SBI Paul and Ruben Flores. We're both in suits. For
16:54
Speaker 1: their first in person court appearance, the prosecution argued that
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Speaker 1: additional rape charges should be included in the case against Paul,
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Speaker 1: who was charged with murdering Smart during the commission of
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Speaker 1: rape or attempted rape. Prosecutor Chris Provel revealed in court
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Speaker 1: that during a search of Flores's San Pedro home in
17:11
Speaker 1: twenty twenty, they discovered Google searches for porn related to
17:15
Speaker 1: drunk girls. One search included real drunken girls drugged in
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Speaker 1: raped while passed out. He said they should include alleged
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Speaker 1: victims from the LA area dating back to twenty ten
17:27
Speaker 1: and twenty seventeen. After searching Paul's cell phone in a
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Speaker 1: home video, Provell also said Flora's created home rape videos
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Speaker 1: that were stored on his home computer under a file
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Speaker 1: labeled practice, and called the defendant a serial rapist. He
17:41
Speaker 1: said during a twenty twenty search warrant, they also found
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Speaker 1: date rape drugs at Flores' home. Okay. You know, sometimes
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Speaker 1: I really don't know what to say when you hear
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Speaker 1: something like that and then the camera terms to my face.
17:54
Speaker 1: Because home videos of rapes, home rape videos, Stephanie paganis
18:02
Speaker 1: joining us home rape videos. I'm sure that jury hasn't
18:07
Speaker 1: seen that yet, but that can't be anything good. Sts correct,
18:11
Speaker 1: and a judge actually struck down the prosecution's attempt to
18:16
Speaker 1: introduce these rape allegations. So unfortunately, I do not believe
18:21
Speaker 1: the jury will be hearing these claims, at least not
18:24
Speaker 1: in detail. To Josh Ritter or high profile lawyer are
18:28
Speaker 1: joining us out of LA. I mean I can connect
18:32
Speaker 1: the dots there. You've got home rape videos found at
18:37
Speaker 1: the home of these defendants in a hidden location, and
18:41
Speaker 1: because of what is found on the videos, the state
18:46
Speaker 1: insisted that additional rape charges be included in the case.
18:51
Speaker 1: What do you think about that? I think it's powerful
18:54
Speaker 1: evidence if they can get it in. In California, there's
18:56
Speaker 1: an evidence section called eleven O eight which allows for
19:01
Speaker 1: acts of sexual violence or a sexual assault to be
19:05
Speaker 1: used in a case where somebody is charged with a
19:07
Speaker 1: sex crime, and it can be used in Nancy to
19:10
Speaker 1: show propensity. So it's incredibly powerful evidence. Now the judge
19:15
Speaker 1: at the preliminary you're hearing didn't allow some of this in,
19:17
Speaker 1: so we'll see what happens at trial. But again, when
19:21
Speaker 1: you have evidence this good, prosecutors have to be careful because,
19:25
Speaker 1: like how you would point it out, you want to
19:27
Speaker 1: preserve a conviction in this case. You don't want to
19:30
Speaker 1: make some misstep because you're trying to be overly aggressive.
19:33
Speaker 1: And now a case that took twenty five years to
19:36
Speaker 1: get to trial is going to be thrown out on
19:38
Speaker 1: an appeal because of evidence that you didn't entirely. I
19:41
Speaker 1: don't know. If the state lays their foundation and brings
19:43
Speaker 1: in the video that is titled practice and then Christa
19:48
Speaker 1: Smart goes missing and the use of date rage drugs
19:53
Speaker 1: found in the home, it could very well go to
19:58
Speaker 1: course of conduct, motive, modus operendi, method of operation, scheme,
20:05
Speaker 1: frame of mind. All of those are reasons to allow
20:09
Speaker 1: in extrinsic evidence such as similar transactions. But it's not
20:14
Speaker 1: just the Google searches for real drunk girls drugged and
20:20
Speaker 1: raped while passed out. Take a listen to our friend
20:23
Speaker 1: Alexa Bertola Kspy. He added that four cadaver dogs hit
20:27
Speaker 1: on Flores's mattress in his dorm room, adding they believe
20:30
Speaker 1: Smart died in or around his bed back in nineteen
20:34
Speaker 1: ninety six. The defense fired back, arguing that there is
20:37
Speaker 1: zero evidence of rape, attempted rape, or murder. Attorney Robert
20:41
Speaker 1: Singer said he was very disappointed in the effort to
20:43
Speaker 1: make an emotional argument instead of facts. He said investigators
20:47
Speaker 1: have been focusing on Flores since June six, nineteen ninety six,
20:51
Speaker 1: when Flores stopped talking after voluntarily talking to law enforcement.
