Evidence of Human Remains, But No Body, Found In Yard During Search Related to Kristin Smart Case

"We believe that ... human remains were there at one time or [are] still there. He explained that the investigative team was using the same ground-penetrating radar that had been used in the search at Ruben Flores's property, and soil testing was being conducted as well. "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," Parkinson said."

""I think it's safe to say that we have not recovered Kristin yet," he said. "But our search goes on, and I don't know how long we're going to be there." Parkinson spoke about law enforcement's frustrations with this case over the decades. "I remember speaking to our i"

"Smart's body has never been found, and investigators have long believed that Flores's parents likely helped their then-19-year-old son dispose of or hide the body. Ruben Flores, the father of Paul Flores, was tried alongside his son for being an accessory to Smart's murder, however a jury acquitted him due to lack of evidence."

"Evidence was presented at the trial from a 2021 search of the backyard at Ruben Flores's home, in which investigators found traces of degraded human blood in the soil around what appeared to be a recently filled-in, six-foot-by-four-foot void underneath a back deck."

A search warrant was served at Susan Flores’s Arroyo Grande home and backyard as investigators look for evidence related to Kristin Smart’s 1996 murder. Kristin Smart’s body has never been found, and investigators have long believed Paul Flores’s parents helped dispose of or hide the body. Paul Flores was convicted in 2022, while Ruben Flores was acquitted after a lack of evidence. Investigators previously found degraded human blood traces in soil around a void under a back deck during a 2021 search at Ruben Flores’s property. Sheriff Ian Parkinson said human remains were believed to have been present or still present, and investigators are using ground-penetrating radar and soil tests for compounds associated with a decomposing body.

Read at sfist.com