It's unclear what evidence was found, if any, however, deputies are expected to continue the search Tuesday. Still, Lambert and everyone else in the area knew that one of those locations would be the Flores home. Some concrete. Asked where he needed to clean it, Flores said, My moms house.. Smart was last seen on May 25, 1996, after returning to campus from a fraternity party in San Luis Obispo. Stay current with the latest posts from Gardenista each day in their entirety. I didnt understand why. That was the day members of San Luis Obispo County Sheriffs Office and the FBI arrived at Susan Flores home to search the property. Kristin the swimmer. The Gardenista editors provide a curated selection of product recommendations for your consideration. As of Monday, the home in the Village of Arroyo Grande was listed for sale for $739,900 on real estate website Zillow, a 6% price increase since the property was initially listed on Aug. 4. Mann found broken pieces of cement he understood were placed there by Ruben Flores [Pauls father] and Paul Flores about the time Kristin Smart disappeared., Mann informed San Luis Obispo sheriffs deputies of a backfill of some kind and looks to be man made and believes he discovered some anomalies on the west side of the backyard but told authorities he was 80 to 90 percent sure that his conclusion that the anomaly he discovered were a natural excavation or erosion.. The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office is searching the yard of Ruben Flores's home, located in the 700 block of White Ct. in Arroyo Grande. When investigators asked where, he said I have to clean up some stuff. and a hedge on the perimeter, says Welti. They may have been following up a tip made by a 21-year-old food prep cook. Atascadero News Magazine Flores and his parents have always maintained his innocence, invoking the Fifth Amendment when the DAs office subpoenaed him to testify before a grand jury in 1996. Her anguished parents Stan and Denise said in a recent statement their hopes are tempered but endorse the dedicated effort to track down their missing daughter and wish the person of interest will soon be held accountable for taking her life and harboring her remains for over 20 years.. Experts and neighbors tell The Daily Beast they might be digging in the wrong spot, and that they have reason to believe Smart may be buried in the backyard that once belonged to the last man seen with her. Dosties associate Dr. Arpad Vass is confident that Busters nose is right. Good News Real News Your Hometown News, Atascadero News . Hes been certified before, Dostie said. Have a good day, he said. So, as I listen to Chris, I often think how they would be fast friends., Although hes not currently working on another episode in the now seven-part series, Lambert has been watching the case unfold should he need to pick up the microphone again. His is the latest in a line of true-crime podcasts credited with producing results in court. Murphy claims Ruben Flores, Susan Flores and McConville worked under Ruben's house during the night on or around February 9, 2020 Credit: AP 13 A sign raising awareness of Smart's disappearance has been a mainstay in the area since she vanished Credit: Your Own Backyard/ Chris Lambert A member of the Los Angeles Sheriffs Dept. Lassiter and her husband Joseph were deposed during the familys civil dispute against Flores. Photo credit: Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP/Shutterstock. Lambert has been thrust into the spotlight with the arrests. The results after the search were inconclusive. The San Luis Obispo Sheriffs Office initially spoke to The Daily Beast about some of these precise questions about the viability of the mothers backyard and to answer about their current and past investigation efforts. Lambert spoke with a former Australian exchange student at Cal Poly who said he saw Flores and Smart struggling near where Smart was last seen. Flores, also 19, who barely knew Smart before that night, told investigators she was walking real slow and put his hands on the drunken teens waist allegedly to keep her warm from the early-morning chill of May 25, 1996. Anybody can say Oh, yeah, we think its there. That cant be admitted in a court of law.. Who was Kristin Smart? Smarts remains are believed to be buried in close proximity to that retaining wall, Dostie told David Smallwood, editor and publisher of independent newspaper The California Register, who tagged along to document the search and photograph the moment Buster alerted. According to a March 27, 1996, San Luis Obispo police report a drunken Flores was accused around Christmas of attempting to break into a Cal Poly coeds apartment. Asked why Smarts story has resonated so much with people, Hunt-Burns said the missing