She was full of life. A young girl going to a California university, who decided to go to a party on Memorial Day 1996 and then things took a terrible turn.  What she thought would be a great night turned into her ending up missing.

Two students helped her get back from the party and that was the last time she was seen. Calls weren’t getting through to Kristen; all her belongings were in her dorm, so the Smart family knew something was up. They knew “she wouldn’t leave without telling anybody.” This picture below is a picture of her 25 years ago.

Young women need to stay protected. You need to know where you are and always be on the look out for suspicious things. It’s hard being a woman especially with how many women go missing each year. In just 2019 alone, 609,275 people were missing in the U.S with the majority being women.

This picture to the left is people just in the United States that are missing. A lot of people might not teach their kids about the safety steps they should take but there needs to be some type of informing to the parents about the children they have. Kristen has been missing for 25 years and the case is still open. The police are finally cracking down on what really happened to her. As of today, Paul and his father are in custody as they have accused Paul of trying to rape her and kill her in his dorm as they know he was the last one with her. The body as of today has been moved as it was under the house of Paul’s father. They have biological evidence that make them believe he was responsible.

There has been a two-month long preliminary hearing and the judge seems to keep it still going. “Some of the information, such as the alleged discovery of human blood under Ruben Flores deck, had never been revealed. Much of the preliminary hearing dealt with re-establishing the older information before leading into the new, more recent evidence.”

Five key pieces of evidence that he is guilty of the crime are: PAUL FLORES’ ACTIONS ON MAY 24, 1996, DETAILED; SMART NEVER RETURNED TO HER DORM ROOM; PAUL FLORES’ SUSPICIOUS BLACK EYE QUESTIONED; CADAVER DOG HANDLER TESTIMONY WASN’T REFUTED; EXCAVATIONS UNDER HOME REVEALED BLOOD IN DISTURBED SOIL. This is explained at this web site: https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/crime/article254441238.html

Many people won’t take it as serious but it’s a serious issue we face in our country. This case connects to another hot case buzzing the internet which is Gabby Pettito.

This picture below is a picture of Gabby Pettito and her husband before she vanished.

She went missing as she was with her husband on a trip. There are many differences that spike here. One big one is now in this generation, young people do a lot of crime solving. As this case went famous on tiktok, many fans and people of the community helped and are still helping solve this case.

As of 25 years ago, the internet wasn’t what it is now, so Kristen didn’t have the help of the people around.

These links below are videos from some of the information I got from this case.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjF23ZUyDqM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm-PrmJpA5k