Overview
- San Luis Obispo County deputies said Saturday they finished searching Susan Flores’s Arroyo Grande home and did not recover Kristin Smart.
- Sheriff Ian Parkinson said Friday that scientific testing pointed to human remains being present at the property, though investigators could not identify them as Smart’s.
- Teams used ground-penetrating radar and soil vapor sampling, which checks underground gases linked to human decay, to gather evidence from the yard.
- Experts will analyze the samples to determine next steps, which could include deeper excavation or a new legal move if the results support it.
- Smart vanished in 1996, Paul Flores was convicted in 2022 and is serving 25 years to life, and the Your Own Backyard podcast helped revive leads and first reported this week’s search.