April 23, 2020 | 10: 45am | Updated April 23, 2020 | 11: 40am
California investigators digging into the disappearance of college student Kristin Smart — who vanished more than two decades ago — found “items of interest” in a former classmate’s home during a search this week, according to a new report.
The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office served a search warrant Wednesday “for specific items of evidence at the Los Angeles County home of Paul Flores,” the office said in a news release.
Flores, the last known person to see her alive, has long been considered a person of interest in the case — though he has refused to cooperate with authorities over the years.
Police previously searched Flores’ San Pedro home and two “vintage” vehicles in February.
The February search led to Wednesday’s warrant, Tony Cipolla, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, told CNN.
“The search is now concluded and we recovered some items of interest in the case,” Cipolla told the network. “We are following up on leads, tips and good investigative work.”
Flores was detained during the search, which began at 7 a.m. Pacific Time and ended at 10: 30 a.m., according to Cipolla. He was then released back into his home, the official said.
Smart was a 19-year-old freshman at California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo when she went missing from the campus in 1996.
She was last seen near her dorm after walking home from an off-campus fraternity party and had been spotted with Flores, but he was never arrested or charged in the case.
The young woman was declared dead in 2002 even though her body was never found.
Smart’s mom, Denise, drew media attention to the case again in mid-January when she revealed a retired FBI agent recently contacted her and told her to prepare for a bombshell in the case, the Stockton Record reported.
