Unsolved case of missing Calif. college student Kristin Smart heats up with another search warrant
Police served another search warrant Wednesday on a man considered the lone person of interest in the 1996 disappearance of California college student Kristin Smart.
The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office said the search warrant was for specific items of evidence at the Los Angeles County home of Paul Flores, the last person to see Smart alive.
“Flores continues to be a person of interest in the disappearance of Kristin Smart,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement announcing the warrant served at 7 a.m.
Flores allegedly walked Smart, then a 19-year-old freshman, back to her dorm at California Polytechnic State University after leaving an off-campus party in San Luis Obispo on May 25, 1996.
Smart vanished without a trace and was legally declared dead in May 2002.
In February, the sheriff’s office served sealed search warrants at four locations in California and Washington State and briefly detained Flores, now 43.
A man believed to be Paul Flores (in blue)— released by @LASDHQ deputies, after being detained— likely in connection with disappearance of Kristin D. Smart. He was the last person to see her, when she vanished 24 years ago, at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. @KNX1070 pic.twitter.com/Xv65ZsCMRu
— Craig Fiegener (@CraigNews3LV) February 5, 2020
Wednesday’s search warrant involved only the home of Flores, officials said.
“This continues to be an active and on-going investigation,” sheriff’s officials said, declining to answer questions about any items sought or retrieved.
Interest in Smart’s fate heated up last year with the release of a popular podcast about the case, Your Own Backyard.