woman represents a tale of horror that calls for a community response. See our obsessively curated catalog of favorite products sourced by the Gardenista editors. I decided to go up there with my microphone and just see if anybody showed up to remember her that day, so I could interview them, he says. Its like, youre working on this secretly and then this guy comes along and starts talking and now the entire community is outraged and they want answers now.. Facebook 0 . All you need to do is drill a hole down to the concrete, down to the ground below and plant it and take a soil sample. She created the low-maintenance scheme a few years ago for a Brooklyn couple whose townhouse had a typical rectangular backyard (20 feet wide by 36 feet deep). The hole was about waist-deep, mid-thigh level, and stretching seven to eight feet long, four to six feet wide, the witness, who requested anonymity, said. As a result, no further details were released. Paso Robles Magazine Dogs also reacted to his stripped mattress. Located on a 5,000-square-foot property, the 2,000-square-foot home has three bedrooms and three bathrooms. Above: Weltis design calls for six identical planting bedseach measuring roughly 5 feet squareplaced equidistant from one another. One yard of stone typically covers 162 square feet to a depth of 2 inches; to calculate, visit Bedford Stone. The paper also reported that a man believed to be Flores was detained in a Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department squad vehicle for two hours that day and that his house was one of the locations searched. Somehow during the recovery of the soiled item the earring was misplaced by the [San Luis Obispo] deputies and has yet to be found, Schafers report states. UPDATE (8:00 p.m.) - Investigators primarily focused their search on the backyard and lower deck. Remodeling and renovation tips and ideas for projects big and small. A tenant who lived for a year at Susan Flores home told him she heard a watch alarm every morning at 4:20 a.m. Smart had worked as a lifeguard at 5 a.m. at the Cal Poly pool, so its possible she set her watch to wake up at that early hour. In the end it shouldnt be about showmanship or who gets the credit. We want to make it clear this is not to harass or antagonize the Flores family or jeopardize the case in any way, Hunt-Burns said. Gardenistas members-only directory of landscape architects and garden designers. UPDATE (2:15 p.m.) - The vehicle towed from Ruben Flores' home Monday morning was a 1985 Volkswagen registered to Ruben and Susan Flores, according to the DMV. Flores is the . On March 3, 1997, sheriffs deputies returned to the Flores residence with dogs, who gravitated to the corner of the backyard, but made no alert to any human remains. Flores is the father of Paul Flores, named the. On June 29, 1996more than a month without a sign of Smartauthorities were led by cadaver dogs roaming the campus to room No. If we each donated $25, we could make that happen.. Alexandra Wallace October 21, 2019. Ill tell you as a 15-year floor layer I can take a whole room of carpet, roll it up like a burritowe call it cockroachingyou throw it on your back and walk it upstairs, he said. When Buster alerted there why didnt they get their dogs and run them to see if they obtained the same result? It scared him that someone had gone missing and no one knew what happened. He located overlooked or reluctant witnesses who hadnt spoken with police. Lambert details all this and more in his podcast, homing in on details that armchair sleuths believe signal Flores guilt: a possibly blood-flecked earring that looked like one of Smarts found on Susan Flores property by renters (it was misplaced by the police) and a mysterious beeping that emanated from the concrete yard at 4:20 every morning about the time Smart often set her alarm for to make it to early swim practices. Theres human decomposition in that backyard, Dostie announced. This search comes almost a year after four search warrants were served in February 2020, just before the pandemic. LOS ANGELES Scores of sheriffs deputies and federal agents dug up dirt at three sites at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo University last week, looking for the body of Kristin Smart. The earlier investigations failed her and this darkness has lurked for 24 years., The Facebook group has been vital to keeping the spotlight on this case, she added. According to The Tribune, that lawsuit cannot move forward during an active criminal investigation. Four dogs independently reacted to Flores dorm room at Santa Lucia Hall. We would like nothing more than to bring closure to the Smart family in this case.. They started with the home of Pauls father, Ruben Flores. Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way. San Luis Obispo. Related coverage:Paul Flores granted protective order during arraignment in Kristin Smart case. They then introduced Lambert to her daughters friends and high school classmates for further interviews. Theres little (or no) money to fix up the garden, which the contractors left looking like a war zone. You dont have to tear out of the entire concrete, Vass said. Above: Step one: hardscape. As law enforcement our primary job is the victims, Dostie said. Lambert also spoke with 13 other women who accused Flores of everything from predatory behavior to harassment to sexual assault. In Your Own Backyard ran from September 2019 to January 2020 and, not long after the seventh episode aired, authorities showed up at Susan Flores' front door on that day in early February. Im fine. That was until Buster, the black Labrador from Mammoth Lakes, California, arrived on Tarawa on a mission teaming up with the POW-MIA group History Flight. Central Coast TRVLR I was a little concerned about how that would affect my relationship with them. The garden has withstood the test of timeand long been one of our favorites (we first spotted it in Domino Magazine)so we asked Welti to tell us how you can adapt it for your space. When you register as a free Member of the Remodelista family of websites (Remodelista, Gardenista, and The Organized Home), you gain access to all current posts plus 10 archived posts per month, our internal bookmarking tool, and the community bulletin board. Im good, he said. Buster prowled the almost 300-acre islands crushed coral turf and had several alerts in a straight line indicating the possibility of a trench burial carved out by a bulldozer. When she wanted to accomplish something, she always came through. With the coast seemingly clear he opened the door to his white 1960 Chevrolet Impala parked on the crammed street where hes resided for almost two years. What Chris did with the podcast was put it out nationally to bring in new information, Parkinson said without elaborating on the new evidence. I cant step away from it for more than a few days, Lambert said. Its driving me insane, he said, yet he remained focused, patient and polite during a 45-minute interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday. After the confession about the black eye, though, Flores clammed up and he hasnt talked to anyone on the record since. In February, the Sheriffs Office served search warrants at four locations two in San Luis Obispo County, one in Los Angeles County and one in the state of Washington. He stood at his kitchen sink watching Flores and a friend labor at night digging and pouring concrete not more than 100 feet away. Kristin the dreamer. The results after the search were. I thought Id give it a shot and see if I could get a few people talking, Lambert said. The Flores family filed a civil suit against the Smarts for emotional distress. In summer 2014, Buster signaled twice that he had found someone while sniffing around the fence line separating a neighbors home from Susan Floress property. Last month, Flores was arrested in Los Angeles County on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Crushed stone prices vary. In October 2022, Paul Flores, the man long suspected in her disappearance, was found guilty of. Flores allegedly climbed up her balcony and she suspected he attempted to break into her apartment., The student refused to press charges, but Flores didnt stop. His father, Ruben Flores, 80, was charged as an accessory. The longtime suspect, Paul Flores, 44, was charged with murder in the killing of the 19-year-old while trying to rape her in his dorm room at California Polytechnic State University campus in San Luis Obispo, where both were freshmen, prosecutors said. Imagine the reaction of Susan Flores, the mother of Paul Flores, when an FBI and sheriff's team knock on her door early June 19, 2000, with a search warrant. Apr. Together with Colony Magazine, mailing 20,000 monthly copies to our community, we are the best-read, most-trusted news source for our community. Why no one does that is beyond me. Today, day two, at the fathers home, after a full day of working with ground-penetrating radar (GPR) experts and two cadaver dogs, Sheriff Ian Parkinson is overseeing todays search. The following month prosecutors interviewed Flores again. The Smart case is moving forward and this podcaster is along for the ride. Now Theyre Out for Justice, Over the course of the interviews, Flores denied any wrongdoing when it came to Kristin, telling investigators: I walked with her to where the driveway was and I went off to my dorm.. University Police Chief Tom Mitchell requested the help of the county sheriffs office after a month of investigations, and then-Sheriff Ed Williams took