Authorities served a search warrant Wednesday at a home connected to Paul Flores, the man convicted of killing 19-year-old college student Kristin Smart in 1996, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office said. The warrant search took place in Arroyo Grande, on California’s central coast, and was described as part of the ongoing investigation into Smart’s disappearance. (Smart’s remains have never been found.)
In a statement, the sheriff’s office said it remained committed to bringing Smart home to her family and that “No further information is available,” according to the Associated Press. The district attorney’s office also said it was helping the sheriff’s office with the investigation, with San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow saying the case team planned to use “every lawful tool available to locate Kristin’s remains.”
Flores’ mother, Susan Flores, lives at the home searched, according to public records and reporting cited by the Associated Press from the case’s longtime coverage. The Associated Press said attempts to reach Susan Flores for comment were not immediately successful and that the search was ongoing Wednesday afternoon.
The Associated Press also reported that the “Your Own Backyard” podcast, which helped investigators by bringing forward additional witnesses, had first reported the search and said the home belonged to Susan Flores. The podcast’s reporting and surrounding coverage have helped renewed investigators revisit leads after Smart’s disappearance went unsolved for decades.
Smart disappeared in May 1996 from California Polytechnic State University, where she was a student, and she was later declared legally dead in 2002 because her remains were still not located. Prosecutors alleged she was killed during an attempted rape and that the last person she was seen with was Flores, a fellow student.
Flores and his father, Ruben Flores, were arrested in 2021. Prosecutors alleged Smart’s remains were buried on Ruben Flores’ property and later moved; the Associated Press reported that Ruben Flores was acquitted of accessory charges. The Associated Press said the property searched Wednesday is different from the one prosecutors previously tied to the buried-remains allegation.
Paul Flores was convicted in October 2022 and later sentenced to 25 years to life in prison, according to the Associated Press. The Associated Press also reported that Flores has been physically attacked at least twice while in prison, and that in 2024 a judge ordered him to pay just over $350,000 to Smart’s family for costs incurred after her death.
Smart’s family has said it would forgo restitution if Flores told them where Smart’s body was, the Associated Press reported. Flores’ attorney, Harold Mesick, said in 2024 that the defense did not know where Smart’s remains are, and Flores has continued to maintain his innocence, the Associated Press said.