It has been three decades since 19-year-old California Polytechnic State University student Kristin Smart disappeared. Investigators believed a new search warrant may have brought them closer to discovering her body, but it only pointed out that there were human remains there at some point.
Kristin Smart’s Killer Arrested
On May 26, 1996, the freshman was attending school in San Luis Obispo, California, when she disappeared over Memorial Day weekend. Her body was never found, but she was declared dead several years later in 2002. Her suspected killer was not arrested until 2021.
Paul Flores, 49, was the last person who was seen with Smart before she went missing. Smart was supposedly leaving a party intoxicated around 2 a.m. and passed out on a nearby lawn. Some other students were helping her get home, and one was none other than Flores.
He offered to take her all the way back to her dorm, relieving the others, due to the proximity of their housing. Flores was always a suspect, but investigators did not have enough evidence for an arrest until decades later. He was arrested in 2021 for Smart’s murder, convicted in March 2023, and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
Renewed Property Search
San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Deputies announced they were doing a renewed search of Flores’ mother’s property on Wednesday. Two days later, Sheriff Ian Parkinson said the search proved successful and revealed possible human remains.
“We believe, based on what we’re looking at, evidence-wise,” Parkinson said, “That a human’s remains were there at one time, or are still there. We can’t call it Kristin, but there’s evidence to support human remains.”
During Flores’s trial, prosecutors alleged he murdered Smart after attempting to rape her on her walk home from an off-campus party. “This case was very challenging from the very beginning, because if you recall, you know suspect Paul Flores had moved out of the dorm, the dorm room had been cleaned, so you’re missing physical evidence,” said Parkinson.
Remains Not Found
Parkinson picked up Kristin Smart’s case after 14 years had passed, and he was tasked with hiring a cold-case detective, the same person who is now credited with Flores’ conviction. However, Parkinson refuses to quit. “It was my goal to bring Kristin home,” he said.
Flores’ property was searched previously in 1996, immediately following Smart’s disappearance. They used a ground-penetrating radar, the same technology used in last week’s search, but it has advanced in the last 30 years. It is not capable of identifying new compounds in soil related to human decomposition.
At the beginning of the search, Parkinson said, “We made the agreement internally that we are not leaving that house until we check everything.” However, in a May 9 press release by the SLO Sheriff’s office, they said they were unsuccessful.
“The Sheriff’s Office has concluded its search at the property of Susan Flores, located in the 500 Block of East Branch Street in Arroyo Grande,” the statement read.
“We did not recover Kristin Smart.”
Paul Flores’ Appeal Conviction
Flores filed an appeal of his first-degree murder conviction to the Second District Court of Appeal in October 2025. Months later, on January 14, 2026, his appeal was denied, leaving him with minimal options. He is no longer allotted direct appeals, but may use discretionary means.
Paul is not the only Flores man who was accused of being involved in the murder. Ruben Flores, 80, and the perpetrator’s father, was arrested alongside his son on April 13, 2021. He was charged with accessory to murder.
The two trials began simultaneously on July 18, 2022. Testimony lasted for several months before the jury reached a verdict in October. Paul Flores was convicted of first-degree premeditated murder, and Ruben Flores was found not guilty of hiding Smart’s body.
