Families, investigators continue to search for answers in 5 college student cases
On Saturday, May 25, 1996, Kristin Smart, a freshman at Cal Poly State University, walked home from a party at 2 a.m. and was never seen again. She was 19 years old.
An arrest would not be made for 25 years.
“20/20” took a fresh look into why the investigation into Smart’s disappearance began slowly, in an episode now streaming on Hulu that features interviews from investigators and family members. But not all unsolved cases involving college students end in arrest.
ABC News took a look at Smart’s case and four other cases below.
1996: Kristin Smart
The investigation into Kristin Smart’s disappearance had complications – Smart’s body was never found, false sightings were reported, and the last person to see her alive stopped cooperating with authorities. But the investigation into Smart’s disappearance, as San Luis Obispo Sheriff Ian Parkinson told ABC News, “began very slowly.”
Smart’s roommate, Crystal Calvin, noted Smart hadn’t returned home on May 25, 1996, and alerted campus…
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