Advances in ground-penetrating radar (GPR) sparked renewed efforts to locate the remains of missing Cal Poly student Kristin Smart, but the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office’s three-day search was futile.
“We did not recover Kristin Smart,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a press release on May 9. “Detectives will be evaluating any evidence we have recovered to aid in the investigation. The Sheriff’s Office remains fully committed to finding Kristin and bringing her home to her family.”
The announcement arrived a day after Sheriff Ian Parkinson held a press conference about the court-authorized search of the Arroyo Grande property tied to Susan Flores—the mother of Paul Flores, who was convicted of murdering Smart.
Local interest piqued on May 6 when detectives arrived at Susan’s doorstep with a warrant demanding she leave the property for the search to commence. The Sheriff’s Office said that soil samples obtained from her property tested positive for human decomposition.
This Memorial Day weekend marks 30 years since Stockton-raised Smart’s disappearance. Paul was reportedly the last person to see her after walking her to her dorm following a party. She was declared legally dead in 2002.
In 2022, a Salinas jury declared Paul guilty of murdering her in the first degree. He’s serving a sentence of 25 years to life.
The SLO County District Attorney’s Office accused his father, Ruben Flores, of helping bury Smart’s body under his deck in Arroyo Grande where it remained for years before being relocated to an unknown location. A second jury assigned to Ruben’s case acquitted him of being an accessory to murder.
Sheriff’s Office investigators’ latest scrutiny of Susan’s property mirrors unsuccessful GPR searches conducted in 1996 and 2021 to recover Smart’s remains. The Flores trial revealed that the 2021 scan of Ruben’s property found a 6-by-4-foot soil disturbance that was 3.5-feet deep.
Investigators’ latest investigation of Susan’s property mirrors GPR searches of the same area in 1996, and of Paul’s father Ruben’s property in 2021.
“Back in ’96, they used ground-penetrating radar in order to check all locations on the ground. The GPR from 30 years ago is not the GPR today,” Parkinson said at the press conference. “We finally hit the high when we found the burial site at Ruben’s house, but it didn’t give us the answer we’re still seeking … where’s Kristin?”
Parkinson said that his office agreed internally that they wouldn’t leave the premises until they thoroughly searched every part of it. Susan wasn’t allowed to return to her property until the search concluded.
Repeat searches of previously examined properties can’t be done without new evidence that compels the court to sign off on a search warrant, according to Parkinson.
The sheriff claimed that Susan’s property met that threshold based on “investigative and scientific information.”
“People shouldn’t want law enforcement arresting someone on a belief; there should be proof to it,” Parkinson said. “The information in the search warrant has to be fresh, relevant, and have the threshold of probable cause. That’s what we pursued.” ∆
This article appears in May 14-21, 2026.