over the case. On March 4, 1997, a contractor named Gary Mann conducted multiple ground penetrating radar scans for the sheriffs office on Susan Floress property on the second day of the initial search. The house is selling for $700,000, we have over 29,000 members in this group. So it was heavy. He told a campus officer that he and Smart separated near the Santa Lucia Hall dormitory, and that he hadnt seen her since. A green Forensic Services tent can be seen next to a blue tent in the backyard of Ruben Flores' Arroyo Grande home on Tuesday, April 13, 2021. The San Luis Obispo Sheriffs Department and the FBI declined to be interviewed by Rolling Stone, but the Sheriffs Department did credit Lamberts podcast with helping move the case forward in interviews with both the podcaster and the press. He lived directly across the street and saw something that haunts him like it was yesterday.. He also highlights that both Flores parents have remained at their residences, despite harassment by would-be investigators. Flores said he left Smart at her room at Muir Hall before crashing at his room in nearby Santa Lucia Hall. He is a graduate of UC Santa Barbara and UC Berkeley and is originally from Ojai. The podcast that Chris put together is very well done, Sheriff Ian Parkinson said in a recent interview with KVEC 920AM. A red Butterfly Chair, made to the specifications of the original BFK, is $350 from Circa 50. On May 31, 1996, investigators from the San Luis Obispo District Attorneys Office asked Flores about cuts on his knees and a bruise under his right eye. Why are there no answers? So, I started researching it.. Flores is the mother of Paul Flores, the last person seen with Smart when the 19-year-old woman went missing after a party in San Luis Obispo in 1996. We want to hear it. I forced the warrant on a skeptical police force. All Rights reserved. I do recognize its a bit of a crazy idea, but sometimes crazy ideas work.. For most of my life, Kristin Smart has been a face on a billboard, he wrote on Instagram. As with any active investigation, they will not be commenting on what, if any, evidence has been discovered. Your Own Backyard producer Chris Lambert, who lives in Orcutt, has interviewed Smarts parents, investigators and multiple women who said they have felt personally threatened by Flores.. Its hardly any cost, Vass continued. Once she was up, Smart involuntarily clung onto a troubled Cal Poly interloper named Paul Flores who joined the handful of students retreating for the night to the dorms. I was told that officers present did not want to pay to have the concrete repaired if the search turned up nothing. If there was Dr. Vass and I would be the only ones qualified to give such a certification.. (7:47 a.m.) - Another search warrant in connection to the 1996 disappearance of Cal Poly student Kristin Smart was served Monday morning in Arroyo Grande, this time at the home of Paul Flores's father. Shovels and orange buckets are at the scene as well. On Wednesday, investigators could be seen at the Arroyo Grande home of Susan Flores, as authorities served a search warrant in the Kristin Smart missing person case. A group of community advocates seeking justice for missing Cal Poly student Kristin Smart is floating the idea of buying an Arroyo Grande home next to the property of Susan Flores. Image by Judy Craghead, via Flickr. 16, San Luis Obispo County Sheriff served a search warrant at the Arroyo Grande home of Ruben Flores, father of Paul Flores. The comment got around 1,000 likes and several hundred comments after a day. Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand. In July 1996 sheriffs deputies made the first of multiple searches of the Flores residences. With the heat back on Smarts case, the family can only praise Lamberts work. Its very easy to see Kristin in our daughters, sisters and cousins, Hunt-Burns said. Flores already had the black eye when he saw him on Sunday, May 26, 1996, a day after Smart was reported missing, and could not have sustained the injury playing basketball, investigators wrote. On the site, theres a plaque featuring a poem by Smart about her love of the ocean: Floating upon the salty waters/I cringe with excitement/To be in such a heavenly place. Its located about 11 miles from the Cal Poly campus. That area has been searched several times, he said. I think the value of it has been big., Denise Smart has also credited Sheriff Parkinson with bringing new vigor to the investigation since he was sworn into office in 2011. Kristin Smart scholarship fund, established by the nonprofit organization Justice for Kristin. They worked by a retaining wall at the rear of the backyard for almost five hours altogether during the late night. 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