Kristin Smart’s killer Paul Flores seriously injured in California prison attack

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Kristin Smart’s murderer Paul Flores has been seriously injured in an attack in a California state prison.

The incident unfolded on Wednesday inside Pleasant Valley State Prison, Coalinga – where the convicted killer is serving 25 years to life for Smart’s 1996 murder.

The details of the attack are unclear but a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokesperson said that Flores, 46, was taken to hospital and is currently in a “serious condition”.

“The circumstances surrounding Flores’ injury are under investigation by [the prison]’s Investigative Services Unit,” the spokesperson added.

Flores’ lawyer, Harold Mesick, was told about the attack by prison officials.

Confirming that he has no further information at this time, Mr Mesick told The New York Post: “I just pray for his recovery.”

The Independent has contacted the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for further comment.

Flores had been transferred to Pleasant Valley State Prison in August after being previously held at North Kern State Prison, where prisoners are initially processed following a conviction.

Flores was arrested in April 2021 and convicted of first-degree murder in October 2022, more than 25 years after Smart disappeared from a college campus in San Luis Obispo.

This March he was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

Smart, a 19-year-old student, vanished from California Polytechnic State University during Memorial Day weekend back in 1996.

Although her remains have never been found, Smart was declared legally dead in 2002. Her murder remained unsolved until Flores’ 2021 arrest – despite both forensic evidence and witness accounts linking him to Smart’s death from the get-go.

Flores had been the last person to be seen with Smart, when he walked her home after an off-campus party she attended with her roommate Margarita Campos and other California Polytechnic State University students on 25 May 1996.

At the time, they were both first-year students and at the trial prosecutors maintained that Flores murdered Smart in his university dorm room during an attempted rape.

Althought it was an unsolved cold case for 25 years, Smart’s family brought a wrongful death suit against Flores in the 1990s. Renewed public interest then came after the 2019 release of theYour Own Backyard podcast, which led to new information being considered and authorities re-examining the case.

Flores’ father Ruben Flores was also arrested and charged with being an accessory to murder after he was accused of helping to move Smart’s body. The 81-year-old was acquitted of the charges.