New ‘item of interest’ found in Kristin Smart search

Investigators on Friday found another “item of interest” while excavating a Cal Poly hillside in their search for clues to the 1996 disappearance of Kristin Smart.

FBI personnel and San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office deputies dug up the third and final campus location marked for excavation during an operation that began Tuesday and was expected to wrap up Friday evening. All three sites were situated on the steep, golden hill that’s home to the Cal Poly “P,” the landmark concrete letter overlooking the state university campus.

Smart, who was 19 at the time, was last seen early May 25, 1996, when she walked back toward her dorm room with Paul Flores, a fellow student, after attending an off-campus party. Smart and Flores were said to have been walking near the intersection of Perimeter Road and Grand Avenue toward Muir Hall, where she lived.

Flores remains a “person of interest” in the 20-year-old case. Smart, a Cal Poly freshman at the time of her disappearance, was declared legally dead in 2002.

Preparations for the excavation began Tuesday. Earthmovers and other heavy equipment could be seen Wednesday and Thursday digging ravines while investigators used shovels and hand tools to sift through the dirt. Investigators dug about 3 feet into the hillside and excavated areas within a 90-foot radius at all sites.

Friday’s search was confined to a third site higher up the hill, in a small wooded area. Investigators periodically emerged from the cluster of trees, but most of the operation was hidden from view.

Sheriff’s Office spokesman Tony Cipolla said investigators on Friday had uncovered an “item of interest” at the third site. Several other finds were also discovered at the first site, excavated Wednesday, and the second site, where investigators dug Thursday.

“I can’t really elaborate on what the items were,” Cipolla said. “I can tell you that they are being analyzed by forensic anthropologists to determine if they are related to either humans or animals.”

Cipolla said it may take “days or weeks or even months” to figure out whether the finds are significant. Some items will be sent to FBI labs in Quantico, Virginia, for further analysis, he said.

Law enforcement have uncovered “many items of interest and physical evidence” during the course of the investigation that has spanned two decades, Cipolla said.

Asked whether any earlier finds had led detectives closer to solving Smart’s disappearance, Cipolla didn’t answer directly, saying only that investigators “can’t quantify or qualify one item over another,” especially because the significance of the most recent finds has yet to be determined.

San Luis Obispo Sheriff Ian Parkinson said Tuesday that investigators had identified several other undisclosed areas of interest in San Luis Obispo County.

It’s unclear whether those sites will be excavated, Cipolla said, but the search would not take place immediately after the dig on Cal Poly’s campus.

Although investigators have remained optimistic about the campus search, they’ve also been trying to manage expectations, he said.

“Even if we don’t find Kristin’s remains here, it is beneficial,” Cipolla said. “We can cross another location off our list.”

Plans for a sunset memorial for Smart at Dinosaur Caves Park in Shell Beach on Friday evening was posted on a “Sunset with Kristin” Facebook page.

This story was originally published September 9, 2016 at 12:59 PM with the headline "New ‘item of interest’ found in Kristin Smart search."