More than a quarter-century after college student Christine Smart disappeared in one of California’s most notorious unsolved murders, the man ultimately convicted of her murder was sentenced Friday to life in prison, with at least 25 years to be served with execution, reports the American press.

The San Luis Obispo County District Attorney announced Friday that Smart’s former classmate Paul Flores was sentenced to life in prison, the maximum sentence under California’s current criminal system.

“Today, our criminal justice system finally served Christine Smart justice,” District Attorney Dan Dow said in a statement.

Who was convicted of murdering a student

Paul Flores, 46, was convicted by a 12-person jury in October 2022 after a three-month trial.

He was arrested and charged in the April 2021 death of Christine Smart. Another jury acquitted the defendant’s father, Ruben Flores, who was accused of helping hide Smart’s body.

Christine Smart was 19 when she disappeared on May 25, 1996, from California Polytechnic State University, which has a campus in San Luis Obispo County, about 150 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

She was last seen returning to her dorm from an off-campus party around 2am.

Prosecutors accused Flores of murdering her while raping or attempting to rape her in her dorm room. Smart’s remains were never found, although investigators searched for her body in 18 locations.

Flores, who for years has been the prime suspect in the young woman’s disappearance, told investigators he left the same party as Christine Smart but broke up with her a block from the dorm where she lived.

In any case, he was the last person to see her alive.

The journalist helped the investigators solve the case of Christine Smart

Smart’s disappearance has rocked San Luis Obispo, California, without much progress in the case for more than two decades.

Smart was officially declared dead by authorities in 2002.

New evidence and witnesses uncovered by freelance journalist Chris Lambert in his 2019 documentary podcast Your Own Backyard helped investigators crack the case.

In response to delays in investigating the case, the state Congress passed legislation requiring colleges and universities to more quickly share information about missing students with off-campus police.

In 2021, new evidence led authorities to arrest Flores and his father, Ruben Flores, in connection with the death of Christine Smart.

Investigators went to Ruben Flores’ home and used ground-penetrating radar, dug up the area with hand tools and seized items as evidence, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office told CNN.

Prosecutors also accused Flores’ father of helping move the girl’s body to his Arroyo Grande home and hiding her remains under his patio for a time.

After Flores was convicted in October, Sheriff Ian Parkinson vowed the case would remain open until Smart’s remains were found and returned to his family.

“Sexual predatory behavior”

Before handing down the sentence Friday, Judge Jennifer O’Keefe said Flores continued to use drugs and assault women because of “sexually predatory behavior” that spanned his entire adult life, according to a sentencing report released by the local newspaper, the San Luis Obispo Tribune. .

“You deserve to spend every day you have left behind bars,” the judge told the convict.

Addressing the court on behalf of the prosecution, Deputy Prosecutor Chris Peuvrelle called the accused “a true psychopath.”

Flores maintains his innocence, but prosecutors say he is lying. Defense attorney Robert Sanger, whose motion for a new trial was denied earlier in the hearing, declined to make a closing argument on his client’s behalf.

“This is a parent’s worst nightmare – the disappearance and death of their child,” Stan Smart, the father of the murdered student, told the hearing (News.ro).