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.
Search of Flores family home yields no remains in Kristin Smart case
Kristin Smart disappeared in 1996 as a college student and remains missing; her family continues seeking closure and the return of her remains.
Politics & Governance