Kristin Smart search: Remains detected and search will continue, sheriff says
Los Angeles Times • • general
Key Points:
- Investigators detected the presence of human remains at the Arroyo Grande home of Susan Flores, mother of Kristin Smart’s killer, but have not yet found a body, according to San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson.
- The search involved soil testing and ground-penetrating radar, with authorities continuing their methodical investigation and planning to dig if remains are definitively found, which would require additional warrants.
- Paul Flores, convicted three years ago for Kristin Smart’s 1996 murder, was the last person seen with her before she disappeared; her body has never been recovered despite multiple searches of properties owned by his parents.
- Renewed interest in the cold case was sparked by a 2019 podcast “Your Own Backyard,” leading to scientific soil analysis detecting compounds potentially linked to decomposing human remains near the Flores family property.
- Kristin Smart, 19, disappeared after a Memorial Day weekend party in 1996, last seen walking home with Paul Flores; extensive searches at the time, including cadaver dogs and ground-penetrating radar, failed to locate her remains.
