Despite numerous investigations, searches and legal procedures, it took 24 years for an arrest to be made in the disappearance of Kristin Smart.
The disappearance of Kristin Smart is one of California’s most enduring mysteries. For much of the time since she vanished while walking to her dorm at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 1996, authorities have identified fellow student Paul Flores as the prime suspect in the case. But despite numerous investigations, searches and legal procedures, there has not be an arrest in the case. Until Tuesday, when Flores and his father were arrested. Here is a timeline of the case: May 1996 Smart, then 19, of Stockton, disappeared on Memorial Day weekend. About 8:30 p.m. on May 24, she and three companions left their dorms, a staggered row of brick and concrete buildings set against a steep incline known as Poly Hill. They grabbed a ride in a truck to a party at an unofficial fraternity house near campus. Her friends did not want to go to the party, so they dropped Smart off a couple of blocks away. Tim Davis, a senior who helped stage the party, told investigators he was shooing away the last stragglers about 2 a.m. when he spotted a tall girl later identified as Smart sprawled on a lawn next door, apparently passed out. He roused her. She was in no condition to walk home alone. Davis and Cheryl Anderson were going to walk her home when Flores, a 19-year-old from the nearby town of Arroyo Grande, volunteered to help.
