Where are key locations in Kristin Smart murder case? See interactive maps
Nearly 30 years after Cal Poly student Kristin Smart vanished in San Luis Obispo, her body has yet to be found.
The 19-year-old first-year student disappeared on the night of May 25, 1996.
The last person to see her alive was Paul Flores, also then a Cal Poly student.
Over the decades, local and federal officials have searched for clues about what happened to Smart — including at properties belonging to Flores and his parents, Susan and Ruben Flores.
The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office recently concluded its latest search of Susan Flores’ Arroyo Grande home.
“We did not recover Kristin Smart,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a Saturday, May 11, news release.
Despite a lack of physical evidence tying Paul Flores to the case, he was convicted of killing Smart and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
To help readers better visualize the Smart case, The Tribune gathered three decades worth of locations related to Smart and her disappearance, spanning six counties in California and one location in Washington state.
Key areas of interest include the Cal Poly campus, homes in Arroyo Grande and a Los Angeles property.
What happened to Cal Poly student Kristin Smart?
Smart, Flores and another student, Cheryl Anderson, were seen leaving a party together on May 25, 1996, at 135 Crandall Way in San Luis Obispo. The group walked back to campus, heading for the student residence halls, when Anderson separated from the group at the corner of Grand Avenue and North Perimeter Road.
Flores was living at Santa Lucia Hall at the time, while Smart lived at nearby Muir Hall.
After a friend reported Smart as missing, Cal Poly police questioned Flores. He told investigators that he split from Smart near Santa Lucia Hall.
In 1997, officials searched both Smart and Flores’ rooms in their respective residence halls, and trained search dogs reacted to Flores’ room, The Tribune reported.
Investigators also searched the home where Smart and Flores attended a party.
In 2016, the Sheriff’s Office and the FBI excavated near the Cal Poly “P,” an area that volunteers previously searched in 1996.
Cal Poly students held a candlelight vigil for Smart near Santa Lucia Hall on the day Flores was arrested.
Smart was officially declared deceased in 2002.
Where have investigators searched in Arroyo Grande?
Susan and Ruben Flores both own properties in Arroyo Grande that have been searched numerous times over the years.
Susan Flores’ home in the 400 block of East Branch Street in the Village of Arroyo Grande was searched by investigators four times, in 1996, 1997, 2020 and 2026.
Investigators first searched Ruben Flores’ home on the 700 block of White Court in Arroyo Grande in 2020. The property was searched twice more in 2021.
In February 2020, “We served search warrants for digital devices for members of the Flores family including Paul’s sister in Washington state,” Sheriff’s Office spokesman Tony Cipolla told The Tribune on Monday, May 11. “We are not releasing her address, but it was near Seattle.”
In April 2021, Ruben Flores was arrested at his home. Prosecutors accused him of helping his son conceal Smart’s body, although he was later found not guilty.
On Nov. 17, 2019, a group of people held a candlelight vigil honoring Smart at a gazebo in Arroyo Grande, then walked to Susan Flores’ home.
What are other key locations in SLO County murder case?
Law enforcement officials searched Cold Canyon Landfill in San Luis Obispo in 1996 and found nothing relating to the case, The Tribune reported at the time.
According to Cipolla, a search also took place in the Huasna area in January 2020.
During Paul Flores’ trial, a witness testified that Flores admitted to burying Smart near a skate ramp in Huasna.
Court filings submitted by the prosecution suggest that a previous search was done in the Huasna area, although it wasn’t clear when.
Smart’s family and friends dedicated a bench at Dinosaur Caves Park in Shell Beach to the Stockton teenager in 2003, named Kristin’s Point of Hope.
Where is Paul Flores?
In February 2020, investigators searched Paul Flores’ home in the 900 block of West Upland Avenue in Los Angeles’ San Pedro neighborhood.
In February 2021, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office arrested Flores a couple of blocks away from his residence on suspicion of carrying a firearm as a felon,
That April, Flores was arrested on suspicion of murdering Smart. The same day, his father, Ruben Flores, was arrested at his Arroyo Grande home.
Court hearings for Paul Flores and his father were originally held at San Luis Obispo Superior Court before a change of venue moved the trial to the Monterey County courthouse.
On Oct. 17, 2022, a Monterey County Superior Court jury convicted convicted Flores of first-degree murder.
A separate jury acquitted Ruben Flores, finding him not guilty of being an accessory to murder after the fact.
Since his conviction, Paul Flores has been transferred to multiple prisons in California, including Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga and California State Prison in Corcoran.
As of Monday, May 11, he was serving his sentence at Northern Kern State Prison in Delano.
How to read the maps
This map legend explains what each symbol means on the maps above.
This story was originally published May 12, 2026 at 11:00 AM.