20:56
Speaker 1: Singer claims Smart disappear before in Hawaii and all so
21:00
Speaker 1: that three or more people reported the college freshman may
21:03
Speaker 1: have been pregnant at the time she disappeared. The judge
21:06
Speaker 1: ruled that there would be a spillover effect into the
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Speaker 1: current case, which he said has little to no evidence
21:11
Speaker 1: of rape or attempted rape, so the motion to add
21:14
Speaker 1: new rape charges was denied. Joining me right Now, Professor forensics,
21:18
Speaker 1: Jacksonville State University, author of Blood Beneath My Fate on Amazon,
21:23
Speaker 1: and star of a new hit series, Bodybags with Joe
21:26
Speaker 1: Scott Morgan. Jose Scott Morgan Joining me, Joe Scott and
21:31
Speaker 1: Lisa Daddio, director for the Center of Advanced Policing, University,
21:36
Speaker 1: New Haven. First to you, Joe Scott listened to Scott
21:41
Speaker 1: Hennessy k e Yit. Prosecutors will try to prove that
21:46
Speaker 1: the remains of Kristen Smart were buried under the Royal
21:49
Speaker 1: Grande home of Reuben Flores, under a deck in the
21:52
Speaker 1: back of the property, five days after the home was searched.
21:56
Speaker 1: On February fourth of twenty twenty, a neighbor says they
21:59
Speaker 1: saw Paul's mother, Susan Flores, and her boyfriend Mike McConville,
22:03
Speaker 1: pull a trailer into Ruben Flores's backyard near the deck.
22:07
Speaker 1: A longtime renter at the home on White Court says
22:10
Speaker 1: the space undeath that deck was always locked. Authorities returned
22:14
Speaker 1: to search the entire property on March fifteenth. An archaeologists
22:18
Speaker 1: used ground penetrating radar under the deck. The documents say
22:22
Speaker 1: the data showed a large four by six foot anomaly.
22:26
Speaker 1: The experts said they found a major disturbance. Prosecutors argue
22:30
Speaker 1: this is the exact scenario where someone would dig the hole,
22:34
Speaker 1: put in the body, re excavate the hole to remove
22:37
Speaker 1: the body, then fill it back in. Once the body
22:39
Speaker 1: has been removed. The document states samples tested positive for
22:44
Speaker 1: human blood in the area too. Just got Morgan joining
22:47
Speaker 1: us ground penetrating radar. It's a wonderful thing. While you
22:54
Speaker 1: can't in this case, they did not find her body there.
22:58
Speaker 1: They found where the saw, so basically a coffin where
23:02
Speaker 1: a body would be, and the dirt dislodged in the
23:10
Speaker 1: in the same space under their deck. And I'm curious
23:14
Speaker 1: about when they built that deck before or after Kristen
23:17
Speaker 1: was murdered. That's very powerful evidence. I assume both of
23:22
Speaker 1: you and Lisa Daddio have worked with ground penetrating radar.
23:27
Speaker 1: It's amazing. It looks like one of those things you
23:30
Speaker 1: see people on the beach going along with and they're
23:33
Speaker 1: looking for metal like rings or money, and the sand
23:37
Speaker 1: kind of looks like that. Yeah, yeah, it does, and
23:41
Speaker 1: it is a powerful tool, you know, to go back
23:44
Speaker 1: out and try and try first off to locate bodies
23:47
Speaker 1: if they are there. But this is kind of interesting, Nancy.
23:50
Speaker 1: This is actually an area within forensic anthropology and excavation
23:55
Speaker 1: that's referred to as forensic tafonomy forensic what taffonomy, and
24:00
Speaker 1: so the idea is that you know the soil has
24:03
Speaker 1: a natural appearance, like if it's undisturbed, it's tightly packed.
