The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office said Saturday, May 9, it has concluded its court-authorized search of the property in the 500 block of East Branch Street tied to Susan Flores and did not recover the remains of Kristin Smart.
“Detectives will be evaluating any evidence we have recovered to aid in the investigation,” the agency said, adding it remains “fully committed to finding Kristin and bringing her home to her family.”
The Sheriff’s Office said no further information is available and it will not be providing additional comments or updates at this time.
The update follows Sheriff Ian Parkinson’s statements Friday that soil testing at the property produced positive results consistent with human decomposition, intensifying a renewed effort to locate Smart’s remains.
“We believe that … human remains were there at one time or still there,” Parkinson told reporters one day earlier. He said the soil tests detect compounds associated with a decomposing human body but cautioned officials could not confirm whether the results are linked to Smart.
Investigators began executing the warrant Wednesday, May 6, collecting soil samples from the front and back yards of the Flores property and a neighboring parcel, and using ground-penetrating radar in the yard and inside the home to help pinpoint areas for potential DNA testing. Parkinson said the operation would continue until crews had either found Smart or gathered all available evidence.
Susan Flores has long been a person of interest, and the home has been searched at least twice before, including with ground-penetrating radar. Parkinson noted that today’s forensic tools are more advanced and said investigators believe Smart’s body may have been moved multiple times, a factor that has led authorities to revisit previously searched locations. While the warrant was active, Flores was not allowed to return home.
The current search echoes earlier forensic findings at another family property. In 2021, archaeologists who examined the Arroyo Grande home of Paul Flores’ father, Ruben Flores, reported a soil disturbance roughly the size of a casket and the presence of human blood; the blood was too degraded to obtain usable DNA.
Prosecutors later accused Ruben Flores of helping his son bury Smart and move her remains; he was acquitted of accessory after the fact in 2022.
Smart, a 19-year-old Cal Poly freshman, disappeared over Memorial Day weekend in 1996 after walking back from a party. Fellow student Paul Flores told police he last saw her near Grand Avenue and Perimeter Road on campus.
After a decades-long investigation, he was arrested in 2021 and convicted of first-degree murder in 2022. He was sentenced in March 2023 to 25 years to life in state prison; his conviction was affirmed by the Second District Court of Appeal in October 2025, and the California Supreme Court denied review in January 2026.
Officials say the latest operation underscores law enforcement’s commitment to finding Smart’s remains nearly three decades after she vanished. No arrests or new discoveries beyond the soil test results have been announced. Anyone with information is urged to contact San Luis Obispo County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-549-STOP (7867).
