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1996 Smart,Kristin 05/29/96; San Luis Obispo 19 YO
Topic Started: Jul 20 2006, 05:39 PM (1,142 Views)
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http://www.ksby.com/home/headlines/2637886.html

$100,000 reward for Smart tip

Friday, April 14, 2006
By: Kimberly Romo

It will be 10 years, next month, since Kristin Smart vanished from Cal Poly's campus, yet no one has ever been charged with her disappearance.

Now a Sacramento man is hoping to get to the bottom of the questions that have been unanswered for the last decade.

Terry Black hopes that by running ads in several media outlets, offering a $100,000 reward, will put the pressure on those who know something to speak up.

Kristin Smart, a 19-year-old Cal Poly freshman was last seen May 24, 1996, while walking back to her dorm.

Black has never even met the Smart family, but he feels compelled to find answers so they can properly lay their daughter to rest.

While detectives say Kristin's case is still "active and open," Black believes the crime remains unsolved because of a cover-up.

He is working to get a full-page ad to appear in this Sunday's edition of "The Tribune" newspaper, and another full-pager in Thursday's edition of the "New Times."

Similar ads from a few weeks ago generated tips that were turned over to investigators.

These ads are targeting the few people with the information to unlock the mystery about what happened to Kristin.

"Everybody is dumbfounded that this case is still not solved, and what I'm attempting to do is draw national attention to that community, and get this case solved," says Black.

He says that "national attention" includes every television station and newspaper in the Country. And hopes the $100,000 reward will attract professional investigators who will work to crack the case.

Black says no arrest or conviction is necessary for the reward, just information that leads to the location of Kristin's body.

Kristin's family has organized the "Kristin Smart Memorial Run," which will be held on May 20 in Arroyo Grande. For information, log on to www.findkristinsmart.org, or www.active.com, or call (805) 481-3037.
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Kristin Smart remembeed with a run in Arroyo Grande
Saturday, May 20, 2006
By: Andrew Masuda
Nearly ten years ago, Kristin Smart vanished from the Cal Poly campus. After a decade of searching and heartache, there's still no sign of the 19-year-old. Today, loved ones and Central Coast residents honor and remember her with an inaugural run.

"This has been marvelous for us, for the community to remember our daughter, for us just to keep everyone aware that we have not found her yet," says Stan Smart, Kristin's father. Both of Kristin's parents were there, along with her brother and her sister.

The race was an opportunity for them to give back to a community that's supported them for a decade. Racers say they haven't forgotten Kristin or her family's plight. "I've been reading about it in the paper for ten years," says participant George McClintock. "so, I think it's something to be aware of for people."

"We truly care," added Yvonne Thomason. "We drive through the village every day and my daughter always notices her picture. So, people haven't forgotten."

On top of honoring Kristin, organizers also hoped to educate and prevent other families from the pain and suffering the Smart family knows all too well. DNA and fingerprinting kits as well as educational materials were given to the participants.

"It's for college students to be aware of their surroundings when they're out," says Lindsey Smart, Kristin's sister. "That's my favorite part of the race."

To this day, no one has been charged with Kristin's disappearance. Detectives say her case is still active and open. Still, the Smarts hope one day Kristin will be found and justice will be served. They say events like this one can only help.

"We're very, very thankful," adds Stan. "It's wonderful to keep our daughter's name out there and hopefully, things will be resolved."

Proceeds from today's event will help pay for the Kristin Smart Point of Hope Overlook at the Dinosaur Caves Park in Shell Beach. Her mother says going to the beach was one of Kristin's favorite things to do. http://www.ksby.com/home/headlines/2840816.html

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The search for Kristin Smart never ends for her family
By MARSHA DORGAN, Register Staff Writer
Monday, May 29, 2006 1:11 AM PDT
For the past 10 years, the Smart family has died a little each day.

It was on Memorial Day weekend 1996 that their 19-year-old daughter Kristin Smart disappeared. For the past decade the family has been waiting for that moment when they can bring her body back for a proper burial.

Kristin, a freshman at Cal Poly University in San Luis Obispo, was last seen in the early morning hours of May 25, 1996, after she left an off-campus party.

Investigators believe Paul Flores, 19, also a student at the university, was the last person to see Kristin alive. She met him at the party, and the two walked together back to their dorm rooms, which were in separate buildings. Flores has always maintained he left Kristin around 2 a.m., when they reached his dorm room. He said she continued to walk the short distance to her room alone. Detectives still consider Flores as a possible suspect.



For Kristin's parents, Denise and Stan Smart, and her siblings, Matt, 27, and Lindsey, 24, the ordeal has been almost more than they can bear.

Stan was principal of Vintage High School at the time their daughter went missing. In 2000, he assumed the duties of Napa Valley Unified School District director of student services. He retires on June 30.

"A little part of our lives dies each day. People lose someone they love each day, but it shouldn't be your children," Denise Smart said. "There is a hole in our heart that never goes away. It's not easy to move on when you don't know where your child is."

The Smarts have long since given up hope their daughter will be found alive.

"But to think of her somewhere in an unmarked, unknown grave ... no greater pain for a parent," Denise said.

Stan Smart is frustrated the case has not been resolved. "We don't have any idea where she is," he said.

Stan spent the first three summers after his daughter's disappearance combing the area around the college looking for Kristin's body.

"It's very hilly, steep, wooded terrain. And we don't have any idea where to search. If we just had some direction, we could get a large number of people to search, but where do you look? It is unusual that a hiker hasn't come across her body," Smart said. "We still go down to San Luis Obispo and continue to search. We have to. But it just eats you alive."

Like the police, the Smarts believe Flores knows details about what happened to Kristin. But he's not talking. Other than making a few initial statements to police when Kristin disappeared, over the past 10 years, Flores has refused to talk to investigators. He has never denied any involvement in Kristin's disappearance.

"I know he killed our daughter. Kristin had been drinking that night. I think he took her to his dorm room and tried to rape her. She may have fought back, and he hit her in the head or choked her," Stan said.

"He was alone in his dorm room that night. His roommate was in San Francisco. I believe he wrapped Kristin's body in a blanket and took her out the window -- his room was on the ground floor," he said. "I think he put her body in a nearby Dumpster, and she ended up in the landfill."

Smart said sheriff's investigators checked the landfill, but found nothing.

"Now the landfill has been closed because it has been declared a hazmat. They have covered the entire fill with a layer of dirt," he said.

On one of their trips to San Luis Obispo after their daughter's disappearance, Denise confronted Flores at the gas station where he worked.

"I introduced myself to him. I said, 'Paul, it's a terrible accident. We need your help to find Kristin. Please tell us what you know,'" Denise said. "He went inside and locked himself in a closet. He knows where she is and that it's a place where she doesn't want to be, and certainly a place we don't want her to be."

Flores is represented by an attorney hired after the Smart's filed a wrongful death suit against him.

"We are not suing for money, but for information. He knows where she is, and he needs to tell us," Stan said. The next hearing is set for early June.

Twice, Flores' attorneys have presented plea bargains to the Smarts.

"In return for information about Kristin, Paul wanted to be assured he would not get any jail time. But the deals fell through," Denise said. "I know he did it, and he needs to be punished."

From the very beginning, the Smarts have been unhappy with the way law enforcement has handled the investigation.

"She disappeared early Saturday morning, and the campus police didn't notify us until Monday night. They said she could have just taken off," Denise said.

By the time campus police got around to searching Flores' dorm room, he had left for the summer and taken all of his belongings.

"We wanted other law enforcement called in right away. I wanted the FBI involved because I believe Kristin was kidnapped," she said. "But all we ever got was that the case was in good hands with the campus police."

About a month after Kristin's disappearance, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's investigators were called in.

They searched Flores' dorm room with cadaver dogs. The dogs picked up the scent of corpse on the edge of Flores' mattress and the telephone on the adjacent nightstand.

In 1999, Gov. Pete Wilson signed what is commonly called the Kristin Smart Law, requiring universities and colleges to notify local law enforcement immediately if a violent crime may have occurred.

The current provost for the university, Robert Detweiler was not at Cal Poly when Kristin disappeared. He came in 1998.

"I am familiar about the Smarts' concern. I have checked with people who were here when it happened. The university believes campus police acted professionally and appropriately. We have cooperated with law enforcement from the beginning, Detweiler said. "As tragic as this is, the case has impacted the university to become more concerned in educating students, especially freshmen, about safety and sexual assault. It made us more attentive to the issue of alcohol abuse."

The Smarts are also frustrated that the sheriff's department is not working closer with them.

"They do not communicate with us about the case. We're not getting any information. They are accusing us of leaking information to the media. They have told us a task force made up of an officials from the FBI, the sheriff's and district attorney's office has been assigned to investigate Kristin's case. They are to work on it until the case is resolved," Denise said. "However, we do not have contact with them. I would just think law enforcement would keep us better informed."

During the past 10 years, one of the bright spots in the Smart's life as been Dennis Mahon.

Mahon, who is from Charlotte, NC, came to California to search for Kristen Modafferi. The 19-year-old, who is also from Charlotte and a North Carolina State University student, was last seen on June 23, 1997, leaving a San Francisco coffee shop.

After Mahon arrived in San Francisco, he became interested in the Kristin Smart case and started putting information about her on his sonofsusan.com Web site. Mahon used to park outside the Flores' home in Arroyo Grande and also took photos of Paul Flores during his court appearances.

"His Web site has kept Kristen's case alive. We are very thankful," Denise said.

However, Mahon's involvement in the Kristin Smart case is the main reason law enforcement has been stingy in releasing information to the family, San Luis Obispo Sheriff's Undersheriff Steve Bolts said.

"They have been very involved and very appreciated of Dennis Mahon, his Web site and the information he puts on it. We have asked Dennis and the Smarts to remove the information because it's inaccurate. We will not participate in providing information to them that ends up being incorrect," Bolts said. "Every time we give them information they think they are doing the right thing by putting it on the Internet. If it was accurate information, we would not have this problem. But Dennis puts his own spin on it.

"We cannot maintain the credibility of the investigation if we can't validate the information on the Web site. So we don't share information with the Smarts," Bolts said. "If they would agree not to share information, we would meet with them on a daily basis if they wanted. But they have declined."

In addition to the loss of her daughter, Denise struggles with the image that she believes the media has painted of Kristin the night she disappeared.

"There were all kinds of stories portraying Kristin to be the drunk girl who didn't make it home from the party. I'm no Polyanna. I know college kids drink. But I don't want people to get the wrong message about my daughter. She was the girl who walked home with the wrong person. The message is we need to look out for one another," Denise said. "I know the police report said she was drunk. But wasn't as if she was passed out, lying over a beer keg. I just don't want her to be victimized again. Kristin is the one who knows what happened that night. And she is not here to tell us."

As another anniversary passes of their daughter's disappearance, Stan, Denise, Matt and Lindsey refuse to give up hope that the case will be resolved and Kristen will be put to rest with dignity.

"Someone asked me if I heard that they found Kristin's body would I be happy?" Stan said. "No, I wouldn't be happy. Yes, there would be some closure. But it's never a happy situation when you have to bury your child."

