San Luis Obispo, California

The disappearance of Kristin Smart, a California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) student in 1996, concluded after more than two decades with the murder conviction of Paul Flores. Smart vanished after a Memorial Day weekend party on May 25, 1996, last seen with fellow student Paul Flores, who claimed he walked her partway back to her dorm. Flores quickly became a prime suspect, but the case stalled for many years, despite police cadaver dogs reacting to his dorm room.

Smart's body has never been recovered. The case gained renewed public interest after an independent true-crime podcast in 2019. This momentum led to new evidence, including a date rape drug and videos, found during searches of Flores's property. In 2021, Paul Flores was arrested and charged with Smart's murder, while his father, Ruben Flores, was charged as an accessory.

Prosecutors alleged Flores engaged in or attempted rape before killing Smart, with biological evidence found at Ruben Flores’s home suggesting her body was temporarily buried there. After a trial, Paul Flores was found guilty and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison, while Ruben Flores was acquitted. In the wake of this tragedy, the Kristin Smart Campus Security Act was signed into law in 1998, requiring colleges to share information on violence and disappearances, and a scholarship was established in her name.