The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office will hold a public briefing Friday morning in Arroyo Grande on the Kristin Smart case, with Sheriff Parkinson scheduled to speak at 9:00am outside the home of Susan Flores.
Investigators began searching Flores' home on Wednesday, and people at the scene saw them probing the earth, testing soil and taking measurements with plastic tubing. Flores is the mother of the man convicted of murdering Smart in 1996.
The search has drawn fresh attention because the case remains active enough for investigators to work a home tied to the convicted killer's family, even as the sheriff's department held back details before Friday's scheduled update. The briefing in the 500 block of East Branch Street is expected to be the first public explanation of what investigators were looking for and why they chose to search there now.
For Smart's family and for those still watching the case nearly three decades later, Friday's question is no longer whether the investigation is alive. It is what the search has turned up, and whether deputies believe they have found anything worth pursuing next.