Attempts by the Register to contact the Flores' family were unsuccessful. Paul Flores' parents, Susan and Ruben, have divorced and live in Arroyo Grande. Both have unlisted telephone numbers. Paul Flores is living in Lawndale with his ex-brother-in-law.



http://www.napavalleyregister.com/articles.../iq_3446825.txt
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A Cold Case, a Haunting Mystery
Ten years after Cal Poly freshman Kristin Smart disappeared on her way from a party, there are few clues and no body. The only suspect won't talk.
By Peter H. King, Times Staff Writer
June 18, 2006


SAN LUIS OBISPO — One warm Friday night in late spring 10 years ago, Kristin Denise Smart and three other young women started walking from their dorms at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. They were headed for the neighborhoods of apartment complexes and overpopulated "Animal House"-like bungalows that border the campus. They were looking for a party.
It was Memorial Day weekend. Kristin's first year away at college was coming to a close. The 19-year-old from Stockton would have considered that something to celebrate. As far back as February, she'd written to another student that "school seems like it is never going to end."
Kristin, who earned A's and Bs in high school, had struggled in a couple of her college courses. She had expressed doubts, in anguished conversations with her parents, about whether Cal Poly was right for her.
Three weeks earlier, her mother had sent a six-page, handwritten letter urging Kristin, the oldest of three children, to "learn from your mistakes and get on with life…. Wake up and smell the roses. You have a world of opportunities at your fingertips."

Later, after Kristin had failed to return to her dorm room and the searches had commenced — searches with helicopters, horses and busloads of volunteers; searches guided by ground-penetrating radar, psychics and anonymous tipsters who signed their missives with code names like "Jellybean" — her parents would be asked by reporters to describe their daughter.
Kristin, they would say, was "a dreamer," a girl who would give her family bear hugs, cook them omelets and, even in her late teens, sit on her father's lap. She loved the ocean and travel and poetry. She had been a counselor at a camp on Oahu. She would call her mother every week from Cal Poly, sometimes, yes, to "whine," but also to share successes.
"She wasn't one to run away from anything," her mother said, a pointed reference to the initial instinct of campus police investigators that they were dealing with another runaway — treating Kristin's disappearance, in the opinion of her parents, "like a lost bicycle."
Her first choice for college had been a university on the Virgin Islands. Her parents, both educators, thought that was too far from their San Joaquin Valley home; Kristin instead picked Cal Poly, a popular state university on the Central Coast.
"We thought that would be a good place for her," Kristin's father, Stan Smart, recalled not long ago. "We thought it was a safe community, you know. And it is. It just didn't work out that way for our family."
Best known for its programs in agriculture, architecture and engineering, Cal Poly has long followed a hands-on educational philosophy calibrated — without apology to academia's loftier aspirations — to prepare its graduates for ready and rapid entry into the working world. "Learn by Doing" goes the campus creed.
Of course, part of the learning that any freshman does at Cal Poly, or at any non-commuter college for that matter, involves lessons in how to live away from home for the first time. It can be a time for social experimentation, for tasting new things, trying out new identities.
Kristin was no exception. Her e-mails, recovered after she disappeared, were signed with such aliases as Marysol, Roxie, Trixie, Kianna and punctuated with a 19-year-old's philosophical postscript: "Live your life to be an EXCLAMATION, rather than an EXPLANATION."

At some point, other students said, she had dyed her naturally blond hair brunet. She also had demonstrated a flair for melodrama. It was not uncommon, a friend would tell investigators, for Kristin to act drunk at parties, even when she was sober. Still, Kristin had seemed happy when her family visited her earlier in the spring.
"She was enjoying it, the social piece," said Stan Smart, a public school administrator in Napa who commutes home to Stockton for weekends. "I think she was exploring and finding her way."
Kristin's appearance was striking: 6 foot 1 with a lean swimmer's physique, high cheekbones and dark, almond-shaped eyes. In high school, her mother has said, she was bothered when her good looks attracted attention.
On the evening she went looking for a party, May 24, 1996, Kristin wore a short-cropped T-shirt, black running shorts and red athletic shoes. This was not an unusual ensemble for a female student at Cal Poly, especially on a day when temperatures had reached the high 80s.
Sometime after 5:30 p.m. Friday, Kristin left a message on her mother's telephone, reporting, happily, that she would be allowed to make up a biology test that somehow had been lost earlier in the year.
"She was very excited," Denise Smart recalled. "She said, 'Hi, good news, good news.' That was her good news: She had gotten a call from professor whatever his name was. She had been trying for so long to get that resolved."
About 8:30 p.m., Kristin and her three companions were on their way from the dorms, a staggered row of brick and concrete buildings set against a steep incline known as Poly Hill.


http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-kr...-home-headlines

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From the Los Angeles Times
A Cold Case, a Haunting Mystery
Ten years after Cal Poly freshman Kristin Smart disappeared on her way from a party, there are few clues and no body. The only suspect won't talk.
By Peter H. King
Times Staff Writer

June 18, 2006



SAN LUIS OBISPO — One warm Friday night in late spring 10 years ago, Kristin Denise Smart and three other young women started walking from their dorms at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. They were headed for the neighborhoods of apartment complexes and overpopulated "Animal House"-like bungalows that border the campus. They were looking for a party.

It was Memorial Day weekend. Kristin's first year away at college was coming to a close. The 19-year-old from Stockton would have considered that something to celebrate. As far back as February, she'd written to another student that "school seems like it is never going to end."

Kristin, who earned A's and Bs in high school, had struggled in a couple of her college courses. She had expressed doubts, in anguished conversations with her parents, about whether Cal Poly was right for her.

Three weeks earlier, her mother had sent a six-page, handwritten letter urging Kristin, the oldest of three children, to "learn from your mistakes and get on with life…. Wake up and smell the roses. You have a world of opportunities at your fingertips."

Later, after Kristin had failed to return to her dorm room and the searches had commenced — searches with helicopters, horses and busloads of volunteers; searches guided by ground-penetrating radar, psychics and anonymous tipsters who signed their missives with code names like "Jellybean" — her parents would be asked by reporters to describe their daughter.

Kristin, they would say, was "a dreamer," a girl who would give her family bear hugs, cook them omelets and, even in her late teens, sit on her father's lap. She loved the ocean and travel and poetry. She had been a counselor at a camp on Oahu. She would call her mother every week from Cal Poly, sometimes, yes, to "whine," but also to share successes.

"She wasn't one to run away from anything," her mother said, a pointed reference to the initial instinct of campus police investigators that they were dealing with another runaway — treating Kristin's disappearance, in the opinion of her parents, "like a lost bicycle."

Her first choice for college had been a university on the Virgin Islands. Her parents, both educators, thought that was too far from their San Joaquin Valley home; Kristin instead picked Cal Poly, a popular state university on the Central Coast.

"We thought that would be a good place for her," Kristin's father, Stan Smart, recalled not long ago. "We thought it was a safe community, you know. And it is. It just didn't work out that way for our family."

Best known for its programs in agriculture, architecture and engineering, Cal Poly has long followed a hands-on educational philosophy calibrated — without apology to academia's loftier aspirations — to prepare its graduates for ready and rapid entry into the working world. "Learn by Doing" goes the campus creed.

Of course, part of the learning that any freshman does at Cal Poly, or at any non-commuter college for that matter, involves lessons in how to live away from home for the first time. It can be a time for social experimentation, for tasting new things, trying out new identities.

Kristin was no exception. Her e-mails, recovered after she disappeared, were signed with such aliases as Marysol, Roxie, Trixie, Kianna and punctuated with a 19-year-old's philosophical postscript: "Live your life to be an EXCLAMATION, rather than an EXPLANATION."

At some point, other students said, she had dyed her naturally blond hair brunet. She also had demonstrated a flair for melodrama. It was not uncommon, a friend would tell investigators, for Kristin to act drunk at parties, even when she was sober. Still, Kristin had seemed happy when her family visited her earlier in the spring.

"She was enjoying it, the social piece," said Stan Smart, a public school administrator in Napa who commutes home to Stockton for weekends. "I think she was exploring and finding her way."

Kristin's appearance was striking: 6 foot 1 with a lean swimmer's physique, high cheekbones and dark, almond-shaped eyes. In high school, her mother has said, she was bothered when her good looks attracted attention.

On the evening she went looking for a party, May 24, 1996, Kristin wore a short-cropped T-shirt, black running shorts and red athletic shoes. This was not an unusual ensemble for a female student at Cal Poly, especially on a day when temperatures had reached the high 80s.

Sometime after 5:30 p.m. Friday, Kristin left a message on her mother's telephone, reporting, happily, that she would be allowed to make up a biology test that somehow had been lost earlier in the year.

"She was very excited," Denise Smart recalled. "She said, 'Hi, good news, good news.' That was her good news: She had gotten a call from professor whatever his name was. She had been trying for so long to get that resolved."

About 8:30 p.m., Kristin and her three companions were on their way from the dorms, a staggered row of brick and concrete buildings set against a steep incline known as Poly Hill.

They weren't far into their walk when they flagged down a friend in a pickup truck. Kristin climbed into the cab and the others hopped into the back. For two hours, the truck trolled the surrounding neighborhoods. Finally, Kristin suggested they swing by 135 Crandall Way, an unofficial fraternity house near campus.

Kristin's companions did not want to go to the party: In the course of any year, certain party venues at Cal Poly develop reputations for rowdy behavior, where the atmosphere created by the mix of testosterone and tap beer can make single, female students less than comfortable.

And so they dropped her off a couple of blocks from the house and went home. It was now about 10:30 p.m. So far, none of them, including Kristin, had been drinking.

"I can still see her standing there after we dropped her off, a little mad I think that I wouldn't go with her," Margarita Campos told the San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune a year later. "Someone who wasn't as independent as Kristin wouldn't have gone to a party alone.

"She kept saying, 'You go with me.' But I didn't want to go. I told her, 'You better be careful,' and she said she would be fine. Then she said 'Bye.' "

Unrealistic Expectations

It can seem so easy on television, where the ubiquitous fictional detectives can solve complicated cases, bringing the perpetrators to justice and the victim's family to "closure," and all in less than an hour. Or, in a single segment, one of cable's nightly cavalcade of crime show hosts dissects the latest murder of the moment, debriefs the secondhand experts, consoles the survivors and then, after a short break, is back to take on the next perp waiting in the dock of presumed guilt.

Expectations raised by television crime fighters can complicate things for real-world investigators: "Everybody wants an answer, right now," said a law enforcement official who has worked on the Smart investigation. "And if you can't give them an answer in 30 minutes, you are derelict in your duty."

Sadly, there have been no 30-minute answers in the case of Kristin Smart. In her story, the forensic pieces do not snap neatly into place, the suspect refuses to fold in the interrogation room, and the family is left not with "closure" but with the vapor of conjecture, deprived even of a body to bury.

The party at 135 Crandall Way had all the trappings of a typical Friday night beer bust. There was a keg, a stereo system and about 60 revelers, some invited, many not. There even was, late in the festivities, a fistfight — the traditional signal at such get-togethers for the scholars to stagger on home.

