Investigators say testing suggested human decomposition at Susan Flores’ Arroyo Grande property.
ARROYO GRANDE, CA — Authorities ended a search at the home of Paul Flores’ mother without finding Kristin Smart’s remains, days after soil tests suggested human decomposition may have occurred on the property.
The search brought new attention to one of California’s longest-running missing person and murder cases. Smart, a 19-year-old California Polytechnic State University student, vanished in San Luis Obispo in 1996. Paul Flores, the last person seen with her, was convicted of killing her in 2022 and sentenced in 2023 to 25 years to life in prison. Her body has never been recovered.
San Luis Obispo County investigators searched the Arroyo Grande property of Susan Flores, Paul Flores’ mother, beginning May 6. The home is on the 500 block of East Branch Street. Sheriff Ian Parkinson said experts used scientific testing, including soil analysis and ground-penetrating radar, after investigators received new information that led them back to the property. “We did not recover Kristin Smart,” the sheriff’s office said after the search ended May 9. Detectives said they would review evidence collected during the search as the investigation continues.
Parkinson said the testing showed signs consistent with the presence of human remains, either currently or at some earlier point. Officials did not say the evidence was tied to Smart, and they did not identify any other person connected to the test results. The sheriff said the information was strong enough to support the search warrant but did not lead investigators to a body. The warrant was served nearly 30 years after Smart disappeared after leaving an off-campus party near Cal Poly during Memorial Day weekend in 1996.
Smart was a freshman from Stockton when she was last seen walking toward campus housing with other students in the early morning hours of May 25, 1996. Paul Flores, then a fellow Cal Poly student, was among the people walking with her. Prosecutors later argued that Flores killed Smart during an attempted rape in his dorm room. A jury convicted him of first-degree murder in 2022. His father, Ruben Flores, was tried separately on a charge of being an accessory after the fact and was acquitted.
The search at Susan Flores’ home was separate from earlier searches focused on other Flores family properties. Investigators previously said evidence suggested Smart’s body may once have been buried beneath a deck at Ruben Flores’ home and later moved. No remains were recovered there. Susan Flores has not been charged in the case. The latest search renewed questions about whether investigators had found a new path toward locating Smart, but officials said the result remained incomplete because no body was found.
San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow said his office continued to work with the sheriff’s office after Paul Flores’ conviction. Dow said the District Attorney’s Bureau of Investigation assisted with the May 6 search and that prosecutors supported the sheriff’s office before judicial authorization for the warrant. “We remain firmly committed to using every lawful tool available to locate Kristin’s remains and to support her family until she is brought home,” Dow said in a statement.
The case has drawn public attention for decades because Smart vanished from a college town without her body being found. She was declared legally dead in 2002. Her parents, Denise and Stan Smart, pushed for years for answers and criticized early delays in the missing person response. The case also led to changes in California campus safety rules and later gained renewed public focus through reporting, witnesses and the “Your Own Backyard” podcast, which examined the case before the arrests of Paul and Ruben Flores in 2021.
Paul Flores has maintained his innocence and has appealed his conviction. At sentencing, the judge imposed a term of 25 years to life. The Smart family has continued to press for the recovery of Kristin’s remains, while investigators have said the case remains active despite the conviction. Authorities have not announced new charges tied to the search at Susan Flores’ home, and they have not said whether they will seek more warrants or return to the property.
By the end of the May search, investigators had cleared the Arroyo Grande scene without recovering Smart. The sheriff’s office said detectives would evaluate evidence taken from the property. The next step is the review of that material, with no public date set for further searches or court action.
Author note: Last updated May 11, 2026.