(NewsNation) — Two California juries found Paul Flores guilty of the 1996 murder of 19-year-old Kristin Smart at California Polytechnic State University on Tuesday.
Flores killed Smart during an attempted rape in his dorm room, prosecutors claimed. Smart’s body has never been found.
NewsNation contributor Elizabeth Vargas of the syndicated true crime series “iCRIME With Elizabeth Vargas” said it is unusual for a conviction to happen in a case like this because there isn’t even a body.
“You don’t even have forensic evidence. There’s no blood, there’s no DNA. Prosecutors in homicide cases will tell you it’s very, very difficult to get a conviction without a body. And in this case, they did that without a body, without witnesses, without any forensic evidence,” Vargas said.
Vargas explained that the verdict was largely decided due to a podcast that helped take another look at the case and that caused witnesses to come forward.