Tim Davis, a senior who helped stage the party, would tell investigators that he was shooing away the last stragglers about 2 a.m. when he spotted the tall girl who had been calling herself Roxie sprawled on a lawn next door, apparently passed out. He roused her. She complained that she was cold.

Roxie — it was Kristin — had been noticed at the party.

"Her demeanor was described as 'weird,' " reported a private investigator who debriefed people who were there, "as if she was 'on something.' "

She was, the investigator was told, "acting 'flirtatious' and 'highly active.' "

"At one point," went another investigative report, "she dragged a student into a bathroom…. Once inside the bathroom with the door closed, Kristen [sic] began looking at herself in the mirror and saying, 'Am I ugly? Do you think I'm ugly? Am I ugly?' all the while primping."

She was seen kissing a basketball player. She was heard insisting that she must apologize to the basketball player. One student said she was drinking tequila. A detective had information that she was "chugging tumblers of Vodka."

There were people at the party, however, who could not recall seeing Kristin with a drink. This has led her parents to wonder if she might have been slipped one of the date-rape drugs that were just beginning to infiltrate the California college scene.

The Crandall Way house is a 10-minute walk from the dormitories. Kristin, however, was in no condition to make the walk without help, and so Davis said he would do it.

Another woman who lived in the dorms said she would join him. Her name was Cheryl Anderson, and her escort had disappeared. She had seen Kristin around campus but did not know her.

Before they started out, yet another dorm resident appeared from "out of nowhere," as Anderson later put it, and volunteered to join them. It was paul Flores, a 19-year-old from the nearby town of Arroyo Grande.

Flores had been a mediocre student at Arroyo Grande High, with grades and SAT scores that would not seem to have made him Cal Poly material. Through a sort of good-neighbor policy, however, the university gives extra weight to applicants from the Central Coast.

In the fall quarter, Flores flunked English composition and math. He received a D in an introductory course in food sciences, his major. He did earn a unit of credit in a pass-fail course: bowling. Flores' grades would not improve much in the next two quarters, and at 0.6, his freshman GPA barely showed a pulse.

His troubles were not confined to academics. In December, a female student summoned San Luis Obispo police at 1 a.m.; she told dispatchers that Flores, apparently drunk, had climbed a trellis outside her apartment and was refusing to leave her balcony. He was gone by the time officers arrived.

Six weeks later, Flores was seen racing his pickup through a downtown intersection. A police cruiser followed him into a gas station. Flores' speech was slurred and his eyes were bloodshot, the officer reported.

He talked the officer into letting him go inside the station to pay for his gas. The policeman watched through a window as Flores purchased a pack of chewing gum and stuffed "a large quantity in his mouth." The gambit failed. Flores was ordered to spit out the gum and was given a breath test, which he flunked with a 0.13% blood-alcohol reading. He lost his license.

Those who knew Flores from the dorms or back in Arroyo Grande tended to describe him the same way to investigators or in legal depositions. He was, they said with remarkable uniformity, "annoying." He would hit on their girlfriends. He could be obnoxious when drunk.

At 5 foot 10 and 170 pounds, Flores was not physically imposing. His face did have a certain boyish charm. But he was not popular, and whenever he boasted about a sexual conquest, those who knew him would scoff, convinced that he was still a virgin.

In the days after Kristin's disappearance, before their son was named a suspect, Flores' parents told investigators that when he was in high school they had bought a pool table, hoping to attract other students to their house.

"Paul had no friends," they told a law enforcement source, who recounted the conversation. "And so they thought that" — with the pool table — "Paul at least would have somebody to talk to."

At Cal Poly, Flores kept a small refrigerator in his room on the ground floor of Santa Lucia Hall: "And on weekend nights," this source said, "he'd sit in his room and drink beer, get drunk and then go wander around the outskirts of campus, looking for parties."

His behavior at these parties earned him a nickname among a set of women in the dorms, Anderson would later tell investigators. She and her friends, she said, would refer to him jokingly as "Chester the Molester."

Flores had seemed "very quiet" at the Crandall Way party, one student who was there told investigators: " He did not talk to people at the party." He shot a lot of pool, others recalled. He was shooed away from one cluster of partygoers, a witness said, after hitting on a girl in front of her boyfriend.

Davis told investigators that, "at one point, he heard a loud noise in the hallway and saw paul Flores on top of Kristin Smart. He didn't know if Flores had knocked Kristin Smart down on purpose or if it was an accident."

They got up, Davis said, "and went their separate ways."

After the party, Flores joined Davis, Anderson and Kristin as they set out for the dorms. As they entered the campus, Anderson told Davis, who lived in an opposite direction, that the three freshmen could make it the rest of the way on their own.

They turned up Perimeter Road, a wide, well-lighted boulevard that cuts through the campus proper. The college was especially quiet because of the three-day weekend. Anderson would not remember seeing anyone else on the walk.

In a deposition, Anderson testified that Kristin occasionally would stop. Flores, holding Kristin, would tell Anderson to "go ahead if you want." She thought this was "a little strange" and waited for them to catch up.

She recalled that Kristin, still in her running shorts and T-shirt, had begun to shiver in the late-night chill. She could not remember her saying a single word.

The trio reached the intersection of Perimeter Road and Grand Avenue. Anderson's dorm was half a block south down Grand. Santa Lucia, Flores' hall, was about 75 yards up Perimeter Road. Just behind it, perhaps 40 steps up a path, was Muir Hall, where Kristin lived.

In her deposition, with Stan and Denise Smart present in the room, Anderson tried to explain her decision to leave Kristin in Flores' care for the final leg home:

"I said, 'Will you walk her to her room?' you know, 'Will you take her back to her room?' And he said, 'Yes.' And I said something about 'Yes?' and he said — and I said, 'If you won't, I will do it. I will walk her to her room,' you know…. I didn't want to have to do it. But, you know, if he didn't want to do it I was — I was going to do it."

Flores, Anderson said, promised he would see Kristin to her room. Then he asked Anderson for a kiss. She thought that was weird and declined. He asked for a hug; she turned him down again. She may or may not have shaken his hand.

Flores and Kristin then began to move slowly up Perimeter Road, their dorms in view. Anderson recalled that Flores, 3 inches shorter than Kristin, had his arm around her waist. Anderson turned for her dorm. She did not look back again.



Unresolved Issues

Stan Smart can be animated and amiable discussing his other children, or his pending retirement, or his backyard gardening. Yet when he talks about Kristin's disappearance, he invariably will slip into a deliberate, muted monotone — a father's tool for controlling emotions that have been run through the most hellish tests.

"Nothing really has changed," he said one Sunday afternoon in early May, slipping into this flat, almost detached speech pattern. "I mean, I still have a lot of anger about the situation. And my wife is a bit of an emotional wreck at times. And it hasn't been resolved. We haven't really resolved the issues as to where our daughter is, and what happened to her."

Kristin's body — a judge has declared her legally dead — has not been found despite a decade of searches and sizable rewards seeking information. No arrests have been made, although early on investigators settled on Flores as their only suspect. That remains unchanged.

"He is still an active suspect," said Sgt. Brian Hascall, a spokesman for the San Luis Obispo County sheriff. "He has not been eliminated."

Hascall described the case as "open and active. We have never inactivated this case. We have never taken our eyes off the ball, so to speak."

From the Smarts' perspective, the case is neither open nor active. They complain that law enforcement officials have all but stopped sharing meaningful information with them, leaving the parents to wonder just how much time investigators actually spend on the lingering riddle of their daughter.

"They've put it on the shelf," Stan Smart said.

Investigators, in turn, maintain that early leaks to the media and the Smarts' more recent relationship with an amateur sleuth who operates a website devoted to the case, have forced them to limit what they pass along.

Whatever, it is clear that the Smarts were uncomfortable with the investigation almost from the start. Convinced that something terrible had happened, they ran headlong into a campus police department that did not consider it all that unusual for a 19-year-old freshman to disappear for a weekend — even though she'd left her identification, prescription medicine, cosmetics and all her clothes in her dorm room.

In fact, the department declined to take a missing persons report when a dorm neighbor of Kristin's contacted them two days after the party. It was only when this first-year student persisted, calling both the Smarts and the San Luis Obispo Police Department, that campus police opened a file.

The first field report, filed by a campus patrol officer a week after Kristin had vanished, concluded with an "Officer Observations" paragraph: "Smart does not have any close friends at Cal Poly. Smart appeared to be under the influence of alcohol on Friday night. Smart was talking with and socializing with several different males at the party. Smart lives her life in her own way, not conforming to typical teenage behavior."

Only in the final sentence did the officer tack on a disclaimer: "These observations are in no way implying that her behavior caused her disappearance, but they provide a picture of her conduct on the night of her disappearance."

And so it is perhaps understandable that the Smarts felt driven to insert themselves into the investigation. They forwarded suggestions from Napa police detectives whom Stan Smart knew from his work in the schools there. They brought lawyers onboard, befriended FBI agents, reached out for help to a state senator (who later would sponsor legislation, named after Kristin Smart, requiring campus police departments to promptly report missing students.)

While Denise Smart stayed in Stockton — "They told me," she said, "to stay by the phone for when she called" — her husband all but moved to San Luis Obispo, where for months he would pursue every lead that came his way.

When two San Luis Obispo women, claiming to have psychic instincts, called to tell him that Kristin could be found at a specific spot in the hills behind campus, he climbed there on a 100-degree day and came back down with only disappointment.

When a self-described dowser, or water witch, told Smart that he had identified Kristin's whereabouts by dangling a weight on a string over a map, and that she was alive and living at Lake Tahoe, he jumped in his car and tore north.

When that didn't pan out, the map was reconsulted, and Stan Smart was dispatched to a remote stretch of Nevada highway. And then to a public hospital in San Luis Obispo, where Stan was told Kristin had just checked herself in.

"And so I spoke to the head nurse and another person" — that monotone again. "And I said, 'Look on your list for a tall, blond woman who checked in today.' And they said, 'We haven't had anybody like that come in.' They gave me this look. They said, 'Mr. Smart, we feel very sorry for you. But she is not here.'

"They thought I had gone over the edge psychologically."

Here the father paused for a moment.

"She didn't survive," he said, his voice flatter than ever. "And that basically is what it comes down to."



The D.A. Gets Involved

Although the initial response seemed amateurish to the Smarts, two veteran investigators from the district attorney's office, in fact, had been called in to assist the campus police, which maintained jurisdiction on the case. And they quickly focused all their attention on Flores.

They spent hours with him every day for more than a week, retracing his route home the night of the party, revisiting his initial account to Cal Poly officers, trying to build a rapport even as they chipped away at his alibi.

There were inconsistencies. He had received a black eye, the result, he told campus police, of an elbow he took in a pickup basketball game the Monday after the party. The district attorney's investigators tracked down a friend of Flores who swore the black eye had been there Sunday, the day before the game.

"Did you get rat-packed at the party?" this friend told investigators he had asked Flores.

"I don't know how I got the black eye," he said, quoting Flores. "I just woke up with it."

In his first interview with campus police, Flores said he had watched Kristin walk up the path toward her dormitory before he entered his hall. Investigators said his roommate, who had been away for the weekend, was told by Flores that "he walked the missing person home and then came back to his room."

