On May 25, 1996, nineteen-year-old Cal Poly San Luis Obispo freshman Kristin Smart vanished after walking back from an off-campus party with fellow student Paul Flores: the last person ever confirmed to have seen her alive. Despite cadaver dogs alerting to Flores's emptied dorm room within weeks of her disappearance, campus police had already fumbled the early investigation badly, failing to preserve evidence, seal the room, or take the case seriously until it was too late. For the next two decades, Flores remained the prime suspect but walked free, as a series of searches of his parents' properties in Arroyo Grande turned up suspicious but ultimately inconclusive physical evidence, and a string of other women came forward to allege he had drugged and sexually assaulted them using the same methods. It took a true crime podcast (Chris Lambert's "Your Own Backyard," launched in 2019) to reignite public interest, generate new leads, and set in motion the renewed investigation that finally led to Flores's arrest in April 2021, nearly 25 years after Kristin disappeared. To this day, Kristin’s body has never been found. This is the story of the 25 year investigation into the disappearance of Kristin Smart.
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