What Really Happened to Kristin Smart? Case Still Raises Questions Decades Later
Kristin's body has never been found.
Published May 7 2026, 1:13 p.m. ET
The mysterious case of Kristin Smart has fascinated the public for 30 years, and on May 6, 2026, a break in the case has folks asking what happened to the college student.
Kristin was a freshman at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, Calif., when she disappeared after walking home following a party on May 25, 1996.
Another student, Paul Flores, was convicted of killing her, despite no body ever being found, per NBC News.
The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office says they believe Flores buried her body at the home of his father, Ruben Flores, in Arroyo Grande, Calif., but later moved the remains.
A warrant was issued to search the home of his mother, Susan Flores, 30 years later, and it has people asking what happened to Kristin Smart.
What happened to Kristin Smart? Here's what we know.
Kristin attended an off-campus party on the evening of May 24, 1996, and after she became intoxicated, she passed out on a neighbor’s lawn. Flores reportedly offered to walk her home to her dorm in Muir Hall around 2 a.m. because another friend who'd offered to help wasn't steady on her feet.
It was the last time anyone saw Kristin, and when questioned by the police, Flores had a black eye but claimed he got it while fixing his truck, after initially saying it happened while playing basketball.
Kristin was declared dead in 2002, and Flores remained a suspect after the sheriff’s office and four cadaver dogs searched his dorm room, and the dogs got a hit on his mattress. They believe that his father helped him bury Kristin at his home and moved her remains nearly two decades later in 2020, per CBS News.
The prosecutor on the case, Christopher Peuvrelle, said, "The excavation below his deck... showed damning evidence that a body had been buried in that location and then recently moved."
The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office announced they were conducting another search at the home of Flores's mother.
On May 6, 2026, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office announced that they were conducting another search, this time at the home of Flores's mother.
"The Sheriff's Office has issued a press release regarding a search warrant related to the Kristin Smart investigation. The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office is conducting an additional investigation into the property in the 500 block of East Branch Street in Arroyo Grande," read the post.
"This investigation is related to the Kristin Smart disappearance. This activity is the result of a search warrant signed by a Superior Court judge. The Sheriff’s Office remains committed to bringing Kristin home to her family.
No further information is available. At this time, the Sheriff’s Office will not be making any additional comment regarding this investigation," the statement concluded.
Flores was found guilty of second-degree murder for killing Kristin in 2022, and prosecutors said that the murder occurred "while in the commission of, or attempted, rape," per The New York Times.
He was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. Ruben Flores was also arrested as an accessory, but was later acquitted.