The roommate, according to a police report, "said he did joke with Flores about the case and asked Flores what he did" with Kristin. "Flores told him, 'She's home with my parents.' "

This "joke," as the police report characterized it, would seem less than funny to the Smarts and their supporters, who have received and passed along to police anonymous tips about a patch of concrete being poured in the backyard of an Arroyo Grande residence owned by the Flores family after Kristin disappeared.

Initially, Flores agreed to submit to a polygraph test. When prodded, he kept putting it off. Finally, the district attorney's investigators picked up Flores and told him it was time for the test.

"He turned white," is how these detectives, who would not comment for this article, described Flores' reaction to others.

Flores was taken to a conference room at the Arroyo Grande police station. He still balked at a lie detector test but did agree to an interview. The 90-minute session was videotaped.

Bluffing, the investigators suggested to Flores that they knew he had taken a shower that night, instead of going straight to bed, as he first claimed. He admitted that, yes, he had gone into a communal shower about 5 a.m. after becoming sick.

He also admitted to lying about the black eye, not wanting to "sound stupid." In truth, he said, he had whacked himself while working on a truck parked at his father's house.

What was most striking about the interview, say those familiar with the tape, was Flores' body language. As the investigators pressed him, pointing out that Kristin had last been seen with him, he pulled his arms into his T-shirt, scrunched over at the waist in his chair and lifted his feet off the floor, as if moving toward a fetal position.

It seemed, Smart's lawyers have been told, that "he was going to give it up."

He didn't. Instead, he called the investigators' bluff.

"If you are so smart," he demanded, "then tell me where the body is."

They had a theory, but no body. So they didn't answer. Flores headed for the door. Shortly thereafter, his mother found him a lawyer.

There would be some intriguing developments in the early investigation. A team of cadaver dogs, trained to react to wherever a dead body has been, were brought into Santa Lucia Hall.

The dogs were taken one by one through the dormitory by handlers who had been given no case particulars. All three were drawn to the door of what had been Flores' room, barking and scratching to be allowed in.

"She about like broke her neck," is how one handler described her dog's response to Room 128. Once inside, each of the dogs would make their way to a corner of what had been Flores' bed.

Investigators were impressed but said dogs "can't testify in court." And when handlers do, their testimony can be countered by opposing experts who poke away at the scientific uncertainties about why cadaver dogs react as they do.

There were searches of the Arroyo Grande residences of Flores' separated parents, Ruben and Susan Flores. A scan with ground-penetrating radar of Susan Flores' backyard produced one anomalous reading under a concrete slab, the Smarts have been told, but the detectives apparently did not believe it merited a follow-up look.

An earring that seemed to resemble one Kristin had been pictured wearing turned up in a Flores driveway, but it was misplaced by a sheriff's detective before it could be examined.

In the end, the black eye and bad body language and barking dogs, the radar anomalies and lost earring never added up, in the view of those who would make the decision, to a case that supported an arrest. On the one-year anniversary of Kristin's disappearance, the sheriff of San Luis Obispo County, whose department had come aboard at Cal Poly's request about a month into the investigation, made a rather staggering admission.

"We need paul Flores to tell us what happened to Kristin Smart," then-Sheriff Ed Williams told the San Luis Obispo Tribune, as the newspaper is now called. "The fact of the matter is we have very qualified detectives who have conducted well over a hundred interviews, and everything leads to Mr. Flores. There are no other suspects. So absent something from Mr. Flores, I don't see us completing this case."

Even a student with an 0.6 grade-point average could grasp the implications of the sheriff's remarks.

Pleading the 5th

Flores invoked his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination before a grand jury. He followed the same course in a deposition conducted by the Smarts' attorneys. He rejected a deal that had been put together in conversations between the district attorney and his lawyer.

The terms required Flores to plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter, reveal what happened to Kristin and lead authorities to her body. In exchange, he would receive a six-year sentence and the Smarts would agree not go after him in civil court.

The Smarts, in fact, have filed a wrongful-death suit, but it has been stalled by the refusal of law enforcement officials to turn over evidence gathered in an active case. In response to the lawsuit, Flores has denied "both generally and specifically each and every allegation" raised against him.

If silence has kept Flores free, as the Smarts maintain, it has been a troubled freedom. He has lost numerous entry-level jobs and was turned down when he tried to join the Navy. He has left Arroyo Grande and now lives in Lawndale, where he occupies a back house behind a back house in a neighborhood of small stucco homes and large, barking dogs.

The drinking does not seem to have stopped. Two weeks before last Christmas, Flores was stopped for driving in excess of 50 mph on residential streets. A test put his blood-alcohol level at 0.08%. It was his third drunk driving arrest since Kristin Smart disappeared.

And so in late May, while the Smarts were in Arroyo Grande preparing for a "fun run" in honor of their daughter, Flores was huddled with his parents in the cafeteria of a Torrance courthouse, waiting for a court appearance in his latest DUI case.

Flores, dressed in corduroy pants, a sports shirt and scuffed walking shoes, sat at the corner of a table with his back to the door, one shoulder wedged against a wall. His face was pale, his fingernails overgrown.

His mother sat close beside him, almost like a shield. Across the table his father, a stocky man with silver hair, kept his head on a swivel: More than once, a courtroom appearance by Flores has brought out advocates of the Smart family, or private investigators, or the media.

Ruben Flores locked on a reporter as he walked toward the table. The reporter sat down and in a rush tried to explain that he would like to hear what they had to say about Kristin Smart and all the accusations.

"No," paul Flores said emphatically, maintaining eye contact only for a moment before looking down at the table.

Ruben Flores said he had found a note that the reporter had left at his house: "We don't want to talk. No, thank you."

Susan Flores, her face flushed, dug through her black leather purse and pulled out a pile of small pieces of paper. Here, she said, peeling one sheet from the deck, "print this." Typed in stacked and centered lines was the following:

"A long time ago we chose to

"Handle our legal matters in a

"Court of Law

"Not in the

"Media Court of Public Opinion."

The Strongest Theory

Many theories have bubbled up over time in the case, and to spend a few weeks on the Central Coast is to hear them all: Kristin is buried somewhere in Arroyo Grande, right under everybody's nose. She was hauled off in a Cal Poly food cart that was stolen the night she disappeared, entombed under a water pipeline under construction at the time. paul Flores had help. Didn't Scott Peterson attend Cal Poly about 10 years ago?

Then there is this version, laid out by someone from law enforcement who once worked the case and knows it well: It has been the strongest working theory all along.

Flores, this person said, speaking on condition of anonymity, must have taken Kristin to his room: "We know that she never got back to her dorm room. Her roommate was there. And his roommate was gone. He wasn't a cold-blooded killer. He was more like a kid in the candy store."

But something went terribly wrong. Perhaps there was a struggle, which would explain the black eye.

"It's also a possibility that she regurgitated on her own vomit and died," the source went on. "It could have happened when he was in the shower. In any case, he panics and decides to hide the body."

This narrator discounts various theories that involve Kristin's body being conveyed off campus or buried somewhere near the dorms by Flores. It was growing too close to dawn. Toting a 6-foot-1 body across campus undetected "would have been next to impossible."

The large, rectangular window of Flores' ground floor room, however, opens on a service driveway. The driveway runs between the dorm and a tree-covered rise, obscuring it from view.

At the driveway's end, 30 paces from Flores' room, sit two dumpsters. At that time of the year they would have been filled with the flotsam of freshmen preparing to decamp from the dorms for good.

"So he rolls her up in a blanket and carries her out." He could have bumped his eye in the process, pulling his awkward load through the window, perhaps. He deposits Kristin in one of the dumpsters and "puts some stuff over her to hide her."

The garbage truck arrives, as it almost always does on Saturdays at 7:30 a.m. It rolls down the short driveway. The driver, still in his seat, grabs the dumpsters with the truck's prongs and flips them over the top one by one, dropping their contents, unseen, into the bed.

"And then it's off to the dump…. "

Several days after the disappearance, a dig for Kristin's remains was conducted by searchers at the Cold Canyon Landfill, where Cal Poly trash is taken. Workers burrowed 18 feet down and began to find copies of the Mustang Daily and other school documents from the last week of May 1996.

The dig ended, however, without producing any sign of Kristin Denise Smart. There are those in law enforcement who insist the search was thorough. There are others who say it was cut short a day or two because of bureaucratic complications.

Whatever, it's moot. Ten years and some 3 million cubic yards of refuse later, the area of landfill where the digging occurred is now buried within a sealed, 490-foot mountain of compressed garbage and soil. People in the landfill business say that to return now would be pointless.


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KRISTIN SMART
MISSING PERSON

Kristin Denise Smart
Date of Birth: February 20, 1977
Sex: Female Race: White
Height: 6'1" Weight: 145 pounds
Hair: Dark blonde Eyes: Brown

On May 25, 1996, Kristin Denise Smart was a freshman student at California Polytechnic State University near San Luis Obispo, California, and was 19 years of age. She was last seen just before 2:00 a.m. walking to her dorm room with Paul Flores, a 20 year old male student who reportedly had just met Kristin at an off-campus party a few blocks away. Both had reportedly been drinking alcohol. Flores has said that he separated from Kristin near his dorm room, and reported that she walked the short distance to her dorm room alone. Kristin did not return to her room and has not contacted family or friends since that time. She did not have identification, money or extra clothing when she disappeared.

A reward of $75,000 is being offered for information regarding the whereabouts of Kristin or which leads to the criminal prosecution of any person involved in her disappearance. Persons with information about Kristin or Paul Flores should contact Detective Dave Kenny of the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Department at (805) 781-4530 or the Federal Bureau of Investigation at (805) 934-2444. Persons may also call CrimeStoppers at (805) 549-7867.

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http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/s/smart_kristin.html

Kristin Denise Smart




Above Images: Smart, circa 1996


Vital Statistics at Time of Disappearance

Missing Since: May 25, 1996 from San Luis Obispo, California
Classification: Endangered Missing
Date Of Birth: February 20, 1977
Age: 19 years old
Height and Weight: 6'1, 145 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian female. Dark blonde hair, brown eyes. Smart's nicknames are Roxy and Scritter. She had a tan at the time of her May 1996 disappearance.
Clothing/Jewelry Description: A light gray cropped t-shirt, black nylon surfing or running shorts, and red and white Puma athletic shoes.


Details of Disappearance

Smart was a student at California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) in San Luis Obispo, California in 1996. She majored in architecture. She departed from an off-campus party and headed for her dormitory at approximately 1:30 and 2:00 a.m. on May 25, 1996. At the party, Smart was acting as if she was intoxicated or under the influence of drugs. When she left the gathering, she was having trouble walking.
Smart was accompanied by a female acquaintance and another student from the university, Paul Flores, when she left the party. Photos of Flores are posted below this case summary. He was a food science major at Cal Poly in 1996. Smart apparently met Flores at the party earlier in the evening. Her friend separated from Smart and Flores at the intersection of Perimeter Road and Grand Avenue on the college campus. Flores allegedly told Smart's friend that he would see Smart to her home. She was last seen walking north on Grand Avenue with Flores. She was headed towards Muir Hall, which was her dormitory. Smart has never been heard from again. She was not carrying any identification, cash or personal belongings at the time she vanished.

