California inmate charged with trying to murder Kristin Smart’s killer

(KRON) — New charges have been filed against a California prison inmate who attempted to murder Kristin Smart’s killer, Paul Ruben Flores, prosecutors said.

The Fresno County District Attorney’s Office filed charges on Wednesday against the 43-year-old inmate, Jason Richard Budrow, who is already serving two life sentences.

Budrow has a record of killing fellow inmates. In 2021 he strangled his cellmate, Roger Kibbe, to death inside Mule Creek State Prison. Kibbe was a serial killer and rapist dubbed the “I-5 Strangler.”

Prosecutors said Budrow also tried to kill Flores in Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga by slashing his throat with a self-manufactured weapon.

The prison attack happened on August 23. “Budrow slashed inmate Flores’ neck with the weapon, causing great bodily injury. Correctional officers immediately secured the yard and prison medical staff began treating the wound. Inmate Flores was subsequently air lifted to Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno,” the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office wrote.

Flores, 47, survived the attack. He remained incarcerated at Pleasant Valley State Prison as of Thursday afternoon, according to inmate records.

Smart was a 19-year-old Cal Poly student in San Luis Obispo who vanished from campus in 1996. Flores was also a Cal Poly student at the time. He attempted to rape Smart in his dorm room and killed her, evidence at his 2022 trial showed.

Kristin Smart was ‘too nice’ to Paul Flores at Cal Poly, prosecutors say

Smart’s body has never been found. Prosecutors said Smart’s body was hidden in a “clandestine grave” in the backyard of Flores’ father’s house in Arroyo Grande, Calif., for two decades. Just before a search warrant was served on the house in 2020, her body was moved to an unknown location, prosecutors said.

Flores was sentenced to serve 25 years to life behind bars.

Even before the attack against Flores, Budrow had no chance of ever leaving prison. Budrow is serving two life sentences without possibility of parole for the deaths of his ex-girlfriend and Kibbe. He was convicted of strangling his ex-girlfriend to death in 2010.

Budrow’s arraignment is scheduled for January 8 in Fresno County Superior Court. He is charged with attempted murder, assault by an inmate serving a life sentence, assault with a deadly weapon, and possession of an inmate manufactured weapon.

If convicted of the new charges against him, Budrow will face another sentence of 27 years-to-life in prison.

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