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Jurors overseeing the California trial for Paul and Robert Flores – the father and son accused in connection with the 1996 disappearance of college student Kristin Smart – heard from a K9 handler enlisted to assist in the police investigation in the weeks after she vanished, according to reports from inside the courtroom.
Dog handler Adela Morris spent the majority of Monday on the stand inside a Monterey County court, where Paul Flores, 45, and his 81-year-old father, Ruben, are on trial for the disappearance and death of 19-year-old Kristin Smart. Smart was a college freshman at California Polytechnic State University in 1996 when she was last seen with the younger Flores.
Paul Flores was charged more than two decades later with Smart’s murder, while his father is charged with acting as an accessory after the fact for allegedly helping his son hide Smart’s body.
The trial proceedings are not being televised or live-streamed, pursuant to a judge’s ruling. A handful of journalists — including the person behind the "Your Own Backyard" (YOB) Podcast that is credited with renewing interest in the case — have been reporting from inside the courtroom amid the media limitations.
Kristin Smart went missing on May 25, 1996 while attending California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo and has not been heard from since. (Photo by Axel Koester/Sygma via Getty Images)
Investigators brought Morris and her two trained and certified K9s – Cholla and Cirque – to Cal Poly on June 29, 1996, to assist police in the search for Smart, she told the court, according to YOB tweets. She said she was initially tasked with searching an area away from the San Luis Obispo campus, but was later asked to relocate to Santa Lucia Hall, where Paul Flores lived during the year.
Paul Flores, prime suspect in the disappearance of CapPoly San Luis Obispo Student Kristin Smart, a Cal Poly Student himself lived in this dorm room (nearest window in photo) in the Santa Lucia dormitory in 1996, when 19-year-old Kristin disappeared (Photo by Don Kelsen/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
By then, Flores had moved out of the dorm room, Room 128.
Morris, who began focusing her K9s’ efforts on human remains detections in 1986, told the court that she followed normal protocol when she and her dogs went to Santa Lucia Hall in June 1996. As such, she stayed back while her dogs searched separately, and knew nothing – and was given no details – about the area and the purpose of the assignment, according to the reporter.
EXAMINING CALIFORNIA'S KRISTIN SMART TRIAL: THE ANATOMY OF A CASE WITH NO BODY
She first released Cholla from the southwest entrance of Santa Lucia Hall. Cholla "immediately made a U-turn and started concentrating on some of the doors," Morris reportedly said. The K9 then became "very methodical and slow" and ultimately wanted to get inside Flores’ room.
As she did the first time, she instructed Cholla to "find human remains," and the dog "was extremely focused and she went to the left side of the room," Morris reportedly told the court. Paul Flores lived on the left side of the dorm room, officials have said.
"She was literally vacuuming up the scent," she said, according to YOB tweets. "It tells me that my dog, A, has her target odor, and, B, she was trained to find the strongest scent source, if possible. She almost immediately came back to me, jumped on me, and continued to show me the left side of the room."
Cholla was reportedly focused on the bed, and showed Morris the bed "at least a dozen times," Morris said, according to the reporter. She was also reportedly interested in the desk area of Flores’ side, and did not respond similarly when she was led to the other side of the room.
This undated photo released by the FBI shows Kristin Smart, the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo student who disappeared in 1996. On Wednesday, a judge ruled that Paul and Ruben Flores can be tried in connection with her purported death. ((FBI via AP, File))
It was then Cirque’s turn. Much like Cholla, Cirque also responded at the entrance to Flores’ dorm room, and then alerted to his side of the room and his bed, according to tweets.
At least one of the dogs also alerted after the mattress had been taken out of the room, but instead responded to the then-empty bed frame, YOB Podcast tweets state.
During cross-examination, defense attorney Robert Sanger asked Morris if she was a volunteer and if she was unpaid – she answered "correct" to both, according to reports. Sanger also questioned Morris about a letter she penned to another K9 expert, from whom she said she sought advice about how to respond to investigators’ questions.
When asked about any potential bias while writing reports, Morris told Sanger: "The way I write the report is more factual: ‘I did this, the dog did this.’ It’s not my opinion."
KRISTIN SMART TRIAL: CALIFORNIA JURIES HEAR HOW 'CREEPY GUY' PAUL FLORES FREQUENTED SMART'S DORM
Smart was a student at Cal Poly’s San Luis Obispo campus in 1996 when she was allegedly heavily intoxicated, with Paul Flores, after an off-campus party on Crandall Way. She was walked back from the party by three people – two people, a man and a woman, and then Flores. The others slowly peeled off after Flores allegedly insisted multiple times that he could get Smart home safely.
Kristin Smart went missing on May 25, 1996 while attending California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo and has not been heard from since. ( Axel Koester/Sygma via Getty Images)
She was never seen again.
The state has said Flores killed Smart in his dorm room while he tried to rape her when they were both freshmen. A massive search ensued.
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Separate juries were selected from a pool of more than 1,500 Monterey County residents to oversee each case separately, but simultaneously. The trial is expected to last four months.
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