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Remains found at Kristin Smart dig likely belong to animal

September 13, 2016
Kristin Smart

Kristin Smart

Authorities are currently analyzing remains recovered last week from a Cal Poly hillside to determine whether they are human or animal and whether they are related to the Kristin Smart case. Two sources who are familiar with the investigation, but are not authorized to discuss it, have told the LA Times the bones are most likely animal remains.

On Friday, the FBI finished evacuation efforts at three sites below the Cal Poly “P.” The site were selected after a “strong” tip led agents to bring trained dogs to the area, which alerted alerted investigators to the specific locations.

During a three-day excavation, investigators searched an area 90 feet in radius from each of the three locations. Officials used heavy equipment to pull dirt from the ground. Agents then turned over the dirt with rakes and shovels on a hard deck.

Smart, a native of Stockton, was nearing the end of her freshman year at Cal Poly when she vanished on May 25, 1996 after attending an off-campus party. The 19-year-old was last seen in the company of fellow student Paul Flores.

Flores claims he escorted Smart to her dorm, which was relatively empty because of the Memorial Day weekend. Flores, who is now believed to be living in Southern California, remains a suspect in the case.

Smart’s parents, Denise and Stan Smart of Stockton, filed a civil wrongful death case against Flores in 2005, but they dropped the case after Flores pleaded the Fifth Amendment in court. Flores has been arrested for DUI three times since 1997 and was sentenced to 240 days in jail for violating his probation after the last DUI.

Officials previously said it may take months to determine the source of the remains that were discovered.


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I heard Flores had family access to land with an aqueduct canal system that pours out in to the Ocean.


I hope Kristen’s family never gives up. There was a case from 1989 that was finally solved. The kid’s name was Jacob Wetterling. He was 11 at the time. That family NEVER gave up.


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Ever play “The Telephone Game” when you were younger? That’s a meaningful example of what happens to a message/information that is whispered into the ear of one person and then whispered into the ear of the next person. After being passed around the circle, the original missive is totally distorted. Everyone seems to have an insatiable need to weigh in on what they believe about the remains and items of interest uncovered by the FBI. At this stage, there’s just way too much speculation from people who think they know, but don’t know.


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Everyone who voted a thumbs down are thinking with your hearts. You were hoping she would be found up there. You were hoping Paul Flores would confess. Well, she was not found and he is playing the quiet game. We are where we are, same place 20 years ago.


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It should be obvious that she is and was not out there, but as SLO PD originally suggested, following their severe chiding of the Cal Poly PD and then in disgust, refusing the case and turning the investigation over to the SLO SO.


If Cal Poly had acted prudently (the first 48 hours), then their campus trash dumpsters would not have been emptied prior to being fully searched and that unfortunate woman probably ending up underneath the Cold Canyon landfill. I still wonder why this fact been ignored, swept under the carpet back then and to this day? What every happened to “Truth”?


Also, the investigation has from the start had “tunnel vision” in finding the culprit(s) as with those who investigated the murder case of Jon Benet Ramsey. They were so certain of themselves that they lost their objective detective perspective and the ability to bring justice to Kristen and her family.


It is a quintessential ongoing tragedy for the Smart family who for I say a humble prayer and their missing Daughter, Miss Kristen Smart too… Amen.


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I don’t believe the remains are animal. The cadaver dogs picked out spots and are trained to detect human remains – not animal remains. If they are well trained cadaver dogs they would not be flagging animal remains. I think the unnamed source who is speculating they are animal remains is just trying to throw everyone off.


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It begs this question: are the cadivar dogs trained with 20 year old human bones? Probably not. Probably recent death remains.


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It has been reported that specially-trained cadaver dogs were utilized by the FBI. These cadaver dogs have been trained at Civil War battlefield locations where human remains at least 150 years old are buried – definitely not your average, “everyday” cadaver dogs.


You can read here: http://time.com/4482363/kristin-smart-cal-poly-excavation-campus/


and here: https://www.noozhawk.com/noozhawk/print/slo_sheriff_excavation_cal_poly_in_search_for_kristin_smart


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Is it possible that people who are devoted to using cadaver dogs are overstating their abilities a bit? Their are undoubtedly animal remains — and possibly other old human remains — in such an area. Law enforcement people can get really excited about new methods and technologies to the point where they ignore limitations and flaws. The cadaver dogs aren’t a bad idea but there needs to be more proof than that without a much stronger historical basis that they are near infallible.


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You cannot be a suspect until a crime has been established. Paul Flores is a person of interest. I know people believe he did “it” but we dont even know what “it” was. Speculation is all we know right now, no facts, no confession and most importantly no body!


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If I were a “person of interest” I would’ve cooperated with authorities from the onset of Kristin’s disappearance. I’d have press conferences where I’d loudly proclaim my innocence. If deposed in a civil suit, I’d honestly answer every question, unlike Paul Flores did:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiYtXxV-rzA


Why take the fifth, Paul? Why not answer the questions?


So here we are, 20 years later and whether Paul’s called a “suspect” or a “person of interest,” he (and possibly his family) definitely knows what happened and how he/they can let the Smart family suffer for decades is beyond me.


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You have more faith in the justice system than I. If I was both innocent and a “person of interest” in a high profile case, I would keep my mouth shut without the advice of a good lawyer to speak up.


Why? Because I see too many instances of cops and prosecutors pressured by the media and public to find SOME person responsible for such crimes — to the point where they will focus on ANYONE who might have done it and ignore evidence to the contrary as well as lack of solid evidence to convict. This is beyond the natural tendency for some prosecutors to care more about running up a score for the sake of their own egos and public image rather than real justice.


This is not to say Flores is innocent — I don’t know that he is and he should remain a “suspect” until the truth is determined — just that I don’t blame him for not cooperating under the circumstances.


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Press conference is not proof of innocence!

Scott Peterson decided to be interviewed so he could tell the world he had “nothing to do with the disappearance” of his wife Laci!

Susan Smith claimed her 2 young sons had been kidnapped by a black man and pleaded for anyone with information to come forward… On camera she said: “I want to say to my babies that your mama loves you so much. I just feel in my heart that you’re OK, but you’ve got to take care of each other.”. She finally admitted 9 days later, to driving her car into a lake with her 2 boys strapped in the back seat!


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