We remain hopeful that this current search will be successful
For three decades, the Smart family has carried an absence that a murder conviction alone could not fill — the absence of a place to grieve, a grave to visit, a goodbye to say. This week, investigators in Arroyo Grande, California, concluded a methodical forensic search of a property tied to the convicted killer's mother, armed with radar and science and hope, and found nothing. The law has named the guilty party; the earth has not yet surrendered its secret.
- Scientific evidence led investigators to believe Kristin Smart's remains had been — or still were — buried at the Arroyo Grande property, raising hopes this search would finally be the one.
- A week of ground-penetrating radar scans and soil testing ended without a single fragment of human remains, leaving the family's thirty-year wait unbroken.
- This was the second warrant served at the same property, meaning investigators have returned to the same door twice now and left empty-handed both times.
- Paul Flores sits in prison for the murder, appealing his conviction, while the one piece of evidence that could bring his victim's family peace remains somewhere unknown.
- Detectives will continue analyzing whatever was collected during the search, but no timeline, no next step, and no further updates have been promised.
For thirty years, Kristin Smart's family has wanted one thing: to bring her home. On Saturday, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office announced that a week-long search at the Arroyo Grande property of Susan Flores — mother of Paul Flores, convicted of Smart's 1996 murder — had ended without recovering her remains.
Investigators had served a warrant at the East Branch Street home and spent days using ground-penetrating radar and soil testing to examine the property. Sheriff Ian Parkinson had told reporters the day before that scientific evidence suggested remains had been there at some point, or possibly still were. When the search concluded, that hope went unanswered.
Smart disappeared in 1996 after leaving an off-campus party near Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. She was twenty-one years old. Paul Flores was convicted of her murder in 2022 and sentenced to twenty-five years to life — a verdict he is appealing. But the case has never reached its most human resolution: her family has had no remains to bury, no place to grieve.
It was not the first search of this property. Investigators had been there in 2020 as well. Each visit carries the same weight of possibility; each has so far ended the same way.
Before the search concluded, the Smart family released a statement thanking the sheriff, the lead detective, and the technical team. They wrote of the community's support giving them strength to continue. That strength is still what they are left with — along with the unfinished journey of bringing Kristin home.
For thirty years, Kristin Smart's family has waited for one thing: to bring her home. On Saturday, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office announced that this week's search at a property in Arroyo Grande had not yielded what investigators hoped to find. No remains were recovered from the home of Susan Flores, the mother of Paul Flores, the man convicted of Smart's murder in 2022.
The search began earlier in the week after detectives served a warrant at the East Branch Street property. Using ground-penetrating radar and soil testing—the kind of forensic tools that can detect disturbances in earth where human remains might have been buried—investigators spent days methodically examining the home. Sheriff Ian Parkinson had told reporters on Friday, before the search concluded, that evidence suggested remains could be there. "We believe that, based on what we've been looking at – evidence-wise, scientific evidence – that remains were there at one time, or still there," he said. But when the work finished, the answer was no.
Smart disappeared in 1996 after leaving an off-campus party near California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. She was a student from Stockton, twenty-one years old. For more than two decades, her body was never found. In 2022, Paul Flores was convicted of her murder and sentenced to twenty-five years to life in prison. He is appealing the conviction. But the case has remained incomplete in one crucial way: her family has never had remains to lay to rest.
This was not the first time investigators had searched the Arroyo Grande property. They had served a warrant there in 2020 as well. Each time, the hope is the same—that this will be the search that ends the waiting. Each time, so far, it has not been.
The sheriff's office said detectives will continue evaluating whatever evidence was collected during the search. No timeline was given for when that analysis might be complete, or whether it might lead anywhere. Officials said no further information would be released at this time, and no additional updates are planned.
On Friday, before the search concluded, the Smart family released a statement. They thanked Sheriff Parkinson, Detective Clint Cole, and the technical experts involved. "We remain hopeful that this current search will be successful," they wrote. They acknowledged the support of the community and people across the country who have followed the case. "We continue to feel the tremendous support of the local community and all the people far beyond the Central Coast who provide us with great strength to continue this journey to bring Kristin home."
That journey continues now, without answers, without closure, without the remains that might finally allow a family to say goodbye.
Notable Quotes
We believe that, based on what we've been looking at – evidence-wise, scientific evidence – that remains were there at one time, or still there.— Sheriff Ian Parkinson, before the search concluded
We remain hopeful that this current search will be successful and look forward to the outcome.— The Smart family, in a statement released Friday
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why search the same property twice? What changed between 2020 and now?
The science changed. Ground-penetrating radar and soil analysis have become more refined. And investigators may have developed new evidence—forensic leads, witness statements, something that made them believe this time would be different.
But it wasn't different. They found nothing.
No, they didn't. And that's its own kind of answer, though not the one anyone wanted.
Does Paul Flores know where she is?
He's convicted of her murder. Whether he's ever told anyone where her remains are—that's the question that's haunted this case for three decades. He's appealing his conviction, so he's not talking.
What does it mean for the family that the search came up empty?
It means the waiting continues. They can't bury her. They can't close this chapter. They have a conviction, which is something, but not everything.
Will they keep searching?
The sheriff's office says it remains committed. But there are only so many places to look, and they've looked at most of them. At some point, the search becomes about hope rather than evidence.