COLD CASE

Search Warrants Issued in 1996 Cold Case Killing of Cali. Student Kristin Smart

Warrants were issued in Los Angeles and Washington state, the home state of a man who was questioned when Kirstin Smart disappeared.

The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI on Wednesday served four search warrants in two states related to the investigation of missing California Polytechnic college student Kristin Smart, who vanished in 1996. The warrants were issued in Los Angeles County and Washington state, where a man who was questioned at the time of Smart’s disappearance resides, according to a sheriff’s office news release. San Luis Obispo officers and FBI agents were reportedly seen on Wednesday outside the home of the mother of Paul Flores, who was the last person Smart was seen with before she disappeared on her way home from an off-campus party in 1996. Flores is considered a person of interest in the case and was sued in civil court in 1996 by the Smart family, who alleged that he murdered Kristin. Flores has denied the allegations. Smart was officially declared dead in 2002 but her body has never been found. The sheriff’s office said it disclosed the news of the search warrants “due to the high-profile nature of the investigation into the disappearance and whereabouts of Kristin Smart and to avoid the dissemination of misinformation.”