24:08
Speaker 1: Maybe somebody hadn't put a shovel to dirt and years
24:10
Speaker 1: and years and years and years, and the soil has
24:13
Speaker 1: a normal resting position. Okay, but when you begin to
24:17
Speaker 1: turn soil in a particular area, it will have to
24:22
Speaker 1: the naked eye. Sometimes just as a bird's eye view,
24:25
Speaker 1: it'll have a disturbed appearance. Other times you want to
24:28
Speaker 1: appreciate that. But what this ground penetrating radar shows and
24:32
Speaker 1: demonstrates you can actually pass over this area and it'll
24:36
Speaker 1: see you'll see kind of a distinctive outline compared to
24:39
Speaker 1: the rest of the surrounding area, and you can kind
24:43
Speaker 1: of hypothesize, I guess that there is or speculate that
24:47
Speaker 1: there was, that this within a certain scientific certainty, fits
24:51
Speaker 1: a particular profile for where a body or some other
24:54
Speaker 1: objects the size of a body may have rested. And
24:57
Speaker 1: this is even further bolstered by scientific confirmation that you've
25:02
Speaker 1: got human blood there. And you know it's it's it's
25:06
Speaker 1: a great, strong, circumstantial kind of piece of evidence, you
25:09
Speaker 1: know how I describe it. Lisa Daddio joining us directed
25:12
Speaker 1: for the Center for Advanced Policing, University, Newhaven, Lisa. I've
25:17
Speaker 1: described it before as white paper that you put into
25:21
Speaker 1: a xerox machine or to a fax machine, and it's
25:25
Speaker 1: perfectly pristine, flat white. And then take about ten pieces
25:31
Speaker 1: of that same paper and crumble it up and lay
25:35
Speaker 1: it on top, and on top of that put some
25:37
Speaker 1: more pristine white unmant paper. That's what it looks like.
25:45
Speaker 1: You can tell. You can see on the penetrating radar
25:51
Speaker 1: where the soil is completely different from the soil around it.
25:55
Speaker 1: The other soil is settled in layers, compacted, and then
25:59
Speaker 1: you see very clearly disturbed soil. It's very apparent that
26:06
Speaker 1: something had been placed there, somebody dug up something there. Oh, absolutely, Nancy,
26:11
Speaker 1: And it's something that's utilized a lot of times when
26:15
Speaker 1: you know investigators are searching for bodies, because you can
26:19
Speaker 1: see where there's been a disruption of soil, and you
26:23
Speaker 1: know it's previously stated, you can see the size of it,
26:26
Speaker 1: which would be consistent, especially in this case with it
26:29
Speaker 1: being a body. And of course what helped them obviously
26:33
Speaker 1: was the discovery of blood that tested you know, positive
26:39
Speaker 1: basically for being human, and so if it wasn't her well,
26:43
Speaker 1: then whose was it? And another question, Lisa, Daddy, just
26:46
Speaker 1: a common sense question. I would put it to the
26:48
Speaker 1: jury in that opening statement, why the hay because you
26:53
Speaker 1: can't argue we're saying x ray, which is what GPR
26:57
Speaker 1: is grumping the training way are Why the world would
27:01
Speaker 1: they go under their deck? There are a lot deck
27:06
Speaker 1: the door to go under it, it's a lot. You
27:08
Speaker 1: can't get in there. Why would you go under the
27:11
Speaker 1: deck and dig up dirt and then smooth it over
27:14
Speaker 1: on top? Why? Just curious? It makes no sense, Nancy,
27:18
Speaker 1: And it makes perfect sense to me, Daddy, Oh, because
27:21
Speaker 1: they hid her body there and then they moved it.
27:23
Speaker 1: I think it's perfect sense to me for that part
27:26
Speaker 1: of it. For a normal person it makes no sense.
27:28
Speaker 1: But if you're trying to hide a crime, it makes
27:30
Speaker 1: perfect sense. Time stories with Nancy Grace. Listen to this. Everybody,
27:53
Speaker 1: you better sit down or maybe lay down for this one.
27:56
Speaker 1: Take a listen to Megan Healy Ksby Let's in. Twenty
28:00
Speaker 1: four hours after posting bail, ruben Flores is hit with
28:03
Speaker 1: a lawsuit filed Thursday morning on behalf of the Smart family.
28:07
Speaker 1: Civil attorney James Murphy filed an intentional infliction of emotional
28:11
Speaker 1: distressed lawsuit, saying there's compelling evidence Ruben and Susan Flores
28:15
Speaker 1: and Susan's boyfriend quote worked through the night under the
28:18
Speaker 1: cover of darkness to remove the remains of Kristen Smart
28:21
Speaker 1: to avoid having those remains at seven ten White Court
28:25
Speaker 1: in the event of an additional search of the property,
28:27
Speaker 1: and we have information that the contents of that grave
28:31
Speaker 1: site was then offloaded in some manner to another location.
