The Disappearance of Kristin Smart
This episode appears to contain dynamically inserted ads. Transcript timestamps may be approximate.
I grew up not far from where Kristen disappeared. The Billboard and the Royal Grande is visible. It's got Kristen's photo on it, it says missing, it's intriguing. It's something you pass and you think about again. There are currently more than a half million people missing in the United States. Driving past that billboard was a periodic reminder that, oh yeah, they still haven't found that girl. I'm Chris Lambert, I created the podcast Your Own Backyard, which focused on the disappearance of Kristen Smart. It's a little different if you have access to some of the people and places involved. It's different when someone goes missing in your own backyard. Investigators say smart and two other students left the party that night and walked back to their on-campus dorm and court buildings. We're here surrounded by dorms, and yet, nobody saw anything. It was a very dead holiday weekend. A lot of people had gone home in the amount of time that they were alone and whatever happened that her life ended. I think there was plenty of opportunity to hide her body without anybody noticing. My sister turned 19 in February. She disappeared in May. When she disappeared, I was about to graduate eighth grade, but my parents did a really good job of shielding us. Stan and Denise, they're wonderful parents. A very large group of friends went down to Cal Poly to help search for her. Stan was there. Denise stayed back and I stayed back with her in case Kristen came home. Never would have dreamed in a million years that she would not return, and Cal Poly is a safe place. You do not think of this happening. This is one of my favorite of her with this great smile that she has. I just love that. It's just to me that captures her playful, fun, humorous. She was probably one of the kindest people I knew growing up. I remember her wanting to travel the world and be an architect. She was very driven, passionate. I really miss her and she should be here. Originally, when we first took the case, I was determined I would be able to find her in six months. If you've ever been on one of these searches, you walk up a canyon here in San Luis Obispo County, and then there's another canyon off that. You get to the end of that one, there's another canyon. There's billions of places to hide a body. It's important to explain here that Kristen's case has never been declared cold. A case is only considered cold when law enforcement decides that they've exhausted all of their leads. But what makes it interesting to me is that they've had a suspect since pretty much day one. What went wrong? I'm heading to that suspect's house to try to get some answers about what happened. Good morning, I'm Jonathan Vigliotti with CBS News, where are you involved in the disappearance
Transcription truncated.
A college student goes missing and a podcaster turns up the heat to solve the case. "48 Hours" tracks down the prime suspect. CBS News correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti reports for "48 Hours."