Nearly 30 years later, family of slain California college student sues school for wrongful death
SAN LUIS OBISPO, California — The family of a California student who disappeared nearly 30 years ago sued the school Thursday, claiming it negligently caused Kristin Smart’s murder.
Smart, then 19, disappeared over Memorial Day weekend in 1996 from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo on the state’s scenic Central Coast. Her remains were never found, but she was declared legally dead in 2002.
Paul Flores was arrested in 2021, convicted of first-degree murder in 2022 and sentenced last year to 25 years to life in state prison.
Prosecutors say Flores killed Smart during an attempted rape on May 25, 1996, in his dorm room at the university, where they were both freshmen. He was the last person seen with Smart as he walked her home from an off-campus party.
On Thursday, Smart’s parents, brother and sister sued the university for wrongful death and negligence, claiming officials could have prevented her death if they had properly handled university police reports filed by four other female students. Those students said Flores had stalked and harassed them in the months leading up to Smart’s disappearance.
In one case, Flores allegedly tried to break into a student’s apartment, according to the lawsuit.
The reports should have prompted the university to investigate, suspend or expel Flores, remove him from on-campus housing and send him back home “miles away from Kristin and the dormitory where he killed her,” according to the lawsuit.
“If the university had acted properly, thoroughly investigated Flores’ conduct history and taken appropriate disciplinary action, Kristin would likely still be alive. Instead, our family must mourn her absence for 27 painful years,” a family statement said.
The lawsuit also alleges that the university failed to conduct a proper and timely investigation into Smart’s disappearance, including by failing to lock down Flores’ dorm room and have it cleaned before it was finally searched 16 days after Smart disappeared.
In an email, Cal Poly spokesman Matt Lazier said the university had no comment because “this is an ongoing legal matter.”
Last May, however, university president Jeffrey Armstrong publicly apologized to the family for the way it handled the investigation into her disappearance.
“Although it is a different government now than it was in 1996, we recognize that things should have been done differently – and I personally wish they were,” he said.
The family did not realize Cal Poly’s alleged negligence until after that apology, because surviving relatives did not have access to the university’s investigative file, the lawsuit said.
“Even now, the Smart family remains unaware of what information, in the possession of Cal Poly’s president, and uniquely available to him and/or Cal Poly, led him to apologize,” the complaint said.