Authorities previously stated that soil tests appeared to indicate that human remains were on the property, at least at some point in time

NEED TO KNOW

• Authorities say they did not recover Kristin Smart’s remains during a new search of the California home belonging to the mother of convicted killer Paul Flores
• The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office said soil testing at the property indicated human remains may have been present there either currently or at some point in the past
• Paul Flores was convicted of Smart’s 1996 murder in 2022 and sentenced to life in prison the following year, while his father, Ruben Flores, was acquitted of accessory charges

Police say they did not find the remains of Kristin Smart during a recent search of the California home of Susan Flores, the mother of Kristin's killer.

Authorities had concluded their search of Susan's Arroyo Grande property and that they did not recover Kristin Smart's remains, the San Luis Obispo (SLO) County Sheriff's Office said in a Saturday, May 9, press release.

They added that detectives will be evaluating any evidence recovered during the search, and said the sheriff's office “remains fully committed to finding Kristin and bringing her home to her family."

“No further information is available. At this time, the Sheriff's Office will not be making any additional comments or providing any further updates regarding this investigation,” they concluded.

The SLO County Sheriff's Office said Authorities conducted the search at the home, which belongs to the mother of Paul Flores, who was convicted of Kristin's 1996 murder in 2022, after obtaining a search warrant, the SLO County Sheriff's Office said in a Wednesday, May 6, statement.

During a Friday, May 8, press conference, SLO County Sheriff Ian Parkinson shared that soil testing appeared to indicate that human remains were present on the property either currently or at some time in the past.

"We believe that based on what we're looking at evidence-wise, scientific evidence, that human remains were there at one time or still there. So we can't call it Kristin, but you know, we think there's evidence to support human remains there," the sheriff said. 

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“I'm not going to go into the details, other than just to say with soil tests, it's about the compounds in the soil that are related to a human, decomposing body,” he added.

Parkinson additionally said the home had been searched twice before with no results, but that “investigative leads and evidence” prompted the issuing of a new warrant. 

"We made the agreement that internally that we are not leaving that house until we are sure that we have checked everything," the sheriff said.

During his trial, San Luis Obispo County Deputy District Attorney Christopher Peuvrelle said Paul raped Kristin, 19, in his dorm room while they were both students at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. He then killed her, and then allegedly enlisted his father, Ruben Flores, to help him bury the teen under a deck at their Arroyo Grande home. 

Paul was sentenced to life in prison for Kristin's murder in 2023. Ruben was later found not guilty of accessory after the fact.

Susan has not been accused of any crimes in connection with the murder of Kristin.

After Paul and his father were arrested in 2021, Kristin's parents called the moment "bittersweet" in their decades-long battle for justice. "It is impossible to put into words what this day means for our family; we pray it is the first step to bringing our daughter home," they said in a statement.

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