The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office entered a second day of searching the property of convicted killer Paul Flores’s mother on Thursday in their hunt for the body of Kristin Smart.
Deputies moved in on the property of Susan Flores on Wednesday, the San Luis Obispo Tribue reports, where scientists are conducting soil tests that had previously been inconclusive in the detection of human remains. Detectives say the method has improved since it was last deployed, however.
Flores, now 49, was convicted in 2022 of killing Smart, although her body has never been found. Smart disappeared on Memorial Day weekend in 1996. A key theory is that Smart’s body was buried beneath the deck at the home of Flores’s father, Raul Flores, and moved in 2020. Raul Flores was charged with helping his son hide Smart’s body, but a jury acquitted him.
Susan Flores has never been charged in the case.
Previous soil testing had found possible human decomposition compounds in Susan Flores’ neighbor’s yard, next to the fence between their properties, in 2021 and 2023. Scientists have continued to improve the process, however, and deputies obtained a search warrant to try in Flores’ back yard. Her yard had previously been searched in 2000.
Smart, 19, was last seen with Paul Flores at an off-campus party near Cal Poly, where both attended school, KSBY reported. Flores was sentenced to 25 years to life for her murder.
Featured image: Kristin Smart/family photo
