Sleuths are on a quest to find Kristin Smart’s body, the last piece of an enduring mystery
ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. — It’s been 27 years since Kristin Smart disappeared following an off-campus party after being “hunted” for months by another Cal Poly San Luis Obispo student.
Paul Flores, who was the last person seen with Smart as the two walked toward her dormitory after a Memorial Day weekend party, was convicted in October of murdering her in 1996. But her body has never been found.
Smart’s parents, Stan and Denise Smart, say the guilty verdict wasn’t enough. They want to be able to lay their daughter’s remains to rest.
Even the San Luis Obispo County’s Sheriff’s Office has refused to close the case.
“We don’t take a breath. We do not put this aside. We continue to pursue this until we bring Kristin home to the family,” Sheriff Ian Parkinson said after Flores’ trial.
Now three men — an engineer, a scientist and a FBI research-chemist-turned-professor — are on a quest to find where the 19-year-old’s body is buried.
They are using technology known as soil vapor sampling, which they say could detect the presence of volatile organic compounds that may be associated with decomposing human remains. Although the practice is still in the theoretical research stage, scientists have spent two decades studying the chemical compounds associated with the breakdown of human bodies.
Sheriff’s Det. Greg Smith said the department
