Ex-student: Smart murder suspect ‘lurked’ in dorm

A former neighbor of missing Cal Poly freshman Kristin Smart on Tuesday described the man accused of killing her as “a lurker, a creep” who hung around Smart’s residence hall room in the months leading up to her disappearance in 1996.

“Everyone knew Paul (Flores) was creepy. A lot of women felt uncomfortable around him,” Steven Flemming, a resident in Muir Hall at the time, said on the witness stand in San Luis Obispo Superior Court. “He was not welcome.”

Witness testimony resumed Tuesday morning in the case of Smart, who was allegedly murdered more than 25 years ago.

Paul Flores, 44, is the last person to see the 19-year-old Smart alive after walking her back from the party toward the Cal Poly campus residence halls on May 24, 1996. He is accused of raping or attempting to rape Smart in his dorm room before killing her.

Smart’s body has never been found, but investigators believe it was buried at the Arroyo Grande home of Paul Flores’ father, 80-year-old Ruben Flores, and “recently” moved, according to a San Luis Obispo County probation report.

Tuesday marks the second day of testimony in an evidentiary hearing for Paul and Ruben Flores that’s expected to last at least 12 days.

The preliminary hearing, originally scheduled for early July, had been postponed several times as the defense continued to gather alleged evidence in the case from the prosecution.

Proceedings are not being live-streamed and media in attendance are under strict rules prohibiting the use of electronic devices in the courtroom.

At the conclusion of the hearing, Superior Court Judge Craig van Rooyen will rule whether prosecutors established probable cause — a lesser standard of proof than guilt beyond a reasonable doubt — to proceed the case toward trial.