Kristin Smart’s parents speak out in new ‘Dateline’ TV special. Here’s how to watch
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
The parents of murdered Cal Poly student Kristin Smart give their first network interview since their daughter’s killer was sentenced in an upcoming episode of NBC’s “Dateline.”
In the two-hour special “Justice for Kristin,” Stan and Denise Smart open up about their frustration over the university police department’s handling of the initial investigation into Kristin Smart’s disappearance in 1996, according to a news release.
“The Cal Poly police took me aside and said, ‘You know, your daughter was doing some things that would put her at risk,’” Stan Smart tells “Dateline” correspondent Josh Mankiewicz in the special. “He was portraying to me that our daughter disappeared, and if she was dead, she’d brought it onto herself, which was totally wrong.”
“It was a different era. And there was a lot of victim shaming,” Denise Smart, Kristin’s mother, adds.
The special also includes interviews with former San Luis Obispo County Deputy District Attorney Chris Peuvrelle, who prosecuted the case, as well as San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson, Sheriff’s Office investigator Clint Cole, “Your Own Backyard” podcast host Chris Lambert and Tribune reporter Chloe Jones.
“Justice for Kristin Smart” is airing about three weeks after Paul Flores was sentenced to 25 years to life in state prison for murdering Smart.
A Monterey County jury convicted the San Pedro man of first-degree murder on Oct. 18 after hearing evidence in a three-month-long trial.
A separate jury acquitted Flores’ father, Arroyo Grande resident Ruben Flores, of helping his son conceal the crime.
How to watch
“Justice for Kristin” will air on local NBC affiliate KSBY at 9 p.m. Friday.
