The fate of Paul Flores is now in the hands of a jury who will decide whether he is guilty of killing Kristin Smart, the California college student who mysteriously vanished in 1996.
Closing arguments concluded Tuesday afternoon with the court hearing that Smart was 'discarded worse than a pet' by Paul Flores and his father who 'buried her underneath their deck' and later moved her body.
Smart was declared dead in 2002, but her body still hasn't been found.
A separate jury will soon hear closing arguments in the case against Paul's father Ruben Flores. Once both verdicts are in, they will be read separately back-to-back.
Earlier on Tuesday, Prosecutor Chris Peuvrelle asked the jury to find Paul Flores guilty of first-degree murder and summarized the evidence that had been presented during the trial that started on July 18, according to local news outlet KSBY.
Sometimes we tell our kids monsters do not exist, but they do. I ask you to render a truthful verdict that Paul Flores is guilty of first-degree murder,' he told the jury.
Closing arguments in the case against Flores began on Monday.
The prosecution told jurors the 'truth is, Kristin Smart is dead and the evidence is clear that she was killed by Paul Flores.'
Paul's defense attorney, Robert Sanger, later fired back during his turn, arguing that the case is straightforward: 'There is no evidence of a murder, so that is really the end of it.'
The trial is being held in Monterey County after a judge ruled it was likely the pair would not receive a fair trial in San Luis Obispo County.
Paul Flores, now 45, is accused of killing 19-year-old student Kristin Smart during an attempted rape and hiding her body with the help of his father - and prosecutors on Monday said he was 'guilty as sin.'
Smart and Paul Flores were both students at California Polytechnic when she disappeared in May 1996 after an off-campus party.
On Monday, the long-awaited trial that began in July was inching closer to a verdict - after countless delays and two months of testimony.
Jurors heard closing statements in the case against Paul Flores in Monterey County Superior Court in Salinas, California, while a separate jury will hear closing statements for his father Ruben Flores starting on Wednesday.
Flores' father, now 81, allegedly helped bury the slain student behind his home in the nearby community of Arroyo Grande and later dug up the remains and moved them.
He has been charged as an accessory. Both men have pleaded not guilty.