Justice Delayed: The Murder of Kristin Smart
The Nightmare Begins
In the spring of 1996, twenty-five-year-old college student, Kristin Denise Smart was a force to be reckoned with. A freshman at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, she was preparing to take the world by storm. Sadly, she would never get the chance.
On the evening of Saturday, May 25th, she was invited to an off-campus birthday party. Even though none of her close friends were going, she decided to throw caution to the wind and attend the get-together solo.
Once there, she took advantage of the alcohol that was flowing freely, as did just about everyone else. Sometime around 2 a.m., two acquaintances, Cheryl Anderson and Tim Davis, discovered her passed out on a neighboring lawn. Worried that she might get into trouble, they got her to her feet and set about escorting her back to her dorm.
Along the way, they were joined by another student, Paul Flores, whose dorm was next door to Kristin’s. Since they lived so close, he offered to take over from there. After assuring Anderson and Davis that he would get her home safe and sound, he had led the inebriated girl away. It was the last time she was seen alive by anyone other than her killer.