28:36
Speaker 1: He alleges that Christen's remains were removed from Ruben's property
28:40
Speaker 1: and scattered in the Wazna area after the San Luis
28:43
Speaker 1: Obispo County Sheriff's Office served search warrants at the Floores
28:47
Speaker 1: home on February fifth, twenty. The civil lawsuit is based
28:51
Speaker 1: upon the fact that biological materials were found in the
28:56
Speaker 1: ground in a hole adjacent to the wall of reuven
29:00
Speaker 1: for is his house and under his deck. Just got
29:03
Speaker 1: Morgan translate place biological matter found. Yeah, And what this
29:08
Speaker 1: is going to be, Nancy is uh, well to be
29:11
Speaker 1: quite frankly decompositional remnant of the body that's been left behind.
29:15
Speaker 1: And um, you know, I don't think necessarily anything related
29:19
Speaker 1: to a skeletal issue, but you know, anything that may
29:22
Speaker 1: be related to fluid, well yeah, fluid fluid, but but
29:26
Speaker 1: also I think probably any of the soft tissues. You know,
29:29
Speaker 1: we're we're talking about skin, h potentially you know, obviously
29:33
Speaker 1: muscle and certainly organ and it does it does liquefy,
29:38
Speaker 1: and you know that's that's kind of a saving grace here.
29:41
Speaker 1: I think, you know, when you begin to look at it,
29:42
Speaker 1: because to this point we don't have any evidence of
29:45
Speaker 1: Kristen period. Why can they do DNA analysis on it?
29:49
Speaker 1: I think that it would probably be too degraded in soil. Yeah,
29:53
Speaker 1: it would be because there will be a lot of
29:54
Speaker 1: cross contamination. I think one of the issues here though,
29:58
Speaker 1: if they could ever and when they're seeing scattered, I
30:00
Speaker 1: don't know what that means. Are you talking about that
30:02
Speaker 1: her remains have been rendered down after she was removed
30:05
Speaker 1: or does that mean that the body was to a
30:09
Speaker 1: point in again graphic here where you could literally pull
30:13
Speaker 1: the bones apart what remained and they scattered that they
30:17
Speaker 1: have some kind of information they're intimating here, and I
30:19
Speaker 1: find that kind of interesting. If they could recover perhaps
30:24
Speaker 1: a long bone, it has like a really hearty head
30:27
Speaker 1: to it, you know, like the head of the not happening. Yeah,
30:29
Speaker 1: I just I don't see that it would. But I'm
30:31
Speaker 1: just I'm just holding out hope here, Nancy. That's the
30:33
Speaker 1: only way that would ever happen. As if one of
30:35
Speaker 1: these codefendants turned on the other one and said where
30:38
Speaker 1: they hid the body. But that body, Kristen Smart's body
30:42
Speaker 1: was under that deck from God only knows how long.
30:45
Speaker 1: And this Evans proves it. Let's they had another body
30:48
Speaker 1: under their deck. How the whole thing happened? Take a
30:51
Speaker 1: list an hour cut sixty two our Frenzy kio n.
30:54
Speaker 1: During opening statements, Deputy District Attorney Christopher Perella from San
30:58
Speaker 1: Luis Obispo County aims great for the heartstrings of jurors.
31:02
Speaker 1: He started by letting them know about a ritual that
31:04
Speaker 1: Kristen Smart had with her family, calling home every Sunday morning.
31:09
Speaker 1: Those calls came to an end in nineteen ninety six,
31:12
Speaker 1: and instead it was Paul Floras who was able to
31:15
Speaker 1: make a phone call home on May twenty fifth, nineteen
31:17
Speaker 1: ninety six, to his father. Prosecutors say that was after
31:21
Speaker 1: he killed Kristen Smart. Opening statements then went on to
31:26
Speaker 1: include a long list of evidence that will be presented
31:29
Speaker 1: in this trial, including witness testimony from students at the
31:32
Speaker 1: off campus party where Smart was last seen. Witnesses then
31:36
Speaker 1: will describe her as incapacitated after having sat with the defendant,
31:40
Speaker 1: Paul Floras. Those same witnesses recall how Flora's insisted on
31:44
Speaker 1: walking Smart to her dorm room at two am. The
31:47
Speaker 1: prosecutor will also present allegations from women who claimed to
31:52
Speaker 1: have been drugged and raped by Flora's in their early
31:55
Speaker 1: two thousands. You know, Karen's dark just hearing that about
32:00
Speaker 1: their family ritual on Sunday morning, they would all get
32:03
Speaker 1: together for a phone call. It reminds me so much,
32:06
Speaker 1: and sometimes even on the receiving end of these calls,
32:09
Speaker 1: when I lived far, far, far away from my family,
32:12
Speaker 1: before I was married, before I had the twins, and
32:15
Speaker 1: every Sunday in New York, walking home from church, come
32:20
Speaker 1: rain or shine, snow or sleet as you would have
32:24
Speaker 1: in New York, on the way home from church, I
32:26
Speaker 1: would call home because I knew they would all be
32:30
Speaker 1: just getting in from church and everybody would be getting
32:33
Speaker 1: ready for Sunday lunch. I would then call my sister
32:36
Speaker 1: around in California. My brother friends sometimes you because that
32:42
Speaker 1: was kind of a lonely time coming home all by
32:45
Speaker 1: yourself after church. But for them that was a happy time.