Flores was reportedly seen with a black eye later in the day on May 25. When questioned about Smart's whereabouts by authorities, Flores claimed that he continued walking to his own dormitory and last saw Smart on Grand Avenue shortly after her other friend departed. Flores told several different stories to law enforcement regarding how he received his injury. At one time he claimed he had hurt his eye playing basketball with a friend, but the friend told authorities Flores had had the bruise when he arrived at the game. When confronted with the lie, Flores changed his story and told police he had hurt his eye while working on a truck at his father's home. He allegedly told another friend that he did not know how he got the black eye and that he "just woke up with it."

Smart's roommate contacted police later in the morning of May 25, worried because Smart had not returned to her dormitory. The roommate had been at the room the night Smart was last seen, and never saw her get back home. Her clothing, toiletries, cosmetics, medicine and identification were left undisturbed in her room; there is no evidence that she made it back there. Authorities refused to take the missing persons report for four days, however, because Smart disappeared on Memorial Day weekend and college students often take impromptu vacations at that time. Smart's parents have criticized authorities for not investigating the case sooner, saying they probably lost valuable evidence because of it. Police admit that the delay hampered the investigation.

Flores dropped out of Cal Poly shortly after Smart disappeared. He had been making very poor grades and was in danger of failing out of the university, and he had also gotten arrested for driving while intoxicated and lost his driver's license. He removed his belongings from his dormitory room at Santa Lucia Hall prior to a search of the premises by law enforcement. Cadaver dogs utilized by authorities led them to Flores's mattress in his former room during the investigation, but no additional evidence was located at the time. Investigators have repeatedly questioned him regarding Smart's case since 1996, but he has invoked his Fifth Amendment rights and refused to answer. They offered him a plea deal where he would plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter and reveal the location of Smart's body in exchange for a six-year prison term, but he refused the offer. Flores is the prime and only suspect in Smart's disappearance, but authorities do not have enough evidence at their disposal to charge him in the case.

The Smart family has persisted in their efforts to get investigators to come up with evidence against Flores. A friend of the Smarts, Dennis Mahon, has published a website which gives Flores's address and tracks him whenever he changes residences. The Flores family has a restraining order against him and he was jailed at least once for violating it. In 2005, Flores's mother and her boyfriend sued Smart's parents and Mahon, alleging harassment, severe emotional distress and lost income as a result of their behavior.

Smart's case is open and unsolved. Her family held a memorial service for her in May 2001, and again in June 2003. She was declared dead in May 2002. Smart's family attempted to pursue a civil suit against Flores for Smart's wrongful death, but dropped the case in 1996 after Flores pleaded his Fifth Amendment rights during the proceedings. Smart's family has since revived the suit, which has yet to go to trial. They continue to place pressure on Flores to speak to authorities regarding any possible knowledge he may have about their daughter's disappearance. He has no record of violent crimes, but has been charged with drunk driving three times since Smart disappeared, in addition to the charge from before she vanished. People who knew him while he was a student at Cal Poly stated he drank heavily in 1996 and had a tendency to become obnoxious when intoxicated, and that he was not popular with the other students.

In 2003, suggestions were made that Scott Peterson might be linked to Smart. Scott Peterson's wife, Laci, disappeared on Christmas Eve 2002, and her torso was found in the Pacific Ocean in May 2003. Scott was later convicted of murdering her. Both Laci and Scott Peterson attended Cal Poly; they were seniors at the school when Smart disappeared. Police investigated possible ties between Scott Peterson and Smart and announced that there was nothing to link him to Smart's disappearance.

Smart is described as friendly and generous and a competitive swimmer. She has traveled to many places, including Hawaii and South America. She originally enrolled at the University of California at Santa Barbara, but transferred to Cal Poly early in her freshman year. Her case remains unsolved. Foul play is suspected due to the circumstances involved.



Left: Flores in 1996;
Right: Flores, circa 2006


Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Department
805-781-4500
OR
Federal Bureau Of Investigation
(FBI)
Los Angeles Office
805-934-2444



Source Information
San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Department
The National Center for Missing Adults
Find Kristin Smart
America's Most Wanted
Federal Bureau Of Investigation
MSNBC
The Modesto Bee
The Providing Angel
California Attorney General's Office
San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Department
The San Luis Obispo Tribune
The Santa Maria Times
The Los Angeles Times



Updated 5 times since October 12, 2004.

Last updated July 2, 2006; two pictures added, details of disappearance updated.

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http://www.kristenfoundation.org/cgi-bin/d...eport=sp&ID=022

Kristin Denise Smart was last seen at approximately 2:00 a.m., May 25, 1996, as she was walking back to her dorm room on the California Polytechnic campus, San Luis Obispo, California from an off-campus party. Kristin was accompanied by a fellow student who stated that he left her a block from her Muir Hall dorm to go to his dorm. Kristin did not return to her room and has not contacted family or friends since that time. She did not have any identification, money, or extra clothing when she disappeared.
Kristin was last seen wearing a grey half T-shirt, black surfing shorts, and red "Puma" athletic shoes. Her hair is straight and shoulder length.

Date of Birth: February 20, 1977
White Female
Hair: Dark Blond
Eyes: Brown
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 145 lbs.

If you have seen Kristin Smart, or have any information as to her present whereabouts, contact the Los Angeles Field Office of the FBI at (805) 934-2444 or any local FBI office. You may also contact the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Department at (805) 781-4550.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reward

A reward of $75,000.00 is being offered for information that helps locate Kristin. Anyone who has seen Kristin Denise Smart or has any information as to her present whereabouts is strongly urged to contact their local FBI office.





The Kristen Foundation
2330 Bonnie Butler Way, Charlotte, NC 28270-4415
(704) 846-7408 Help@KristenFoundation
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Questions remain unanswered in Smart case
By Quintin Cushner/Senior Staff Writer



Arroyo Grande hosted the Kristin Smart Hope and Awareness Fun Run, which also served as a fund-raiser for the overlook at the Shell Beach Dinosaur Caves park planned for Kristen. The event, which had hundreds of participants, was a 4-mile run and a 3-mile walk, starting and finishing at the New Hope Church on North Oak Park Road. //Michael Mullady/Staff



Ten years after Kristin Smart's disappearance, no one surrounding her case has felt anything near closure.

Not Smart's family, who remember her as a loving and persistent 19-year-old, excited to be attending college at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. They assume she is dead and buried somewhere, but cannot be certain.

Not Paul Flores, a 1995 graduate of Arroyo Grande High School, who was the last person to see the young woman alive and who remains under investigation in her disappearance. Flores is out on bail facing a fourth drunken-driving conviction and continued scrutiny for his actions the night Smart vanished.

Not detectives from the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Department, who still believe they can crack the case.

And not Dennis Mahon or Terry Black, two men working to keep the Kristin Smart case from fading. Mahon maintains a Web site and has written a book. Black is offering a $100,000 reward to anyone with information leading to Smart.

Each of these lives was altered early on May 25, 1996, after Flores walked with Smart and another student from an off-campus party onto campus.

Flores and Smart apparently met at the party, where both had been drinking. The third student broke off from Flores and Smart about 2:30 a.m.

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Flores, then 19, told law enforcement he and Smart parted ways near his dorm, and that she returned to her Muir Hall dorm room alone.

Police say there's no proof Smart ever returned to her room. Her roommate reported her missing May 27. Smart's clothing, toiletries and identification were undisturbed.

Cal Poly police first interviewed Flores on May 28. He sported a black eye from what he claimed was a basketball mishap. A friend of Flores later told police the young man had arrived at the pick-up game bruised.

Campus police appear to have made a crucial mistake early in the investigation. Officers failed to secure Flores' room at Santa Lucia Hall until after he vacated the dorm for the term.

The Kristin Smart case was soon after turned over to the Sheriff's Department.

More than a month after Smart's disappearance, cadaver dogs searching the dorm honed in on Flores' room. Once inside, the dogs zeroed in on his mattress.

During a grand jury hearing convened in October 1996, Flores refused to answer questions, invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. He has never been charged in the young woman's disappearance.

Later searches of Flores' family home in Arroyo Grande turned up nothing substantial. Psychics, national talk show hosts and local media all tried in vain to discern Smart's location.

San Luis Obispo County Superior Court Judge Roger Piquet later declared Smart dead as of May 25, 2001, so her family could pursue a wrongful-death lawsuit against Flores.

Suspect

That civil case, which alleges “Flores violently assaulted and murdered Decedent Kristin Smart and disposed of her body in an unknown location, presumably in San Luis Obispo,” returns to court June 9.

The civil suit has been repeatedly delayed since the Smart family filed it in 2002. The Sheriff's Department still considers its investigation open, and has refused to release any evidence to the Smarts' attorneys.

Denise Smart, Kristin's mother, said she has mixed feelings about the criminal case staying open.

“As long as it's still open, there's hope,” she said. “But I'm frustrated by the lack of progress.”

An educator living in Stockton, Denise Smart said the slow reaction from Cal Poly police damaged the case.

“It was way over their head,” she said. “When Kristin's roommate reported her missing, they didn't even go check on her. It was a total failure to respond.”

In 1998, Gov. Pete Wilson signed a state law named after Smart, requiring universities and colleges to notify local law enforcement quickly if a violent crime may have occurred.

“I know that members of the Smart family have complained that our police did not respond properly,” said Cal Poly Provost Bob Detweiler. “I wasn't here at the time, but I can find no evidence of us handling the case inappropriately. Because of Kristin's disappearance, we have beefed up our emphasis on alcohol awareness and sexual assault awareness on campus.”

Since they took over the case, sheriff's deputies have focused on Flores, who is now a 29-year-old living in Lawndale in Los Angeles County.

“Paul Flores is the only person of interest that we have not excluded as a possible suspect,” said Undersheriff Steve Bolts. “We've got several avenues we're pursuing that I can't really discuss. The case remains very active.”

Bolts said Detective Dave Kenny is spending the majority of his time working on the Smart case. Kenny declined comment.

Bolts had no estimate of how many hours have been spent on the case.

“It's one of those cases that has the potential to be resolved,” Bolts said. “We are reasonably certain that she's deceased, and we're optimistic that her remains will be found some day.”

Bolts would not comment on a specific theory about Smart's disappearance.

“There's no evidence to exclude an intentional homicide,” he said.

Since Smart went missing, Flores has racked up three drunken-driving convictions and a probation violation. Flores served time in 2000 at Santa Barbara County Jail for driving drunk in Santa Maria, and was sentenced again to County Jail for drinking while on probation.

On Dec. 20, 2005, he was again flagged for drunken driving, this time in Los Angeles County. He is free on $100,000 bail while the case works its way through the courts.

Flores could face prison time if convicted, said Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Paulette Paccione. The case returns to court June 29 for a preliminary hearing.

Flores has rejected a plea deal in the latest drunken-driving charge that would have landed him in jail for a year, Paccione said.

“He wants to fight the case,” she said.

Bolts has several theories on Flores' battles with alcohol.

