Peter Flores Found Guilty Of Murdering Kristin Smart, Dad Ruben Flores Acquitted Aiding Coverup

After two weeks of deliberations, Peter Flores was found guilty of first-degree murder.

Flores and his father, Ruben, were taken into custody in April of last year for their connection with the disappearance of California Polytechnic student Kristin Smart.

Ruben was found not guilty of accessory after the fact. Flores’s father had initially been accused of helping to hide Smart’s body.

Flores will be sentenced on December 9 and is expected to face 25 years to life.

Smart’s family could be seen inside the courtroom. The Cal Poly student’s mother and sister cried during the verdict’s reading while her brother and father looked relieved.

Flores’s mother, Susan, was absent for the verdicts.

The prosecution’s case against Flores included testimony from college friends claiming that he had offered to walk Smart back to her dorm while she was inebriated, two women who had accused Flores of sexually assaulting them, and multiple law enforcement officers with forensic evidence.

Authorities searched Flores’s residence at 710 White Court, finding “damning evidence that a body had been buried” underneath the deck.

There were two juries involved with the case, one for Peter and the other for his father.

The trial started on July 18 in Salinas after it was agreed that residents of San Luis Obispo could not be entirely impartial.

The separate juries heard different opening and closing statements and received defendant-specific evidence.

Neither Flores nor Ruben seemed to react to the ruling. As well as first-degree murder there is evidence pointing toward an attempted sexual assault of Smart.

Although the trial is over, the whereabouts of Smart’s body is still a mystery, and Peter has not cooperated with investigation.

“This case will not be over until Kristin is returned home, and we have committed to that from the beginning,” Sheriff Ian Parkinson promised after the verdicts.