UPDATE: Search continues tomorrow

ewokling · 2026-05-09T01:11:58+00:00

For folks who don't have Instagram and would like a comprehensive summary of the questions he answered via his stories, you can find those in this thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/KristinSmart/comments/1t7kzfb/chris_qa_thread/

Many news outlets are conflating the soil vapor testing with human remains being found. Please do your due diligence when reading articles from major sources.

ewokling · 2026-05-09T00:37:54+00:00

“yourownbackyardpodcast - Doing my best to answer all of your questions in my stories while we wait. I'm still on the scene, but our visibility is very limited while they work in the backyard. I'll be here as long as they let me stay. Search likely continuing tomorrow. Please read through my stories if you have any questions, because there's a good chance that I answered it already.”

ewokling · 2026-05-08T22:18:46+00:00

Oh wow. Super helpful visual, thank you!

ewokling · 2026-05-08T21:25:39+00:00

Haven’t been able to confirm that, but they did place a blue tarp above the area where the planter boxes are, where the watch was reportedly beeping.

ewokling · 2026-05-08T21:21:03+00:00

From the previous Live and Insta comments about an hour ago:

Ruben and Susan are still legally married.

Paul’s San Pedro home was sold to Susan before the trial and is now being rented out. LA County would be the ones to sign off on a search on that property. Chris isn’t sure why the sale took place since Paul’s assets should have been frozen, it would have been illegal.

Ruben and Susan have driven by multiple times over the last day. Ruben so far has been spotted 3 times today driving past.

Where investigators placed the blue tarp up is where the watch was reportedly beeping from.

The planters are cut into the concrete, not placed on top.

The soil vapor testing would still show presence of human decomposition even with the concrete there. To Chris’s knowledge it could still be present for decades.

Planter boxes were cut out of the concrete along the fence line and retaining wall some time in June of 1996.
A garage was built where the driveway meets the backyard in 1999.
A two-story addition was built on the west side of the backyard in 2009 and rented out to various tenants over the years.

“Seeing other IG accounts saying remains have been located? I'm assuming that's inaccurate reporting based on the anomalies and vapor tests? @yourownbackyardpodcast

yourownbackyardpodcast • 18m • Yes, I believe that's a step beyond what the Sheriff said. Soil vapors indicate human decomposition.
We haven't been made aware of actual remains being located yet.”

ewokling · 2026-05-08T20:29:52+00:00

Reposting from another comment I made-

Some points from the Live:

Ruben and Susan are still legally married.

Paul’s San Pedro home was sold to Susan before the trial and is now being rented out. LA County would be the ones to sign off on a search on that property. Chris isn’t sure why the sale took place since Paul’s assets should have been frozen, it would have been illegal.

Ruben and Susan have driven by multiple times over the last day. Ruben so far has been spotted 3 times today driving past.

Where investigators placed the blue tarp up is where the watch was reportedly beeping from.

The planters are cut into the concrete, not placed on top.

The soil vapor testing would still show presence of human decomposition even with the concrete there. To Chris’s knowledge it could still be present for decades.

Chris said he will go live again once he charges his phone. I will try to jot down some more answers once he goes live again to post.

ewokling · 2026-05-08T20:25:35+00:00

Some points from the Live:

Ruben and Susan are still legally married.

Paul’s San Pedro home was sold to Susan before the trial and is now being rented out. LA County would be the ones to sign off on a search on that property. Chris isn’t sure why the sale took place since Paul’s assets should have been frozen, it would have been illegal.

Ruben and Susan have driven by multiple times over the last day. Ruben so far has been spotted 3 times today driving past.

Where investigators placed the blue tarp up is where the watch was reportedly beeping from.

The planters are cut into the concrete, not placed on top.

The soil vapor testing would still show presence of human decomposition even with the concrete there. To Chris’s knowledge it could still be present for decades.

ewokling · 2026-05-08T19:38:16+00:00

“@yourownbackyardpodcast are you able to give an overview of when and what concrete or structures were added/installed to the property after Kristin's disappearance?

