Prosecutors in Kristin Smart murder case seek to add L.A. rape charges against Paul Flores

This photo provided by the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office shows suspect Paul Flores who was taken into custody in the San Pedro area of Los Angeles on Tuesday, April 13, 2021, for the murder of Kristin Smart. (San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office via AP)

by: Los Angeles Times

Posted: Jul 12, 2021 / 02:04 PM PDT

Updated: Jul 12, 2021 / 02:04 PM PDT

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San Luis Obispo County prosecutors are seeking to amend their murder case against Paul Flores in the 1996 disappearance of Kristin Smart to include two allegations of rape of unconscious women in the Los Angeles area.

Prosecutors will argue a motion Wednesday to amend the murder charge against Flores. They have said he killed Smart, a then-19-year-old fellow student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, during the commission of a rape or attempted rape in his dormitory the night she vanished 25 years ago.

Authorities did not spell out the specifics of the new charges in court. But last week, a judge referenced case law in which rape cases were attached to crimes in a different county.

Los Angeles Police Capt. Jonathan Tippett, who oversees the Robbery Homicide Division, said San Luis Obispo County prosecutors were looking at two sexual assaults that occurred in the San Pedro area where Flores lived between 2013 and 2017.

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