Imagine the pain of not only having a beloved child taken from you in an act of violence, but also of waiting almost three decades for the remains of your loved one to be found.
Such was the life of Stan and Denise Smart, the parents of murdered Cal Poly student Kristin Smart, who disappeared from campus on May 25, 1996.
Now a new scientific technique could shed light on what happened to Kristin’s remains.
Multiple soil vapor analyzes near the backyard belonging to the mother of convicted killer Paul Flores indicated the presence of human decay molecules. The tests were carried out on a neighbor’s property, near a fence that separates the two houses.
But will investigators ever be able to dig for Smart’s remains at Susan Flores’ property, located on East Branch Street in Arroyo Grande?
Search warrant required
The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office said it could not comment on the case because it’s on call and is still considered an active investigation.
However, Det. of the sheriff. Greg Smith told The Tribune that he is into the science of soil testing.
“My job is to either validate what they’re saying or find another expert to say what they’re doing is correct or what they’re doing is solid science or not,” he said. “And that’s where we are in the process.”
The Smart family did not issue a public call for another search of Flores’ garden, although they did offer this comment via text message to a Tribune reporter: “We long for her to rest in the presence of those who love and cherish her with those who continue to work to this day to bring her home.” Our hope is that NO stone will be left unturned!”
Legal experts contacted by Tribune reporter Chloe Jones said judges are generally willing to grant search warrants requested by law enforcement, although one cautioned that since there has already been a conviction, a judge may be reluctant to issue a warrant.
“This is a crime already solved with a conviction,” said Stanley Goldman, a professor at Loyola Marymount University School of Law. “Judges may not be as flexible when it comes to cases that are not yet investigated in terms of criminality.”
Yet crime shouldn’t be the only concern; if we want to do good for the victims and their families, the recovery of missing remains should also be a high priority.
At this point, however, it’s safe to say there won’t be any digging – and no answers – anytime soon.
Unless Susan Flores preemptively agrees to a search.
‘If it was my daughter, I would want the answers’
Yes, it’s more than a long shot – so much so that it might seem foolish to even suggest it.
But if Susan Flores truly believes her son is innocent — and if the whole family doesn’t know anything about what happened to Kristin, as she said — she would welcome a search of her property.
Susan Flores did not speak to the media. When Jones went to her house to give her a chance to react to this latest development, Flores’ boyfriend threatened to call the police.
Yet in a rare interview Flores gave to KSBY News in March 2021, she said, “I would love to see the family have their answers. If it was my daughter, I would want the answers.
In that same interview, she denied that the Flores family — including her son Paul — had anything to do with Smart’s disappearance from the Cal Poly campus.
“We have no responsibility for her disappearance or (in) what happened to this young woman. No. And I said so in court,” she said then.
Yet Paul Flores was convicted of first degree murder on October 18, 2022, and then sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
Her father, Ruben Flores, was found not guilty as an accessory after the fact. He was accused of helping to hide Smart’s body, which was allegedly buried under the deck of Ruben Flores’ house in White Court and later moved. (During the trial, an expert witness testified that human blood was found below deck.)
Parents’ lawsuit: Kristin Smart’s body was thrown away ‘like human trash’
Smart’s parents, Stan and Denise, filed a civil suit against Ruben Flores in April 2021, accusing him of removing Kristin’s body from under the bridge “under cover of darkness” and resting them in another location. Susan Flores and her boyfriend, Mike McConville, were later added to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit describes the impossibility of burying the body of their daughter.
“Had Kristin’s remains not been hidden, hidden again and then moved again, it is reasonably likely that the plaintiffs could have been reunited with their daughter’s remains and given the opportunity to arrange a funeral service where their daughter could be buried in a place of honor and dignity, unlike the current circumstances where their daughter’s body was discarded as human waste.”
Previous searches of Susan Flores’ home
The Flores yard on East Branch Street has already been searched – a search in 2000 as part of the criminal case and a search in 2007 for a civil case.
“I let them dig my yard in 2007. They could have had fun there,” Flores said in his KSBY interview. They picked (ground penetrating radar) and did this and did that and found some anomalies and a piece of metal fitting. … They could have destroyed the whole garden, but their insurance wouldn’t pay for it.
Yet there was never any excavation at the spot near the fence bordering the neighbor’s property.
This is also the area where concrete planters were installed in Flores’ yard shortly after Smart’s disappearance, fueling speculation that his remains or other evidence, such as clothing, may have been buried there at least temporarily.
Since the news of the soil survey, there has been more discussion on social media, with many posters saying Smart’s remains are unlikely to be in the yard at this stage.
Still, it would be helpful to rule this location out, if only to allow law enforcement to focus on other possibilities, especially since Sheriff Ian Parkinson has sworn he won’t stop until Kristin Smart’s body is found.
“There is no real justice until Kristin is reunited with her family. This investigation will not be closed until we find Kristin. This case will not be over until Kristin returns home,” Parkinson said after Paul Flores’ sentencing.
At one point, before her son’s sentencing, Susan Flores seemed to sympathize with the Smart family — at least in front of the TV camera.
“I imagine Denise Smart is a fighter, you know,” KSBY told KSBY. “You know, you’d hate to think that maybe she won’t get an answer, but maybe she won’t.” Maybe she’ll have to wait. One day we’ll all be gone and we’ll be up there with God and she can see her daughter. I believe that. I believe in the afterlife.
Then she added, “It’s a long wait.”
It is, indeed, and if there is anything Susan Flores can do to end the Smarts, she should.