Report: DNA linked Paul Flores to 2007 rape investigation
Paul Flores was accused of sexual assault in the years since Kristin Smart's 1996 disappearance and his DNA matched a sample taken during a suspected rape examination, though he was not charged, according to a Los Angeles Times report.
The newspaper published an article Tuesday based on court records and interviews with Los Angeles-area law enforcement officials and several current and former neighbors. It details Paul Flores' history of arrests and "heavy" alcohol use.
It also reveals for the first time details about a Redondo Beach police rape investigation into
Flores in 2007 that prosecutors ultimately couldn't charge due to a lack of evidence.
Flores, 44, has long been the only suspect in Smart's disappearance nearly 25 years ago. She was last seen being walked to her dorm by Flores following a latenight party near the Cal Poly campus on Memorial Day weekend in 1996.
Flores was arrested at his San Pedro home on April 13 and has pleaded not guilty to a charge of murder here. His father, 80-yearold Ruben Flores of Arroyo Grande, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of accessory.
In a news conference, San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow said that Smart's murder occurred during the commission of a rape or attempted rape, and that prosecutors intend to introduce in the murder case evidence of Flores' history of sexually assaulting women.
Dow cited at least two suspected sex assaults linked to Flores from the Los Angeles area.
Tuesday's L.A. Times article revealed more details about those cases, as well as the alleged rape in Redondo Beach. Paul Flores has lived in San Pedro since 2005.
According to the the newspaper's reporting on the Redondo Beach case, in 2007, a woman told investigators she was having drinks with friends at a bar and the next the she remembered was waking up naked in a stranger's bed, with no memory of meeting him or having sex.
The L.A. Times reports that she left the stranger's house still feeling intoxicated and later told police that she "strongly believes that she ingested an unknown substance" the previous night, according to a police report.
A medical exam confirmed the woman had sex, but it showed "no obvious indication of force or assaultive behavior," and a urine sample revealed no trace of date rape drugs.
Four years later, however, the DNA sample collected from the woman's body came back with a match for Paul Flores, Redondo Beach Police Lt. Fabian Saucedo told the L.A. Times.
Flores reportedly told police in an interview that he had no "particular recollection" of the woman or the incident, and "stated it was possible he had sex with her since he has had sex with many girls," a prosecutor's memo says.
The woman also was unable to pick Flores out of a line-up, and Paul Flores wasn't charged in the case.
"The DNA hit only proves that there was some type of sexual contact, but not what the nature of that contact was," Los Angeles County deputy district attorney Christi Frey wrote in a memo. The prosecutor wrote that Flores may have "taken advantage" of the woman's intoxication, but it couldn't be proved beyond a doubt that she didn't go to his apartment and have sex willingly.