More than three decades after Kristin Smart vanished from a California college campus, her family is still searching — not for answers about who killed her, but for the one thing that could finally bring them peace: her body.
Smart was killed in 1996, but her murderer, Paul Flores, wasn’t convicted of the crime until 2023. After Flores lost his final appeal to overturn or reduce his life sentence, Smart’s family has made it clear they aren’t done fighting for justice.
In May 2026, a possible breakthrough in the case might happen after police obtained a search warrant for Flores’ mother’s home.
Keep reading for everything to know about the case:
Kristin Smart Disappeared From California Polytechnic State University
Smart was just 19 years old when she was murdered on the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo campus, where she had just completed her freshman year. Flores, who was also a student at the school, was the last person seen with her leaving a party before she disappeared.
Despite Flores being on investigators’ radar from the start, more than two decades passed before authorities made an arrest.
On Us Weekly’s Uncovered, investigative journalist Kristin Thorne took a deeper dive into the case while speaking with San Luis Obispo Tribune reporter Chloe Jones, who covered Flores’ trial and has spoken with Smart’s parents.
Jones explained that Flores “was always the person of interest ever since she first went missing.” But detectives “did not treat it like a missing persons case when she first went missing.”
“A lot of evidence in his room disappeared, and essentially this botched investigation led to never having enough evidence to actually convict this person,” Jones said.
The Search for Kristin Smart’s Body
Years after Smart died, police received a tip that allowed them to obtain a search warrant for Flores’ father’s backyard “where they found an empty clandestine grave that had alleged evidence of human remains being there.” Jones said that evidence was “essentially a soil stain.”
“They did some ground-penetrating radar and found an anomaly in the ground, and the anomaly was about the size of a grave of a human body, and then when they dug up that anomaly to see what was in there, they found essentially, like, a bathtub ring stain,” she said. “They did some testing on it, and the testing of that bathtub ring tested positive for human blood.”
Even with that breakthrough, Smart’s body has never been recovered and the absence weighs heavily on her family.
“They still don’t have a body, and all they want to do is have her body, have that closure to lay her to rest,” Jones said. “They’re still in a lot of pain, they’re still hurting. They still feel like, even though the trial’s done, they don’t have that closure that they’d like.”
Jones said it remains a “big mystery” where Smart’s body is, though her “family will never give up on” finding her.
“The sheriff and the DA also said something to that effect, where they felt like the case is still going until they find her body and can help give the family the closure that they need,” Jones added.
Paul Flores’ Arrest and Conviction
Flores was arrested in 2021, more than two decades after Smart vanished. He was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison in March 2023 after a jury found him guilty of murdering Smart.
The trial hinged on more than just the circumstantial evidence surrounding Smart’s disappearance. During the proceedings, the judge allowed two women to testify who said they had been raped by Flores.
How 2 Women’s Testimonies Helped Convict Paul Flores
The testimonies proved to be a turning point in the case.
“The testimonies of the women who said that they were raped by Paul Flores after Kristin was murdered were very powerful. It really connected with the jury, and it really connected with the gallery,” Jones said. “They were both extremely affected by it, and they also experienced very similar patterns of behavior, where they kind of were pursued by Paul at a bar. Paul gave them a drink. They essentially blacked out, got really dizzy and woke up at some point with Paul on top of them.”
During one of the testimonies, one woman claimed she had a ball gag in her mouth when she was raped by Flores.
“I think that was testimony that was really impactful,” Jones continued. “In my conversation with the jurors after the sentencing, they actually said the two women who testified did impact their decision-making in finding Paul guilty.”
Amid the investigation, prosecutors obtained a search warrant and were able to go through Flores’ computer. They found videos of Flores having sex with “women who appeared to be unconscious.” Additionally, one of the videos also showed a woman who was ball gagged, and Jones explained that the judge allowed the prosecutor to share one photo of the woman during the trial.
The jurors told Jones that the testimonies and the video evidence “established a pattern of behavior” by Flores, since the women were described as being incapable of consent at the time of their encounters with him.
That pattern, jurors believed, mirrored what witnesses described seeing the night Smart disappeared.
“Based off of the people who witnessed Kristin at the party the night that she disappeared, she was incredibly intoxicated and incredibly incoherent and unable to consent and could barely walk,” Jones explained.
Paul Flores’ File to Appeal Was Denied
Flores has consistently maintained that he did not kill Smart.
Two years after Flores’ conviction, his attorneys filed an appeal to overturn the verdict, arguing that “the two women who testified” against Flores “should not have been allowed to do that” and that “the jury never should have heard that testimony.”
Before the first appeal was denied in October 2025, Flores’ attorneys filed a second appeal to overturn the case. The second appeal was denied in January 2026.
New Search Warrant Issues in May 2026
Nearly 30 years after Smart’s disappearance, a new search warrant was issued in connection to her death.
On May 6, 2026, deputies with the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant at a house in the 500 block of East Branch Street. USA Today reported that the home belongs to Flores’ mother, Susan Flores.
The sheriff’s office confirmed that the investigation stemmed from a search warrant, which was signed by a Superior Court judge and was related to Smart’s disappearance.
“The Sheriff’s Office remains committed to bringing Kristin home to her family,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement. “No further information is available.”
While the agency did not share any additional information about the search, they did share photos of officers outside of the home, walking through an outdoor garden on the property and in a garage that stored many household items.
This story was compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists.
