San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson speaks on the latest search warrant in Smart case
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. - San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson has long said that solving the Kristin Smart case is one of his top priorities.
Smart, a Cal Poly student, went missing in 1996.
The sheriff's department was granted a search warrant for Wednesday at the home of Paul Flores in San Pedro.
He is a suspect and believed to be the last person to have seen Smart alive 24 years ago.
Smart was last seen walking with Flores to her dorm after an off campus party.
The latest warrant was the second time just this year that investigators searched Flores' home. He has never been arrested or charged with any crime regarding the case.
Parkinson says this is not considered a cold case. It's been active since the beginning.
Though the sheriff says many new leads have been generated this year because of the podcast Your Own Backyard.
"It's become a national case because of the passing of information and people saying 'you need to listen to'" the podcast, said Sheriff Ian Parkinson. "That is certainly helpful."
The sheriff said it is important that the public have faith in the process and that the department is doing everything it can.
"I think the challenge is that people grow impatient, and certainly you can understand why when [the case] is coming up on its 25th anniversary," said Parkinson.
The sheriff says search warrants are not something to be taken lightly. There is a lot that goes into requesting one.
A warrant must be for a specific item. Deputies must describe why the item is relevant and timely, and where they want to search for it. The district attorney and a judge must then approve the warrant.
The sheriff's office is unable to share what it was searching for specifically yesterday. Parkinson says sharing that information could hurt the case.
