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Kristin Smart Investigators Issue Update in New Search for Remains
May 10, 2026
Posted 2 hours ago by
San Luis Obispo Tribune / TNSAuthorities have still not found the body of California college student Kristin Smart after searching a home connected to the man convicted of her murder. Testing of soil at Paul Flores’ mother’s home initially signaled that human remains could be at the property, according to officials. Sheriff Ian Parkinson told the media that authorities believed “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.” However, the search was unsuccessful.
The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office said in a Saturday statement that they “did not recover Kristin Smart” and that “detectives will be evaluating any evidence we have recovered to aid in the investigation.” Smart disappeared in 1996 after a night out with friends while she was a freshman at California Polytechnic State University. The case went cold, and the 19-year-old was declared dead in 2002. Paul Flores—a fellow student at the time and the last person known to have seen her alive—was convicted of her murder in 2022, though he has maintained his innocence throughout the case. Read it at The New York TimesRead more at The Daily Beast.
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