“I think it's reflective of a chemical dependency that may be at the root of Kristin's disappearance,” Bolts said. “It also may be a product of a guilty conscience.”

Denise Smart said Flores has negotiated in the past with law enforcement. She is certain Flores knows her daughter's whereabouts.

“Do we know what he did? No. Do we know he knows where she is? Yes,” Denise Smart said. “He's kind of making his own prison. But for us there's no punishment we feel would be enough. Where she is is not where she wants to be and it's certainly not where we would want her to be.”

Bolts wouldn't comment on any negotiations between law enforcement and Flores.

“Even if there were negotiations,” he said, “they are privileged and are not presumed by us to be evidence.”

Attempts to reach Flores were unsuccessful. Calls to his criminal and civil attorneys were not returned. His parents, Susan and Ruben, have separated and live in Arroyo Grande.

Outside both of their homes is a printed flier with this message:

“Notice: Please respect the privacy of the occupants of this residence. They have chosen to resolve their legal matters in the courtroom, not the media.”

A man who emerged from Susan Flores' home last week snapped several pictures of a visiting reporter, but declined comment.

The activists

Dennis Mahon of Charlotte, N.C., has spent years tracking the case. Mahon's Web site, www.sonofsusan.com, includes his short book on Smart's disappearance and a log of Flores' legal troubles.

Mahon used to park outside the Flores' home in Arroyo Grande and took to photographing Paul Flores during his court appearances.

For his diligence, Denise Smart considers Mahon “a saint.”

The Flores family sees it different. They have a restraining order against him.

“It's a matter of not abandoning Kristin,” Mahon said. “My Web site is geared toward getting Flores to cooperate with the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Department. The crime is in the cover-up.”

Terry Black, a Sacramento investor and political consultant, recently offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to the location of the missing woman or her remains.

Black, who believes Smart's body could be buried on the Nipomo Mesa, said he has provided police several tips received through his hotline.

“I just would like to see closure to the family, and sometimes money is the only thing that motivates people to come forward,” Black said. “My sole concern is retrieval of the body. I'm not in the blame or punishment role here.”

Persistence

Denise Smart remembers her daughter's persistence and discipline above all else.

An avid swimmer who stood more than 6 feet tall, Smart cared deeply about her health, Denise Smart said.

“Before it was cool to be fit, she exercised and watched what she ate,” Denise Smart said. “She never had egg yolks.”

The young woman loved Hawaii and even managed to graduate high school early to work as a camp counselor there.

Originally accepted at UCSB, Smart decided to switch schools shortly before her freshman year. The prospect of transferring from her communications program into Cal Poly's elite architecture school was a lure.

Denise Smart said her daughter also would have been content to work in TV.

“She thought Joan Lunden had just about the best job in the world,” Denise Smart said.

Ten years later, Denise Smart is still acutely aware of how her daughter's life was cut short.

“She was a very loving and compassionate type of person, and it's hard to have lost her,” Denise Smart said. “Her friends are now getting married and having children.”

Matt Smart was just 16 when his sister disappeared.

“In a moment, your life is turned upside down,” he said. “You go from watching the news on TV to being on the news. From reading the newspapers to being in the newspapers.”

His sister's disappearance inspired him to take life seriously at a young age, he said. Matt Smart threw himself into swimming competitions, eventually making it to the 2000 U.S. Olympic trials.

Now a pharmaceutical representative, he tries to live well every day. Still, his sister's disappearance lingers.

“It's one thing to have a death in the family,” he said. “It's another thing to not know what happened. You can't allow it to eat at you.”

Tana Coates, attorney for the Smart family, said she is heartened that police continue to investigate.

“I'm sure Denise thinks of this as if it were yesterday,” Coates said. “It's so important to keep the public's interest. It's a terrible mystery. The family would appreciate closure. Let's hope that happens.”

Kristin Smart would have turned 29 this past February.

Quintin Cushner can be reached at 739-2217 or qcushner@santamariatimes.com.

May 21, 2006
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http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art.../605250335/1001

Decade passes; pain lingers
Missing teen's family continues hunt for answers
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By Scott Smith
Record Staff Writer
May 25, 2006 6:00 AM
STOCKTON - It was 10 years ago today that Kristin Smart, an athletic, tall and vibrant 19-year-old woman from Stockton vanished from a college campus in San Luis Obispo.

Her disappearance touched off a nationwide story, and hundreds traveled to help find her. Even more have posted their own theories on Web sites speculating what happened after she left a drunken party at California Polytechnic State University.

Still, no arrests have been made, and she has never been found.

A decade after this high-profile case, Smart's family and friends still hope to find her. They've hired psychics, searched fields and even acted as their own detectives, interviewing Smart's friends, acquaintances and people who knew the No. 1 suspect.

"It's a tough time every year when May rolls around," said Smart's father, Stan Smart, who wants justice. "It's really important to find our daughter and bring her remains home."

Missing
Kristin Denise Smart was last seen on campus in the early-morning hours of May, 25, 1996, after staggering away from a house party in the coastal hill town of San Luis Obispo.

Paul Flores, then 19, a fellow student whom Smart first met that night, was to walk Smart to her campus dorm at Muir Hall on the way back to his own dorm.

By morning, her roommate - worried Smart hadn't come in - reported her missing. Flores showed up later that day with a black eye when he met friends to play basketball.

At first giving police conflicting stories, Flores quickly stopped talking and asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. That's been his stance ever since.

Flores and his attorney could not be reached for comment this week in Southern California. Investigators make guarded comments about Flores, saying he's at the center of a "very active" case.

"He has not been excluded as a suspect. Let's put it that way," said San Luis Obispo County Undersheriff Steve Bolts.

Aside from his black eye, cadaver dogs early in the investigation led police to a mattress in Flores' dorm room, but he has adamantly refused to answer questions.

He dropped out of college shortly after Smart disappeared and has a drunken-driving record. In December, Flores was arrested in Los Angeles again on suspicion of driving under the influence, and this time he could go to state prison if he's convicted.

Asked why Flores hasn't been arrested in connection with Smart's disappearance, Bolts said he couldn't comment.

"We believe there is knowledge that somehow Paul Flores has, or may have, that he may be willing to share," Bolts said.

Stan Smart, frustrated with the faltering investigation, said Flores' attorneys have twice suggested a deal in which Flores would lead them to the body in exchange for a significantly reduced charge. Both offers fell through.

"It makes me further believe that he's the one," Smart said.

Persistent pressure
Family and friends refuse to let Kristin Smart's memory fade.

Over the weekend, about 250 people gathered for the Kristin Smart Hope and Awareness Run near San Luis Obispo, marking a decade of frustration and unanswered questions. The money will help post signs asking the public for information.

Matt Smart, Kristin's brother, who lives in Stockton and sells pharmaceuticals, recalled his big sister as a powerful swimmer whose eyes brightened at the thought of travel. Matt Smart, 26, was 16 when his sister vanished.

An online video shows the Smarts playing together on a tropical beach in Jamaica and riding a cruise ship through the icy passages of Alaska. Another scene shows Kristin Smart graduating in 1995 from Lincoln High School.

She was in her first year at Cal Poly when she vanished. Smart was declared legally dead in 2002, despite the fact that her body has never been recovered.

Gov. Pete Wilson in 1998 signed the Kristin Smart Security Act into law, requiring campus police to report cases involving violence or missing students to local police. Smart's family faulted Cal Poly officers for failing to investigate the case early on.

Kristin Smart's death brought together a family that was already close, Matt Smart said.

Kristin Smart's mother, Denise, teaches English language learners at Lincoln Unified. Her youngest child, Lindsay Smart, is now 23.

Stan Smart recalled driving down to Cal Poly to collect his daughters belongings from the Sheriff's Department and bicycle from the campus dorm where she once lived.

"You're supposed to bring your child home - not her possessions," Stan Smart said.

Fervent supporter
Few have thrown themselves into the hunt for Kristin Smart like Dennis Mahon.

The Charlotte, N.C., man isn't related to Smart and never knew her. He learned about the missing Stockton girl while searching for another girl from his hometown who vanished on vacation with her family in San Francisco.

Mahon, 45, maintains an elaborate Web site dedicated to Smart. He once held a vigil in front of Paul Flores' family home in Arroyo Grande demanding answers until Flores obtained a restraining order.

Mahon, a former homeless shelter manager who now works at Wal-Mart, spent 12 days in jail for continuing to harass Flores. He's agreed to take down the Web site when Flores begins to cooperate with law enforcement.

"These girls, I'm just not going to abandon them, that's all," he said.

There's a good reason cases like Kristin Smart's draws such strong public reaction, said Andrew Edelman, a criminal justice professor for the University of Phoenix in south Florida.

"Any event that rattles our sense of safety and security gets society's attention," Edelman said. "I think it shocks."

Cases like Smart's are alarming because men are expected to protect women and hold them in high esteem. Parents send their adult children to college campuses believing they're safe. Complacency sets in, Edelman said.

It's particularly devastating when there's no closure, he said.

What's next?
In retirement, Stan Smart said he'll spend time with his family and search for Kristin. He predicts more treks down to San Luis Obispo, like before, when somebody thinks they know where she is. He's done making the talk-show circuit.

He's thrashed through the surrounding hills looking for her, too often uncovering the remains of dead animals and never finding his daughter.

"I'm not sure if we ever will. You know, they can't do anything more than what they've done to her. She can't be hurt any longer."

Contact reporter Scott Smith at (209) 546-8296 or ssmith@recordnet.com

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The search for Kristin Smart never ends for her family
By MARSHA DORGAN, Register Staff Writer
Monday, May 29, 2006 1:11 AM PDT
For the past 10 years, the Smart family has died a little each day.

It was on Memorial Day weekend 1996 that their 19-year-old daughter Kristin Smart disappeared. For the past decade the family has been waiting for that moment when they can bring her body back for a proper burial.

Kristin, a freshman at Cal Poly University in San Luis Obispo, was last seen in the early morning hours of May 25, 1996, after she left an off-campus party.

Investigators believe Paul Flores, 19, also a student at the university, was the last person to see Kristin alive. She met him at the party, and the two walked together back to their dorm rooms, which were in separate buildings. Flores has always maintained he left Kristin around 2 a.m., when they reached his dorm room. He said she continued to walk the short distance to her room alone. Detectives still consider Flores as a possible suspect.





For Kristin's parents, Denise and Stan Smart, and her siblings, Matt, 27, and Lindsey, 24, the ordeal has been almost more than they can bear.

Stan was principal of Vintage High School at the time their daughter went missing. In 2000, he assumed the duties of Napa Valley Unified School District director of student services. He retires on June 30.

"A little part of our lives dies each day. People lose someone they love each day, but it shouldn't be your children," Denise Smart said. "There is a hole in our heart that never goes away. It's not easy to move on when you don't know where your child is."

The Smarts have long since given up hope their daughter will be found alive.

"But to think of her somewhere in an unmarked, unknown grave ... no greater pain for a parent," Denise said.

Stan Smart is frustrated the case has not been resolved. "We don't have any idea where she is," he said.

Stan spent the first three summers after his daughter's disappearance combing the area around the college looking for Kristin's body.

