Kristin Smart search turned up ‘several items,’ SLO County Sheriff’s Office says
The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office released new information in the recent search for Kristin Smart on Tuesday.
The Sheriff’s Office served a search warrant for the Arroyo Grande home of Susan Flores on May 6, 30 years after her son, Paul Flores, murdered Smart.
Paul Flores was convicted in 2022 of killing Smart when she was a first-year student at Cal Poly. She went missing on Memorial Day weekend of 1996, but her body was never found.
The search lasted four days, during which time investigators used ground penetrating radar, and soil vapor scientists took samples from all around Susan Flores’ house and in her backyard, which yielded “very strong” results for evidence of human decomposition in one area — a walkway on the west side of the home at 529 East Branch St. that was covered in concrete.
It is an area that had been independently tested before from the neighboring property’s side, showing evidence of human remains in the soil as early as 2021, but samples had never been taken directly in Flores’ backyard.
“Soil scientists identified an area along the side yard of the property that produced results consistent with the possible presence of human remains,” the agency said in Tuesday’s news release.
Sheriff Ian Parkinson had previously announced during a May 8 press conference that the search had identified evidence of human remains.
The release said Sheriff’s Office investigators secured an additional search warrant, known as a piggyback warrant, on May 8 to excavate the area.
Investigators removed large concrete pavers in the side yard and excavated the area on May 9 “with investigators carefully sifting through the excavated soil for any evidence related to Kristin,” the release said.
A Tribune reporter saw a Sheriff’s Office investigator unload at least three shovels from a county vehicle and bring at least two into the backyard that day.
Investigators “recovered several items considered evidentiary in nature” during the search which are currently being analyzed, the release said.
Sheriff’s Office spokesman Tony Cipolla clarified the items were recovered during the search of the entire property, which included inside and outside the home.
“Ultimately, no human remains were recovered during the excavation,” the agency reiterated from its earlier announcement of the end of the search.
The release said that no further information was available and no additional comments or further updates regarding this investigation will be provided.
“The Sheriff’s Office remains fully committed to finding Kristin and bringing her home to her family,” the release said.
