3 weeks ago
Soil testing astatine a spot linked to nan man convicted successful nan execution of California assemblage student Kristin Smart, who vanished successful 1996, turned up grounds of quality remains, a authorities sheriff announced connected Friday.
“We can’t telephone it Kristin, but there’s grounds to support quality remains – location astatine 1 time,” nan San Luis Obispo region sheriff, Ian Parkinson, said astatine a news conference.
Smart went missing from California Polytechnic State University successful May 1996 aft returning from an off-campus party. Prosecutors alleged she was killed during an attempted rape and that nan past personification she was seen pinch was Paul Flores, a chap student.
Flores and his father, Ruben Flores, were arrested successful 2021.
Prosecutors alleged Smart’s remains were buried connected Ruben Flores’s spot and later moved. He was acquitted of accessory charges.
The younger Flores was convicted successful October 2022 and yet sentenced to 25 years to life successful prison.
In 2024, a judge ruled that he must salary conscionable complete $350,000 to Smart’s family for costs they incurred aft her death.
Smart’s remains person ne'er been found. She was declared legally dormant successful 2002.
This week, rule enforcement officers searched a location successful nan cardinal seashore municipality of Arroyo Grande occupied by Flores’s mother, Susan Flores, according to nationalist records and reporting by a podcast that has intimately followed nan case.
The Your Own Backyard podcast, which helped investigators ace nan lawsuit by bringing guardant further witnesses, first reported nan hunt and said nan location belonged to Flores’s mother.
Parkinson said connected Friday: “Until we person Kristin, everything is still wide open.”
“Even if we’ve searched it once, we mightiness person missed an area 10ft distant from it,” he said.
He urged nan nationalist for patience amid nan investigation.
“It will proceed until we perfectly person nary wherever to go.”
The Associated Press contributed reporting