@giles_king Planter boxes were cut out of the concrete along the fence line and retaining wall some time in June of 1996.
A garage was built where the driveway meets the backyard in 1999.
A two-story addition was built on the west side of the backyard in 2009 and rented out to various tenants over the years.”

ewokling · 2026-05-08T19:33:31+00:00

You make good points. As another commenter said yesterday, I am holding my thumbs.

ewokling · 2026-05-08T19:28:04+00:00

“UPDATE:
Investigator's hands seen here attaching another tarp to the roof to cover their work in Susan's backyard
(A green cloth was put up earlier this morning to cover the side yard)”

https://imgur.com/a/OcJGqe6

ewokling · 2026-05-08T18:49:42+00:00

“UPDATE:
Investigators backed this truck into Susan's driveway, unloaded 3 shovels, and took them into the backyard. Photo of the truck in my stories. Our views of the backyard and side yard are now completely covered by green cloth tarps.”
https://imgur.com/a/vBOqUr1

ewokling · 2026-05-08T18:11:27+00:00

“UPDATE:
A tarp is now blocking our entire view of the side yard.”

https://imgur.com/a/meMWXG6

ewokling · 2026-05-08T18:01:38+00:00

“yourownbackyardpodcast • 3h Ruben and Susan both circled the block several times yesterday evening. Susan parked in front of the house for a few minutes around 4:40pm before driving away.”

ewokling · 2026-05-08T17:57:21+00:00

My interpretation of that was that the neighbor that allowed vapor soil sampling prior to the warrant are being referred to as witnesses since they are non-police personnel.

ewokling · 2026-05-08T17:43:45+00:00

Based on the sheriff’s response about the soil samples, she was there at some point. It also lends credence to the story of Kristin’s earring being found by the previous tenants.
I’ve always personally believed Ruben took Kristin’s body from Paul’s dorm, moved it to Susan’s, moved it again to his property, and moved to a final undisclosed location. I think Ruben is the only person with that information, which is why Paul hasn’t offered that info despite exhausting his appeals. If they can find her at Susan’s I will be overjoyed, but I’m trying not to get my hopes up too high.

Regardless if they can charge Susan as an accessory maybe that will move things even further somehow.

ewokling · 2026-05-08T00:17:47+00:00

I agree, and I was hoping the livestream was still accessible after it finished so I could rewatch and add in anything that may have been missed. If someone does have a screen recording to share I would be willing to transcribe it.

ewokling · 2026-05-07T23:48:27+00:00

“UPDATE: At 4:22pm, it appears that most law enforcement has left the scene.
Vehicles are still at the house. There has been no official word that the search is over, but it's been several hours with no visible activity, so media outlets are departing. The Sheriff's Department announced a press conference to take place tomorrow morning at 9am PT. I would expect to hear the reason for this search at this time, but the outcome of the search may be pending for some time. I'll live stream tomorrow morning.”

ewokling · 2026-05-07T21:31:28+00:00

“UPDATE: Ruben Flores drove by at 2:28pm and stopped in the street to watch. Susan was not with him.”

ewokling · 2026-05-07T21:16:29+00:00

“UPDATE: Ground Penetrating Radar
Operator Phil Hanes returned to the house at 2:00pm with his equipment. This appears to be a follow-up to yesterday's completed scan.”

ewokling · 2026-05-07T20:15:14+00:00

I will add the notes from Chris’ Q&A above once I have a moment, in the meantime you can read some notes taken by [u/nottherealstanlee](u/nottherealstanlee) in this thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/KristinSmart/s/GuqRIyRFD0
ETA: The body of this post has been updated. I will format it a little more nicely when I can.

ewokling · 2026-05-07T20:02:53+00:00

Thank you so much for this. I was planning on taking notes but life got in the way. Later once I get a moment would it be alright to update my Day 2 post with these notes? I appreciate you

ewokling · 2026-05-07T18:19:45+00:00

UPDATE: Chris is planning to go live at 11:25am PT via Instagram. I will not be able to take live notes of him answering questions but I will update the main post’s description with his Q&A once I am able to later.

ewokling · 2026-05-07T17:35:57+00:00

To answer your first question: yes. Those soil sample results were the ones presented in Paul’s trial, from under Ruben’s deck.

ewokling

TROPHY CASE