New Search Warrant in Kristin Smart Case in San Luis Obispo County Renews Effort to Find Missing Cal Poly Student’s Remains

Fresh search in case

SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA — California investigators carried out a new search warrant Wednesday in the Kristin Smart case, focusing on the 500 block of East Branch Street in San Luis Obispo County. Smart has never been found since she disappeared in 1996, and authorities said the probe remains active.

The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office said it would not release more details about the operation. In a statement, the agency said it remains committed to bringing Smart home to her family.

How the case began

Smart was a freshman at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo when she attended an off-campus party on May 24, 1996 and did not return to her dorm. Investigators later declared her legally dead in 2002 after years without answers.

The case stayed cold for nearly two decades before the true crime podcast Your Own Backyard drew new attention to the disappearance and helped investigators find additional witnesses and evidence.

Paul Flores conviction

Police arrested and charged Paul Flores in 2021, saying he was a student at the college at the time Smart vanished. A jury convicted him of first-degree murder in October 2022, and he was sentenced in 2023 to 25 years to life.

Detectives said classmates saw Smart passed out in the early morning hours of May 25, 1996, when Flores appeared and offered to help get her back to her dorm. He was interviewed soon after the disappearance but was not charged at the time.

Searches at Flores property

During a 2021 search of the home belonging to Paul Flores’ father, Ruben Flores, investigators said they found human blood and fibers in dirt that matched the clothing Smart had been wearing. Ruben Flores was charged as an accessory to murder, but a jury acquitted him.

Paul Flores appealed his conviction, and in January the California Supreme Court denied review of the case. The new warrant adds another step to an investigation that has remained open for decades.

What investigators say now

The sheriff’s office offered no explanation for what prompted the latest search or what, if anything, deputies were looking for at the San Luis Obispo County site. Officials said only that no further information was available.

For Smart’s family, the focus remains on locating her remains and ending a case that has stretched across nearly 30 years.

TNSO covers California, Nevada, and Arizona as the story unfolds.