The Night Kristin Vanished

The Son of Susan | home

May 25th, 1996

The house in the photo below is where things began to go tragically wrong for Kristin. The house is only about 75 yards or so off of the CalPoly campus. On any given weekday while school is in session, Crandall Way is full of students walking back and forth from campus to the many apartment communities that serve as off campus housing for Cal Poly.

Police records indicate that Ryan Fell, a student at Cal Poly was hosting his birthday party here which happened to coincide with the end of the spring semester. Many students had already left the campus and went home for vacation. Initially, this led to tremendous confusion because when Kristin was first missing, those close to her just assumed she went home for the break.

Thus began an avalanche of missteps and miscues that have saturated this case from day one. Denise and Stan could hardly be any less lucky.

Kristin arrived at the party around midnight and left the party around two hours later. The one recurring theme I keep being told is that Kristin arrived stone sober and just two hours later she was so drunk that she was found "passed out" on the lawn next door. Two hours!

135 Crandall Way,

San Luis Obispo, Ca 93407

This is potentially important. In the photo on the left, 135 Crandall Way is the middle house and I took this photo so that you could see the area where Kristin was said to have passed out. (The Party was at 135 Crandall Way, 137 Crandall Way is where Kristin passed out)

The photo on the right is of the same house , just taken from a different angle. The address is 137 Crandall Way. In May, 1996, I am told that the house was occupied by students who were members of the Kappa Chi fraternity.

Directly across the street is the Sigma Nu Fraternity. In speaking with the head student at the home, Chad, I am told that the word on the street is that Kristin was also in the house located at 137 Crandall Way. This was news to me because that is not reflected in any of the reports I have personally seen. I told Denise this and it was news to her. This may just be a case where students are trying to get creative with their imaginations... but I heard it on two different occasions about two months apart.

Why this scenario was never known to Kristin's parents is something for which I do not have an answer. Also, concerning the kids presently living in this house, something is going on because for some reason they are refusing to return my phone calls. I went to the house in person one night wanting to interview Chad, the student who told me that he heard Kristin was in the house at 137 Crandall Way.

Tell me what you think.

His car is parked right in the driveway. I tell another student that I would like to speak to Chad. A few moments later, the student comes out and says "he's not here". I didn't believe it. In any case, for about the third time I left my phone number and I am still waiting for Chad to return my call.

Adding to the mystery is that Kristin disappeared almost six years ago, which means all the students living in this frat house have long since moved on. The current residents certainly have nothing to do with whatever happened on May 25th, 1996....so why not want to help in answering questions?

At first there was nothing whatsoever suspicious about him. Now I am neutral and nothing would surprise me. Why otherwise normal, polite people suddenly act in a way that is anything other than "100%" helpful is something Denise and I speak about often.

At the Party

In any case, I was able to learn that upon being questioned by the sheriff's office, student's attending the party mentioned that they saw Paul and Kristin speaking to one another on more than one occasion. At one point, there was a commotion and a female student told investigators that somehow Paul and Kristin had fallen to the floor together but that it all appeared innocent and there was an exchange of light humor as they both got up off the ground.

The other notable thing about the report was that the female students said that Paul was very weird because he was hitting on several girls at the party, including the gals that were at the party with their boyfriends.

The party was breaking up around 2:00am and Cheryl, a CalPoly student who lived in the dorms was looking for her friends to arrange finding a way back to the dorms. She became a little miffed when she learned that her friends had already left the party without her knowledge so now she needed to change her plans as it related to getting back to the dorms.

At most it is only a 15-20 minute walk, the issue was never "distance", it was just a matter of safety. A fellow student named Tim Davis who also lived in the dorms offered to walk Cheryl home and that was the plan that Cheryl decided on. It was about this time that Cheryl noticed Kristin passed out on the lawn next door at 137 Crandall Way. She went over to Kristin and woke her up. I believe that Cheryl told investigators that Kristin said she was "cold".

Cheryl was not close friends with Kristin but knew her well enough to know that she also lived in the dorms. Cheryl then decided to take it upon herself to make sure Kristin got home safely.

