XPost: alt.politics.immigration, sac.general, alt.politics.democrats.d   
   XPost: alt.true-crime   
   From: lying.prostitute@hillaryclinton.com   
      
   Investigators in California have recovered "items of interest"   
   in an excavation of a college campus attended by a woman who   
   disappeared more than 20 years ago, authorities said.   
      
   The family of Kristin Smart, who was 19 when she vanished while   
   returning to her dorm at California Polytechnic State University   
   in San Luis Obispo in May of 1996, said they were encouraged by   
   the possible development.   
      
   "We have been hoping, praying and waiting for the last twenty   
   years for the return of our daughter," the Smart family said in   
   a statement.   
      
   The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office and the FBI began   
   excavating a section of the university campus on Wednesday,   
   authorities said.   
      
   "Items of interest have been recovered and are now being   
   analyzed," the sheriff's office said in a statement. It did not   
   disclose what items were found.   
      
   Three sites were being searched, and the items found Thursday   
   was in a site closest to the dorm where Smart was living, a   
   sheriff's detective told NBC affiliate KSBY.   
      
   Investigators focused on the hillside area on campus after "a   
   comprehensive review of the entire case" and after FBI dogs   
   trained in identifying human remains were brought in from   
   Virginia in January, Sheriff Ian Parkinson told reporters   
   Wednesday.   
      
   The excavation was timed to avoid the presence of students on   
   campus, he said. The school's summer term ended on Sept. 2 and   
   the fall session begins on Sept. 15 for faculty and classes   
   begin Sept. 22, aqccording to the university's website.   
      
   "We're not sure where this is going to take us," Parkinson said.   
   Obviously, we want to be as optimistic as possible and we hope   
   this leads us to either Kristin or evidence of Kristin"   
      
   Investigators are also focused on other areas as well, but   
   Parkinson said those locations would not be identified due to   
   the ongoing investigation.   
      
   The university, also known as Cal Poly, was where Smart was last   
   seen alive. A friend said he saw here a block from her dorm   
   building after attending an off-campus party on May 25, 1996.   
      
   She was returning from the party with fellow student and friend,   
   Paul Flores. Flores has been the subject of several police   
   inquires and searches but has never been charged in connection   
   with her disappearance. In 2007, police dug up a back patio of   
   Flores' Arroyo Grande home, but found nothing.   
      
   Smart was declared legally dead in 2002.   
      
   Jim Murphy, an attorney representing the Smart family, told   
   Dateline that while this week's dig is progress in the case,   
   he's fearful it may lead to another dead end.   
      
   "It's always bittersweet. More interest, a dig, a lead ... most   
   of the time they haven't led anywhere. But I know there are   
   answers out there. And I think the family is going to keep   
   looking, just as my office is going to keep looking," Murphy   
   said.   
      
   Smart's parents, Stan and Denise Smart, said in the statement   
   that while they are requesting privacy they are beyond grateful   
   for the efforts to find their daughter.   
      
   "Kristin has long deserved the attention, effort and respect   
   that Sheriff Parkinson, his department, the FBI, the District   
   Attorney and Cal Poly are giving to her recovery and our quest   
   for justice," Smart's parents and her family said in the   
   statement.   
      
   "We are confident that the 'person of interest' will soon be   
   held accountable for taking her life and harboring her remains   
   for over 20 years," they said.   
      
   http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/items-interest-found-search-   
   kristin-smart-student-missing-1996-n645231   
         
      
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