32:49
Speaker 1: On Sunday morning, they all talk on the phone and
32:52
Speaker 1: they knew right then something was wrong when she didn't call.
32:57
Speaker 1: I remember it so well as that you would make
33:01
Speaker 1: those phone calls, and it's not unusual. Families do that
33:05
Speaker 1: a lot. And Sunday is the day. And when I
33:10
Speaker 1: think about this family and the fact that they not
33:13
Speaker 1: only had this ritual, but they talk about through the
33:16
Speaker 1: years when they hear stories about other children that are missing,
33:22
Speaker 1: and how it brings it all back for them. They're
33:24
Speaker 1: getting traumatized again. It never ever goes away for them.
33:29
Speaker 1: So just imagine that they're there and they're having this
33:33
Speaker 1: wonderful day and all of a sudden they don't hear
33:36
Speaker 1: from their daughter, and they expect to. They're used to it,
33:40
Speaker 1: you know. Josh Ridder, I'm curious, and this is neither
33:42
Speaker 1: here nor there as it goes to evidence in this case.
33:45
Speaker 1: But your high profile criminal defense attorney, former prosecutor, you
33:49
Speaker 1: are with Worksman Jackson and Quinn. That's not shabby, Josh,
33:55
Speaker 1: What do you do as a defense attorney when evers
33:58
Speaker 1: like that comes out and you're sitting there and by
34:01
Speaker 1: your defendant, the killer, and the jury looks over at you.
34:05
Speaker 1: I mean, do you tense up, do you cleanse your
34:08
Speaker 1: teeth or anything else? Well, everybody's looking at you. Yeah,
34:13
Speaker 1: it's it's an incredibly tense moment in court. It's hard
34:17
Speaker 1: to hard to sit through moments like that. It's hard
34:20
Speaker 1: to keep your eyes dry. I don't care what side
34:22
Speaker 1: of the table you're you're sitting on to hear about
34:24
Speaker 1: the loss and continued pain that this family has suffered.
34:29
Speaker 1: As the defense, I don't know what the plan is.
34:33
Speaker 1: I think the plan is to just highlight the fact
34:35
Speaker 1: that there is no direct physical evidence to point towards
34:38
Speaker 1: their client and just continue to pound the table with
34:41
Speaker 1: that idea. But for the prosecution, this is going to
34:44
Speaker 1: become a death by a thousand cuts. All these little
34:46
Speaker 1: pieces of circumstantial evidence, They're going to begin to build
34:49
Speaker 1: up and build up, and build up and tear down
34:52
Speaker 1: any kind of reasonable doubt that those jurors might have to.
