San Luis Obispo – Investigators have discovered the presence of human remains at the home of the mother of Kristin Smart’s killer, but the body has not been found, authorities said Friday.
Authorities have been examining the grounds of Susan Flores’ Arroyo Grande home in San Luis Obispo County this week for any signs of human decomposition. San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson said Friday that their results have been “positive,” meaning remains have been located, but that’s all so far.
“We believe, based on what we’re seeing, the evidence, intelligent scientific evidence, that there were human remains there at one time,” Parkinson said. “So we can’t say it Kristin but you know, we think there’s evidence to support human remains are there.”
But, Parkinson said, investigators won’t leave until they’re sure they’ve done everything they can.
“Our search continues, and I don’t know how long we’ll be there,” he said at a news conference briefing the public on this week’s search efforts. “The warrant that we obtained … means that the occupants of the residence, once we’re done with this, have to depart and cannot return to the residence. This is not unusual.”
If anything is ultimately found, officials will return to dig, which would require another warrant, which means “you’re going to see some delays,” he said.
Earlier this week, sheriff’s investigators accompanied experts in human decomposition to the home of the mother of Paul Flores, who was convicted of Smart’s murder after she disappeared in 1996. They are searching the ground for traces of his body.
Parkinson said he didn’t know when the discovery would be made through soil testing and ground-penetrating radar.
He said, “We don’t know whether it will end today or not, as I told, it is a systematic move, every time we get something, we go in the other direction. We find something, we pursue it.”
Paul Flores was the last person seen with Smart as the two headed to her dorm at Cal State San Luis Obispo after a 1996 Memorial Day weekend party. He was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for Smart’s murder three years earlier. But his body was never found.
Three years ago, a group of scientists working from the backyard of Susan Flores’ neighbors used soil steam samples to detect the presence of volatile organic compounds that they say may be linked to the decomposition of human remains.
The public’s on-again, off-again interest kept Smart’s disappearance sporadically in the news, but a podcast called “Your Own Backyard” started in 2019 by Chris Lambert shed new light on the cold case.
In November 2019, he began researching how bodies decompose in soil. Two months later, he recruited Steve Hoyt, another Cal Poly graduate with a doctorate in environmental science who has built a business testing soil samples on the Central Coast. Brian Eckenrode, a retired FBI forensic scientist and expert on human decomposition, joined them in 2021.
Authorities had repeatedly searched the backyards of homes personally owned by Paul Flores’ parents. Sheriff’s deputies also used ground-penetrating radar and cadaver dogs to search Ruben Flores’ Arroyo Grande property in 2021. No remains were found, but a month later, both of Flores’ men were arrested and charged in connection with Smart’s murder.
Smart, of Stockton, who was 19 at the time, disappeared over Memorial Day weekend 1996.
At about 8:30 on May 24, he and three companions set out from their hostel, a row of brick and concrete buildings located on a steep slope known as Poly Hill.
They rode in a truck to a party at an unofficial fraternity house near campus. His friends didn’t want to go to the party, so they dropped Smart off a few blocks away.
Tim Davis, a veteran who helped organize the party, told investigators that he was driving away the last intruders around 2 a.m. when he saw a tall girl, later identified as Smart, lying on the adjacent lawn, apparently unconscious. He woke him up. She was in no position to walk home alone.
Davis and Cheryl Anderson were walking to her home when Flores, 19, of the nearby town of Arroyo Grande, volunteered to help. Authorities said Smart was last seen walking home with her.
After Smart’s disappearance, the search called in buses filled with volunteers, horses and ground-penetrating radar.
