It’s been more than 20 years since a Cal Poly San Luis Obispo coed disappeared.
Now, a new search is underway in San Luis Obispo County for the remains of Kristin Smart, with officials saying they’ve developed additional evidence in the case. More than 40 law enforcement personnel are involved in this week’s effort.
San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson, flanked by officials with the FBI and the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office, announced that as a result of additional evidence, a new search for the 20 year old student’s remains is underway this week on the Cal Poly campus, as well as at some other spots in the county.
Smart was last seen alive on May 25th, 1996. She had attended an off campus party, and was last seen walking back to her dorm room. However, because in was Memorial Day weekend, she wasn’t officially reported missing until May 27th. On May 30th, the first organized searches were launched.
No trace of her was ever found, and she was declared legally dead in 2002, although investigators have continued to work on the case.
In January, three specially trained cadaver dogs were brought to the county by the FBI in January to help. Based on the dog’s possible findings, this week’s digs were planned. Sean Reagan, the Special Agent In Charge of the FBI’s LA Office, says 25 members of the agency’s response team are involved in this week’s search effort, along with about 15 Sheriff’s Office personnel. Officials aren’t talking about the specific areas they’ll be search for remains, but say they wanted to do their work on the Cal Poly campus before students return for fall classes.
Sheriff Parkinson says the Smart family, which lives in the Stockton area, is being kept up to date on the latest search effort.
At the time of the disappearance, one of the students last seen with Smart, fellow Cal Poly student Paul Flores, was questioned about her disappearance. Detectives say after initially answering some questions, he refused to talk. He was later sued by Smart’s parent, but the case was put on hold because the family’s attorney couldn’t get access to some records because of the ongoing investigation. Sheriff Parkinson, who was asked about whether Flores is a possible suspect, called him a “person of interest” in the case.
The Sheriff says despite the passage of time, the department has continuously been pursuing the case to try to bring justice for the young woman, as well as resolution to the Smart family. One of the legacies of the disappearance is a law which requires security services at public educational institutions to report incidents of violence against students, or disappearances to local law enforcement agencies.
There was criticism at the time about the lag time of campus police receiving a report of Smart’s disappearance, and the launch of a formal investigation by law enforcement agencies.
