Kristin Smart was near the end of her first year at California Polytechnic State University when she vanished after attending a party in 1996, but it would take years to bring her killer to justice.
Dateline is revisiting the headline-making case in a two-hour mystery titled “Justice for Kristin Smart,” airing Friday, August 15 at 9/8c p.m. on NBC and featuring interviews with Kristin’s family, investigators, prosecutors, and a podcast host credited with revitalizing the case.
“Kristin Smart, a freshman at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, vanishes during Memorial Day weekend in 1996,” reads the official synopsis for the episode. “Kristin’s parents open up about their frustration with the school’s handling of the investigation — and their over-25-year journey to getting answers.”
What happened to Kristin Smart?
Kristin was just finishing her freshman year at California Polytechnic State University when the 19-year-old went out to celebrate the end of the school year on the night of May 24, 1996, over Memorial Day weekend. She vanished in the early morning hours of the next day.
“I was immediately fearful because that is just not her,” Kristin’s mom, Denise Smart, told Dateline, as seen in a preview of the episode.
Kristin attended a house party in San Luis Obispo, just off campus, and was making her way back to her dorm room at around 2 a.m. the next morning, according to the San Luis Obispo Tribune.
“She’d last been seen walking off into the night with her classmate Paul Flores,” Dateline correspondent Josh Mankiewicz said in a voiceover.
Friends didn’t immediately grasp “how bad it could be”
News of the college student’s disappearance quickly spread throughout the campus and surrounding community.
“Even though we had this feeling that something was wrong, I don’t think we could grasp at that moment how bad it could be,” Kristin’s friend Vanessa Shields told Dateline.
Years passed without any answers, but Kristin’s parents, Stan and Denise Smart, remained optimistic that someday they’d learn what happened to their daughter.
“You don’t give up,” Stan told Dateline, before his wife added “You can’t.”
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Podcaster brings new life to Kristin Smart case
Then the case got an unexpected boost from podcast host Chris Lambert, who featured Kristin’s disappearance on his program Your Own Backyard.
“I started asking, ‘Do you remember the Kristin Smart story?’” Lambert recalled.
“His interest would change everything,” Mankiewicz said.
Lambert’s attention to the case brought it back into focus as new insights came to light about the night Kristin vanished.
“Chris told a story that people didn’t know,” San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson told Dateline.
Mankiewicz said, “And finally, all these years later, a clear picture was starting to emerge for investigators.”
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Old suspect re-emerges in case
Law enforcement found themselves investigating an old suspect who had a disturbing history with women.
“My worst nightmare was the volume of women,” Kristin’s friend Margarita Campos told Dateline.
For Kristin’s family, the man at the center of the investigation was no surprise.
“We know who’s guilty,” said Kristin’s mother, Denise.
Along with Lambert, Parkinson, and Kristin’s parents and friends, the episode will also include interviews with San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office detective Clint Cole and prosecutor Chris Peuvrelle.
To find out more about the case and the man eventually convicted, watch Dateline on Friday, August 15 at 9/8c p.m. on NBC.