So at around 2:00am on May 25th, 1996, Tim, Cheryl and Kristin Smart began making their way back to the dorms. I have walked the route many times myself and it is less than a mile.

Paul Flores

Sigma Nu Fraternity opposite from 135 Crandall Way

After a few moments, Tim and Cheryl reported that Paul just sort of "appeared out of nowhere" and offered to walk back to the dorms with them. At the time it seemed like no big deal and the walk continued along Crandall Way.

Cheryl reported that Kristin was able to walk under her own power but that she was leaning on Paul who had his arm around her. Several times Cheryl said she did not notice Paul touching Kristin in a impolite way but even still, her radar was way up because she didn't trust Paul, especially considering the state of mind that Kristin was in. They were all walking at a slow but steady pace and made their way up Crandall and cut behind the rec center to Perimeter Avenue.

At Perimeter Avenue, as I understand it, Tim Davis said goodnight and headed in a different direction. This left Paul, Cheryl and Kristin no more than 100 yds or so to walk up to the intersection of Grand Ave and Perimeter Rd. This was the last time Kristin was seen alive.

Take a look at this photo. I was standing at the entrance of Santa Lucia Hall (Paul's dorm, room 128) when I took it. See the two cars at the top center of the photo...well, they are at the intersection of Grand and Perimeter. Now you have a good idea just how short of a distance Paul needed to walk to get Kristin safely home. The picture doesn't show it, but Kristin's dorm, Muir Hall is located right next door to Santa Lucia Hall.

At Grand and Perimeter Cheryl needed to break off and walk up Grand Ave to her dorm at Sierra Madre. She was nervous about leaving Paul alone with Kristin. She made Paul promise to walk Kristin all the way to her dorm. He said he would, but she persisted. "Paul," if you don't want to, I will", Cheryl insisted. Paul assured her that he would definitely see to it that Kristin would get to the dorms.

Believe it or not, at this point Paul asked Cheryl for a kiss. She turned that offer down quick, but Paul persisted. "C'mon, how bout just a kiss on the cheek"? Cheryl blew that off as well.

Probably against her better judgment, Cheryl said goodnight and unknowingly left Kristin alone with the worst person in the world!

Just so you know, Tim and Cheryl have remained strangely quiet over the years regarding Kristin. I personally knocked on Cheryl's door, she wasn't home and decided not to return my request for her to call me.

Is there more to this story? There just might be. This is important so you need to really focus on what I am about to tell you.

"Every opinion you may have ever formed regarding this case is based on the testimony of Tim and Cheryl."

Paul's version is worthless so just discount everything out of his mouth. Tim Davis and Cheryl Anderson are the foundation of this case. From their testimony the investigators attempted to fill in the blanks. ABC's 20/20 did a national story on Kristin and the timeline of the story follows the testimony of Tim Davis and Cheryl Anderson exactly.

What happens if their story isn't literally true. Personally, I wonder. There is more to this story and investigators hopefully are aware that this is an area worth looking into.

Like I said in my prologue, the investigators couldn't care less about me so I do not receive invitations to their meetings on the "Kristin Smart" case. I know what I know only from personal involvement and in many hours speaking with Kristin's mom and dad. From time to time I learn facts about this case and have passed them on to both the Sheriff and the FBI.

Information in the business is a one way street. I share with investigators what I have learned and they respond like a sponge. They absorb what I say without comment. Hopefully, it fits in with knowledge they already have.

Truthfully, I am OK with that. In the end, this is about finding Kristin, not about me. I just have to hope and trust that they are honoring Kristin with their work ethic.

135 Crandall

Correction: June, 2003:

I have recently spoken with a few students who were at the party with Kristin that evening and the memories conflict with the story I have always heard so I want to make this correction and also to let you know what I have just heard.

The story I have always heard was that Kristin arrived at the party around midnight and was found passed out on the neighbors lawn two hours later at 2:00am.

Now I am hearing that Kristin had arrived at the party earlier in the evening. One student said that he arrived between 10:fpm - 11:00pm and that Kristin was already there. Another student confirmed this saying she was definitely there before midnight, though he didn't know exactly when.