34:55
Speaker 1: Stephanie Pagonus, Carme and Porter with Fox and News Digital,
34:59
Speaker 1: did you walk us through for anyone that doesn't know
35:02
Speaker 1: what happened to Kristen's Smart is gorgeous, brilliant, all a
35:09
Speaker 1: scrubbed in sunshine girl. She goes to cal Poly Technic
35:16
Speaker 1: State University in Saint Louis, Bisco. And that night what happened, Yes,
35:21
Speaker 1: Nancy So, she was a freshman at cal Poly. She
35:24
Speaker 1: was nineteen years old. She had attended a frat party,
35:28
Speaker 1: or I believe it was an unofficial frat party, we
35:30
Speaker 1: should say, near cal Poly campus. Witnesses and friends who
35:34
Speaker 1: were at the party with her said she had a
35:37
Speaker 1: bit to drinks. Now, I'm not sure how much that
35:39
Speaker 1: will play into the case here, but witnesses have said
35:43
Speaker 1: that Smart left the party with three fellow students, one
35:47
Speaker 1: of whom was Paul Flores. Two of the others then
35:52
Speaker 1: left the pair before they reached Christin's Smart Storm. They
35:57
Speaker 1: walked back to their own residences. Paul Flore told police
36:01
Speaker 1: he claimed he dropped her off on campus near the
36:04
Speaker 1: intersection of Grand Avenue and Perimeter Road, but Smart was
36:08
Speaker 1: never spotted after that. And then, of course we have
36:13
Speaker 1: the standard tried and true blame the victim strategy going
36:21
Speaker 1: on in our cut sixty. Take a listen to our
36:24
Speaker 1: freens a k e Yt. Then it was time for
36:28
Speaker 1: defense attorney Robert Singer to respond. In his opening statements,
36:31
Speaker 1: he said that although this is a tragic situation, there
36:34
Speaker 1: is quote no evidence what happened to her, Singer explaining
36:37
Speaker 1: Hill show Smart was engaged in at risk behavior also
36:40
Speaker 1: had a history of line. He also said Flores has
36:43
Speaker 1: been the victim of a concerted media campaign from the
36:45
Speaker 1: very start to paint him as the killer. Saner also
36:49
Speaker 1: added a law enforcement has no case reporting resorting. I
36:52
Speaker 1: should say to using sting operations several times throughout the
36:56
Speaker 1: many years that have gone by. He also questioned the
36:58
Speaker 1: credentials and the accuracy the forensic experts the prosecution and
37:02
Speaker 1: tends to testify, including dog handlers and soil scientists. Also
37:06
Speaker 1: says that evidence will not support supposed timelines the prosecution
37:10
Speaker 1: will present, saying or ended up by saying to the
37:12
Speaker 1: jurors quote, I am going to ask you to find
37:15
Speaker 1: Paul Flores not guilty. Well you may ask for it,
37:18
Speaker 1: but I pray to God you don't get it. Why
37:22
Speaker 1: because of lies talking about someone lying. Other than blaming
37:26
Speaker 1: Kristen Smart for at risk behavior, their words not mine
37:29
Speaker 1: for going to a party. I want you to take listen,
37:32
Speaker 1: hour cut fifty one our forensic Katla Listen. Investigators say
37:37
Speaker 1: damning evidence was found at both including blood evidence and
37:41
Speaker 1: clothing fibers underneath Ruben's back porch showing that's Smart had
37:47
Speaker 1: once been buried there forensic physical evidence was located and yes,
37:52
Speaker 1: we believe it's linked to Kristen. Last spring, Paul was
37:56
Speaker 1: arrested at a San Pedro home where he's lived since
37:59
Speaker 1: twenty eleven, and for Smart's murder. It happens to be
38:02
Speaker 1: that he's been lying to us. That is really gonna
38:05
Speaker 1: you know, and it's gonna make me feel stupid, you know,
38:09
Speaker 1: because he said he didn't. His father was also arrested
38:13
Speaker 1: for accessory in Smart's disappearance. Now, twenty six years later,
38:18
Speaker 1: Paul Flores and his father are set to stand trial.
38:21
Speaker 1: Take a listen, hour cut fifty eight our friends at
38:24
Speaker 1: CBS Sacramento. Up first, Chris Prevel, an assistant district attorney
38:29
Speaker 1: who told the jury point blank, the evidence will show
38:32
Speaker 1: Kristen was murdered by Paul Flores. He took the jury
38:35
Speaker 1: back twenty six years to nineteen ninety six. The iPhone
38:39
Speaker 1: didn't exist. Bill Clinton was the president, and since then,
38:42
Speaker 1: he said, quote a lot has changed. What has not
38:45
Speaker 1: changed since nineteen ninety six, Privel explained, was what he
38:49
Speaker 1: called Flores's predatory behavior towards women. Into the courthouse for
38:54
Speaker 1: his son and his own opening statements, Reuben Flores, attorneys
38:58
Speaker 1: for the Flores father and son duo, told the jury
39:01
Speaker 1: there's no body, no physical evidence, and no forensic evidence
39:04
Speaker 1: that linked Paul to Kristen's disappearance. Paul left her at
39:08
Speaker 1: the dorms, his attorney said, and asked the jury to
39:11
Speaker 1: focus on the evidence, or what he described as quote
39:14
Speaker 1: sort of evidence right now, this trial underway. We wait
39:21
Speaker 1: as justice unfalls. Nancy Grace Crim's story signing off goodbye friend,