"It's very hilly, steep, wooded terrain. And we don't have any idea where to search. If we just had some direction, we could get a large number of people to search, but where do you look? It is unusual that a hiker hasn't come across her body," Smart said. "We still go down to San Luis Obispo and continue to search. We have to. But it just eats you alive."

Like the police, the Smarts believe Flores knows details about what happened to Kristin. But he's not talking. Other than making a few initial statements to police when Kristin disappeared, over the past 10 years, Flores has refused to talk to investigators. He has never denied any involvement in Kristin's disappearance.

"I know he killed our daughter. Kristin had been drinking that night. I think he took her to his dorm room and tried to rape her. She may have fought back, and he hit her in the head or choked her," Stan said.

"He was alone in his dorm room that night. His roommate was in San Francisco. I believe he wrapped Kristin's body in a blanket and took her out the window -- his room was on the ground floor," he said. "I think he put her body in a nearby Dumpster, and she ended up in the landfill."

Smart said sheriff's investigators checked the landfill, but found nothing.

"Now the landfill has been closed because it has been declared a hazmat. They have covered the entire fill with a layer of dirt," he said.

On one of their trips to San Luis Obispo after their daughter's disappearance, Denise confronted Flores at the gas station where he worked.

"I introduced myself to him. I said, 'Paul, it's a terrible accident. We need your help to find Kristin. Please tell us what you know,'" Denise said. "He went inside and locked himself in a closet. He knows where she is and that it's a place where she doesn't want to be, and certainly a place we don't want her to be."

Flores is represented by an attorney hired after the Smart's filed a wrongful death suit against him.

"We are not suing for money, but for information. He knows where she is, and he needs to tell us," Stan said. The next hearing is set for early June.

Twice, Flores' attorneys have presented plea bargains to the Smarts.

"In return for information about Kristin, Paul wanted to be assured he would not get any jail time. But the deals fell through," Denise said. "I know he did it, and he needs to be punished."

From the very beginning, the Smarts have been unhappy with the way law enforcement has handled the investigation.

"She disappeared early Saturday morning, and the campus police didn't notify us until Monday night. They said she could have just taken off," Denise said.

By the time campus police got around to searching Flores' dorm room, he had left for the summer and taken all of his belongings.

"We wanted other law enforcement called in right away. I wanted the FBI involved because I believe Kristin was kidnapped," she said. "But all we ever got was that the case was in good hands with the campus police."

About a month after Kristin's disappearance, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's investigators were called in.

They searched Flores' dorm room with cadaver dogs. The dogs picked up the scent of corpse on the edge of Flores' mattress and the telephone on the adjacent nightstand.

In 1999, Gov. Pete Wilson signed what is commonly called the Kristin Smart Law, requiring universities and colleges to notify local law enforcement immediately if a violent crime may have occurred.

The current provost for the university, Robert Detweiler was not at Cal Poly when Kristin disappeared. He came in 1998.

"I am familiar about the Smarts' concern. I have checked with people who were here when it happened. The university believes campus police acted professionally and appropriately. We have cooperated with law enforcement from the beginning, Detweiler said. "As tragic as this is, the case has impacted the university to become more concerned in educating students, especially freshmen, about safety and sexual assault. It made us more attentive to the issue of alcohol abuse."

The Smarts are also frustrated that the sheriff's department is not working closer with them.

"They do not communicate with us about the case. We're not getting any information. They are accusing us of leaking information to the media. They have told us a task force made up of an officials from the FBI, the sheriff's and district attorney's office has been assigned to investigate Kristin's case. They are to work on it until the case is resolved," Denise said. "However, we do not have contact with them. I would just think law enforcement would keep us better informed."

During the past 10 years, one of the bright spots in the Smart's life as been Dennis Mahon.

Mahon, who is from Charlotte, NC, came to California to search for Kristen Modafferi. The 19-year-old, who is also from Charlotte and a North Carolina State University student, was last seen on June 23, 1997, leaving a San Francisco coffee shop.

After Mahon arrived in San Francisco, he became interested in the Kristin Smart case and started putting information about her on his sonofsusan.com Web site. Mahon used to park outside the Flores' home in Arroyo Grande and also took photos of Paul Flores during his court appearances.

"His Web site has kept Kristen's case alive. We are very thankful," Denise said.

However, Mahon's involvement in the Kristin Smart case is the main reason law enforcement has been stingy in releasing information to the family, San Luis Obispo Sheriff's Undersheriff Steve Bolts said.

"They have been very involved and very appreciated of Dennis Mahon, his Web site and the information he puts on it. We have asked Dennis and the Smarts to remove the information because it's inaccurate. We will not participate in providing information to them that ends up being incorrect," Bolts said. "Every time we give them information they think they are doing the right thing by putting it on the Internet. If it was accurate information, we would not have this problem. But Dennis puts his own spin on it.

"We cannot maintain the credibility of the investigation if we can't validate the information on the Web site. So we don't share information with the Smarts," Bolts said. "If they would agree not to share information, we would meet with them on a daily basis if they wanted. But they have declined."

In addition to the loss of her daughter, Denise struggles with the image that she believes the media has painted of Kristin the night she disappeared.

"There were all kinds of stories portraying Kristin to be the drunk girl who didn't make it home from the party. I'm no Polyanna. I know college kids drink. But I don't want people to get the wrong message about my daughter. She was the girl who walked home with the wrong person. The message is we need to look out for one another," Denise said. "I know the police report said she was drunk. But wasn't as if she was passed out, lying over a beer keg. I just don't want her to be victimized again. Kristin is the one who knows what happened that night. And she is not here to tell us."

As another anniversary passes of their daughter's disappearance, Stan, Denise, Matt and Lindsey refuse to give up hope that the case will be resolved and Kristen will be put to rest with dignity.

"Someone asked me if I heard that they found Kristin's body would I be happy?" Stan said. "No, I wouldn't be happy. Yes, there would be some closure. But it's never a happy situation when you have to bury your child."

Attempts by the Register to contact the Flores' family were unsuccessful. Paul Flores' parents, Susan and Ruben, have divorced and live in Arroyo Grande. Both have unlisted telephone numbers. Paul Flores is living in Lawndale with his ex-brother-in-law.

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http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2002/...-02dnews-02.asp



[ Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2002 ]

Missing students plague U.S. colleges


By Cate Sabatine
Collegian Staff Writer
As the search for missing Penn State student Cindy Song continues, the communities of universities across the country also are conducting searches to locate other missing students.

Numerous cases of missing men and women are reported each year, and the National Crime Center reports 98,697 people are missing in the United States. Of this number, 55 percent are women, and 3,492 of these women are between the ages of 22 and 29.

Although the disappearance of Song is the first experience that Penn State has had with a missing student, countless families and friends have been faced with the loss of someone who seems to have simply vanished from campus and hasn't been heard from since.

"I think that every time we had a report the person has shown up or they had just gone out of town without telling anyone," said Penn State spokesman Gary Cramer concerning missing students at the university.

But Song, who was last seen in the early morning hours of Nov. 1, has not been heard from since her disappearance. Other college students across the country also have vanished, as police continue to search for clues.

Jill Behran

Indiana University student Jill Behrman was last seen going on a bike workout outside of campus on May 31, 2000. She was scheduled to work at the university's sports center and was to meet her father for lunch at 3 p.m. but never showed up at either location. According to the Bloomington Police Department, on Friday, June 5, Jill's bicycle was found undamaged, near a cornfield 10 miles away from where she was last seen riding. Since the discovery of her bicycle, there have been more than 1,300 leads, however, Behrman has yet to be found.

"There is a big hole in our hearts and in our lives right now," said her brother Eric Behrman in a note of thanks to all of those who have helped in the search for his sister.

The FBI in Bloomington, Ind., has some very promising leads.

"If there is a silver lining, one positive thing is that we have had great cooperation from all the agencies in the area," FBI agent Gary Dunn said.

"We have been very blessed. Jill's case has been featured on such shows as Unsolved Mysteries, America's Most Wanted and Good Morning America. The case has aged, but we are not going to give up and we will never give up," Dunn said. "Our goal from day one was to bring Jill home to her family, and we will do that."

Kristen Modaferri

Kristen Modaferri, a North Carolina State University student, had plans to spend her summer in San Francisco and take classes at the University of California at Berkeley. According to her family's Web site, she was working at a coffee shop in downtown San Francisco until 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. On June 23, 1997, the day before her classes were to begin, she left work and was never seen again.

Kristin Smart

Kristin Smart, a student at California Polytechnic State University, was last seen on May 25, 1996. According to an article reprinted from The Record in Stockton, Calif., the last person to see her was student Paul Flores, who walked her from a party to an area near her dormitory. It has been more than five years since her disappearance, and there have been no new leads in the case.

"The reality is there are never any guarantees," her mother, Denise Smart, said in the article. "But as a family, just knowing that everything possible that can be done is being done, it not only restores your faith in law enforcement, I mean, it's a reason to hope."

In most of these cases, area police, state police, and the FBI have become involved. In the event that a student is reported missing, there are several steps that are initially taken to investigate such a report.

Tony Camechis, head of operations at the Ohio University Police Department said that there is a checklist of things that are done when a student is first reported missing.

"It depends on the circumstances," Camechis said. "We do things such as check residence halls, check class schedules to see if they have showed up for class, and we call family and friends."

Although the number of missing women reported is higher than that of men, there have been several reports of male students who have vanished from college campuses as well.

Keith Noble

Keith Noble, a student at Ohio University, was reported missing in April 1998. There was a tremendous search throughout the town that involved the community and the university. According to a press release about his disappearance, Noble was last seen around 1:10 a.m. at a party near campus.

The search for Noble included search dogs, horses, bicycles, a boat and a helicopter.

Dwight Woodward, former director of Ohio University News Services and now director of International Relations at the university, said there were massive searches of the town including pictures put up by students, as well as front page news articles and television stations covering the search.


CORRECTION: This article incorrectly stated the status of Keith Noble's disappearance. He was found dead in the Hocking River, which runs through Ohio University's campus. Keith Noble was never found, and Woodward said he was almost certain that the police never determined exactly what happened.

Justin Hayduk

A similar case was the disappearance of University of Pittsburgh student Justin Hayduk, who according to an article in The Pitt News, was last seen on March 10 in Morgantown, W.Va. The article reported on that day Hayduk and a friend had been drinking and were stopped by a West Virginia Police Officer. Hayduk ran from the scene, and the only lead that police had was that his hat was found near the Monogahela River.

After a search of the river and no new leads, Hayduk's father, Michael Hayduk, began a search of his own.

"(His father) was almost overly optimistic," said Eric Lidji, senior staff writer for The Pitt News. "He put out ads in the area, in 7 Elevens and consulted psychics."

In this case, Hayduk's body was found in late May, in the Monogahela River. However, the story behind his death has not been uncovered.

Chris Gerspacher

More recently, the disappearance of Ohio State University student Chris Gerspacher also has become a mystery. An article in The Lantern, the student newspaper for the university, reported that Gerspacher was last seen around 9:30 p.m. on Dec. 22. His apartment door had been left unlocked, and the television and lights had been left on. His car was parked out front, and his ID, keys and a few hundred dollars were inside of his apartment, said his father, Bob Gerspacher.

