Susan Flores' Search Warrant...
This article was given to me by one of the many 'Kristin' friends out there. I scanned the image and just retyped the article to make it easier for you to read.
San Luis Obispo Tribune
Tuesday, June 20th, 2000
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New technology allowed sheriff's detectives to get a fresh perspective Monday on property possibly connected with the Kristin Smart disappearance.
No remains or other evidence was found when investigators peered beneath the surface of a lot at 529 East Branch Street. The house there is owned by the mother of Paul Flores, the last person to be seen with Smart before she disappeared in 1996.
Though he has never been charged in the case, Flores is still considered a suspect be San Luis Obispo County sheriff's detectives.
This is the second time investigators have searched for buried evidence at Susan Flores' Arroyo Grande house. Cadaver dogs, trained to find human remains, and high-tech X-ray equipment were used in a March 1997 search. Nothing was found then, either.
At that time, the home was owned by Paul Flores' parents, but was rented out. Sheriff's deputies, Cal Poly police, and FBI agents serves a search warrant at the Arroyo Grande home at about 8:00am Monday, according to Sheriff's Sgt. Sean Donahue.
Susan Flores lives in the blue bungalow with her 91 year-old grandmother, Donahue said.
Investigators used ground penetrating radar (GPR) to get electro-magnetic pictures of where objects might be buried. The underground images are shown on a computer screen.
Police dug several holes in the home's yard and crawled beneath the house to use the GPR. Investigators also used radar under a garage built on property in early 1999. The search ended about 5pm.
No tips or new information sparked the search. Donahue said. Instead, the search warrant was prompted by the FBI's offer of the new GPR technology.
"The technology is out there, but we didn't have it," Donahue said. "We can look in an area we would not have been able to look in without disturbing someone's property."
Smart, a Stockton native, was a Cal Poly freshman when she disappeared on May 25th, 1996. The 19-year old communications major was last seen walking to her room at Muir Hall with Paul Flores, who also was a Poly student at the time.
This is the latest episode in which investigators have revisited sites and re-interviewed possible witnesses in the disappearance. In March, 1999, the FBI interviewed 600 Cal Poly student who were at the college when Smart disappeared.
Two months later, sheriff's deputies sifted through dirt where the dormitory where Smart was last seen.
Paul Flores is now serving a jail sentence in Santa Barbara County jail in connection with a charge of driving under the influence. Those charges are unrelated to the Smart disappearance.
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