The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office said Saturday it did not recover Kristin Smart, a 19-year-old college student who went missing in 1996, after authorities said one day earlier that evidence suggested human remains were present at a home connected to the man convicted of killing her.
The office served a search warrant Wednesday on the home of Susan Flores, whose son Paul Flores was convicted in 2022 of killing Smart. Authorities have not answered questions about what prompted the search, but scientists specializing in human decomposition and soil took samples from the ground.
Sheriff Ian Parkinson said Friday that authorities could not say whether the remains at the Arroyo Grande home located south of San Luis Obispo in California’s Central Coast region are those of Smart.
“We believe that based on what we’re looking at evidence-wise — scientific-wise — that a human’s remains were there at one time — or still there. We can’t call it Kristin, but there’s evidence to support human remains,” Parkinson said during a news conference. “We have not recovered Kristin yet, but the search goes on.”
The sheriff’s office said Saturday it had concluded its search at the home, adding that detectives will evaluate the evidence recovered as part of the investigation.
“The Sheriff’s Office remains fully committed to finding Kristin and bringing her home to her family,” the office said in a news release Saturday.
Despite the Flores conviction, Parkinson said the department has been dogged by the question of what happened to Smart.
It wasn’t a finality for us. The reality was Kristin was still missing,” he said. “I vowed to (Smart’s family) again that we would not give up the search for Kristin’s remains.”
Parkinson said a search of the same location using ground penetrating radar (GPR) in 1996 did not result in findings, but there have been important advances in technology since then.
“The GPR from 30 years ago is not the GPR of today,” he said.
Investigators obtained what is known as a kick out warrant, which requires occupants to leave the residence during the search.
“We are not leaving that house until we are sure we have checked everything,” Parkinson said.
Jurors unanimously found Paul Flores guilty of first-degree murder. He could face 25 years to life in prison when he is sentenced. NBCLA’s Conan Nolan reports.
Tim Nelligan, an expert in soil vapor testing, confirmed with the Associated Press by phone Thursday that he was on the premises, gathering samples from the yards of Flores and a neighbor. He said his team has, in general, “come up with a methodology to assess soil vapor” and its relation to “human cadaver decomposition,” but that he could not discuss the current investigation.
Smart disappeared from California Polytechnic State University in May 1996 after returning from an off-campus party. Prosecutors alleged she was killed during an attempted rape and that the last person she was seen with was Paul Flores, a fellow student. She was declared legally dead in 2002.
The decades-old case has captivated the public, fueled in part by a podcaster who helped investigators by bringing forward additional witnesses. Chris Lambert of the “Your Own Backyard” podcast first reported the search of the home in the central coast town of Arroyo Grande, about 100 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
Attempts by the Associated Press to reach Susan Flores for comment Wednesday and Thursday were not successful. She has never faced criminal charges related to the case.
Nelligan and other scientists poked instruments into the soil and pulled up long tubing. Soil vapor sampling, which is an evolving science, involves collecting underground gas samples to detect volatile organic compounds associated with human decomposition.
Lambert, the podcaster, said he did not know much about the search, but was optimistic investigators could locate Smart’s body. He said past searches of Susan Flores’ home have never been thorough.
“This property in particular has been overlooked for quite some time,” he said Thursday in front of the house.
Paul Flores and his father, Ruben Flores, were arrested in 2021.
Prosecutors alleged Smart’s remains were buried on Ruben Flores’ property and later moved. He was acquitted of accessory charges. That property is different from the one currently being searched.
Paul Flores was sentenced in March 2023 to prison, where he has been physically attacked at least twice. In 2024, a judge ruled that he must pay just over $350,000 to Smart’s family for costs they incurred after her death.
The family has said it would forgo restitution if Flores would tell them where the woman’s body was. Flores’ attorney, Harold Mesick, said in 2024 that the defense did not know where her remains are. Flores maintains his innocence.
NBCLA’s Jonathan Lloyd and Danielle Smith contributed to this report.