"His parents and their church come to campus every Sunday to put up pictures," said Megan E. Walsh, of The Lantern. "The family still has hope, but only one person has contacted the police, and there have been no leads."

Gerspacher's parents contacted the police when their son never showed up for the Christmas holiday.

"Chris loves the holidays. He has never missed this day with his family," his mother, Holly Gerspacher, told The Lantern.

Walsh also reported that no evidence has been found, and the police have ruled out suicide.

The search for Song, the missing Penn State student, also continues. The 21-year-old integrative arts major was last seen near her West Clinton Avenue apartment. She is 5'1" tall and weighs about 115 lbs. Song, of Korean descent, has long black hair and was last seen wearing a short white skirt, pink top, knee-high brown boots and red-hooded coat. The Ferguson Township Police Department asks anyone with information to call 814-237-1172 or 1-800-479-0050.

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http://www.keyt.com/news/local/5915746.html

Kristin Smart Tip Leads To Search
The San Luis Obispo Sheriff's department received a tip to what might be the missing remains of vanished Cal Poly student Kristin Smart.
Officials say the tip indicated that bones were found in a Cal Poly water tank, possibly related to the Smart case.
Detectives checked out the tank Friday but did not find any human remains.
Smart went missing nearly 11 years ago.
The 19-year-old was last seen walking home from a party.
Story Created: Feb 17, 2007 at 3:25 PM PST

Story Updated: Feb 17, 2007 at 3:25 PM PST

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WHAT HAPPENED TO KRISTIN SMART?

Name: Kristin Smart

Current Age: 26 Age at Disappearance: 19

Date of Birth: February 20, 1977

Date of Disappearance: May 25, 1996 From: San Luis Obispo, CALIFORNIA

Height: 6'1" Weight: 145 lbs. Hair: Blonde Eyes: Blue

Details: Kristin Smart, a student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in San Luis Obispo, California disappeared in the early morning hours of May 25, 1996 after having attended an off-campus party with friends. Upon leaving the party, Kirstin and another female friend were escorted back to campus by Paul Flores, then 19. The second female parted ways with the two and left the pair to walk 200 yards further to Kristin's dorm. Flores claims that he saw Kristin to the doorway of the building and went to his own dorm room by himself.

Kristin never made it to her dorm room. An extensive search of the dorms after Kristin's disappearance brought cadaver dogs- dogs trained to sniff out the scent of a dead body- three times to the mattress Flores slept upon in his dorm room. To date, Kristin has been missing for nearly 7 years and has not been heard from or seen since. Evidence does not support her to be a runaway.

Paul Flores maintains his innocence. Kristin is considered to be deceased at this time.

Contact Information: San Louis Obispo Sheriff's Office (800) 876-5353 or the Smart Family Attorney at (800) 489-8929. If you spot Kristin in immediate danger call 911 or your local law enforcement agency.
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Kristin's home page: www.findkristinsmart.org/index.html



Son of Susan:

www.sonofsusan.com/
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abcnews.go.com/sections/p...30722.html

What Happened to Kristin Smart?

A Mystery Remains Unsolved at College Laci and Scott Peterson Attended



July 27— Last month, as students at California Polytechnic State University were graduating, Denise Smart had a more somber ceremony — a memorial service for her daughter Kristin, who has been missing for seven years.



Ceremonies like these tend to attract the families of other people who have disappeared without a trace. Buttons bearing the faces of the missing usually give the parents away.



"The worst thing for each of us is thinking that our daughters are forgotten," said Denise Smart. "It's like being in a club that no one wants to belong to."



The Laci Peterson case and the enormous media coverage surrounding her slaying hangs especially strong over California Polytechnic University. Laci Rocha and her future husband, Scott Peterson — the man now charged with killing her and their unborn child — were seniors at the school when Kristin Smart, then a 19-year-old freshman, disappeared on May 25, 1996.



Crucial Delay in Investigation



Kristin was last seen at a party at a campus fraternity house, and witnesses told police she drank heavily that night.



Kristin left the party with another woman and a male student named Paul Flores. She was last seen with Flores, who walked her to an area near her dormitory.



Crystal Calvin, Kristin's roommate, said she became worried when she didn't see Kristin the next morning. Calvin contacted campus police, but she said they didn't take her seriously because it was Memorial Day weekend, a holiday period when students normally take mini-vacations.





"They were like, 'It's Memorial Day weekend, and if we did this, if we filled out a missing person's [report] for every student who went away for the weekend, etc.,' " said Calvin. " 'You know that's not really necessary. I'm sure she'll be back.' "



But Kristin didn't come back. Officials did not declare her missing until four days later. Her family believes campus police ignored their daughter's disappearance during a period where investigators could have gathered critical clues.



"It's probably happened a hundred times a year where somebody gets drunk, passes out, wakes up the next day and they're back home [in their dorm]," said Tim Hames, a private investigator in the Smart case. "So they [campus police] don't really have experience with dealing with true missing persons, let alone a homicide. … Hindsight is 20/20 of course and looking back, it should have been processed."



A Suspect Never Charged



San Luis Obispo County police officials said they have long considered Paul Flores a suspect in Kristin's disappearance. However, they have never been able to gather enough evidence to arrest him. Police said they suspect the delay in declaring Kristin missing ultimately hampered their investigation.



"Much of the evidence was more than likely gone by Saturday or Sunday," said St. Luis Obispo police Lt. Steve Bolts. "He [Flores] is considered a suspect and continues to be the only suspect in our opinion at this time."



Flores has denied any involvement in the disappearance. Kristin was declared dead in May 2002, and her family subsequently filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Flores. They had sued Flores previously, but dropped the lawsuit because they hoped more evidence would surface.



ABCNEWS was unable to reach Flores but did speak with his attorney and his father. Neither would comment on the case.



Hoping for a ‘Final Chapter’



The Smart family hopes investigators eventually will uncover new information about what happened to Kristin.



They will take any spotlight — even one that's a byproduct of the Laci Peterson tragedy — to reignite interest in Kristin's case. Several supermarket tabloids speculated about whether Scott Peterson could have been involved in Kristin's disappearance, simply because they attended the same school. However, no known evidence links Kristin to Peterson.



"The media [only] cover a fraction of those young people that are missing," Denise Smart said. "But I think in Laci's story, it was so ongoing, it's like reading a novel. If there's no next chapter, you're old, you're finished. We're waiting for our final chapter."





This story aired on a special Primetime, July 21, 2003.

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http://www.theksbwchannel.com/news/3012646/detail.html

Missing Girl's Mother Trying To Keep Billboards

Kristin Smart Disappeared In 1996



SAN LOUIS OBISBO, Calif. -- The mother of missing Cal Poly student Kristin Smart, who disappeared in 1996, is trying to keep two Highway 101 billboards.



"We want to keep Kristin's memory alive," the girl's mother, Denise Smart of Stockton, said this week. "Billboards are the only way we can remind people that she's still missing after eight years. It's the only gift we can give to her to make sure she's not forgotten."



The mother needs $3,000 to keep the rented billboards.



Kristin Smart, 19, disappeared in 1996 after a Memorial Day weekend party near California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, where she was a freshman.



Her parents filed a wrongful death suit in May 2002 against Paul Flores, the last person seen walking with her back to her dormitory. A Cal Poly student at the time, Flores was questioned but never arrested.



Superior Court Judge Donald Umhoffer is expected to reconsider in September whether sheriff's investigative documents must be released to Smart attorney Jim Murphy for the civil suit.



Last October, Umhoffer ruled the Sheriff's Department didn't have to release the documents because the investigation of the teen's disappearance was ongoing. But he agreed to revisit the request after a year.



"We have a commitment to this case," Sheriff Pat Hedges said.



Denise Smart said the billboards might lead to new information in the case.



"We'd like to give them a chance to be heroes and end this family's nightmare," she said, adding she's convinced her daughter is dead but she wants to know what happened.



"We're still putting our faith in the Sheriff's Department," she said.
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http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/8437131.htm

Smarts pushing for billboards

Family of Kristin Smart, missing since 1996, is collecting money for roadside reminders



CAL POLY - The parents of missing Cal Poly student Kristin Smart are raising $3,000 to maintain two billboards they hope to put up along Highway 101 at the northern and southern entrances to San Luis Obispo.



"We want to keep Kristin's memory alive," said her mother, Denise Smart of Stockton.



"Billboards are the only way we can remind people that she's still missing after eight years," Smart said. "It's the only gift we can give to her to make sure she's not forgotten."



Kristin Smart disappeared in 1996 after a Memorial Day weekend party near Cal Poly.



Numerous newspaper and magazine articles along with TV segments have told of her family's frustration and heartbreak through the years.



The 19-year-old freshman's body has not been found.



Her parents filed a wrongful death suit in May 2002 against Paul Flores, the last person seen walking with her back to her dormitory.



A Cal Poly student at the time, Flores was questioned but never arrested. His family lives in Arroyo Grande.



Judge Donald Umhoffer is expected to reconsider in September whether county Sheriff's Department investigative documents must be released to the Smarts' attorney, Jim Murphy, for use in the civil suit.



In October 2003, Umhoffer ruled that the department didn't have to release the documents because the investigation of her disappearance was still ongoing. But he agreed to revisit the request after a year.



In the meantime, Denise Smart hopes someone might see her rented billboards and come forward with new information.



"We'd like to give them a chance to be heroes and end this family's nightmare," she said.



Donations toward the Kristin Smart billboard fund will be accepted at any branch of Mid-State Bank & Trust, she said. Murphy also has a billboard in front of his office in Arroyo Grande's Village.



Denise Smart said she knows her daughter is dead, but wants to know what happened and to bring her home.



"We're still putting our faith in the Sheriff's Department," she said.



Sheriff Pat Hedges said Wednesday that the investigation continues.



"It's probably the longest running active one we've ever had," he said. "We have a commitment to this case."
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Unanswered questions remain for family of Kristin Smart

By: Amy Jacobs



After nearly eight years, Kristin Smart's family has been working to keep her memory alive, as well as the investigation into her disappearance.



The Smart family says they're worried the public will forget about the disappearance of Cal Poly student Kristin Smart, and the flow of information will stop.



"You can never let go," says Kristin's mother, Denise Smart. "You always have to be vigilant. You always have to be working to keep Kristin's memory alive, but you have to work, work to keep the investigation alive."



Smart's family believes the answers are out there, and they hope someone comes forward with information about Kristin.



"It's going to take this village to find our daughter," says Denise Smart. "They say it takes a village to raise a child, but unfortunately every missing person case has proven that it's the village that finds the child."



Denise Smart says she is simply a mother who wants to bring her daughter home.



"We could bring Kristin home, not the way we would like to, but at least bury her in a place of our choosing, a place of beauty, a place she would like to be," says Denise Smart. "She does not deserve to have her life ended this way."



The Smart family is currently pursuing a civil trial against Paul Flores, the man they believe was involved in Kristin's disappearance, and the case will be back before a judge this fall. The family is also hoping to raise money to buy billboards this summer, in the hopes that someone will see a billboard and decide to offer some new information in the case.
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