Kristen Modafferi
She was a good kid who excelled. She was offered a 4-year scholarship to the University of North Carolina. She even graduated High school early pursuing a degree in Industrial design.
She wanted to travel over the summer. She wanted to go to San Francisco CA. They even had a photography summer class in Berkley, Even one of her friends was going to that photography class. Her parents did not want her to go because she has never been on her own. But you can’t really hold her back she’s 18 years old and she researched everything she even searched for a place to live and she found out San Francisco was expensive she found a place on Craigslist which was fairly new with an affordable place to live. There was an issue with the landlord turns out the home was in foreclosure despite paying rent on the home. However, due to California housing, the renters had 5 months before they needed to move. She was staying in the house with 4 other roommates. 274 Jane ave. It had 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. And right by the bay transport system. All of the roommates were men. Griffin and two brothers Hauns and Kurt were living there as well they were all website designers and worked at home. A room was open because Griffins girlfriend Jill and him were breaking up. One other man lived there named Justin Niceler he just rented a room for the summer and just stuck to himself and would come and go. She flew out on June 1st, 1997 which was her birthday she was 18 she called her parents as soon as she got there. The photography class she was gonna take was on June 24th so she wanted to do as much sightseeing she went to go find a job she went downtown to the comfort galleries and she walked into a coffee shop called Spanellies and worked form7 am to 3pm to she also got hired on at the museum of modern arts at san Diego so she was busy any time she had she was sightseeing her roommates say she would stay out till 12 pm almost every night. June 23rd She told one of her co-workers she might go to Bakers beach that night there apparently was a pool party going on. But she wasn’t sure she also never clocked out of her shift that day but they think she left at 3pm on the dot. However, her co-workers said they saw her 45mins later she was walking side by side with a blonde woman she was also spotted at the wells fargo ATM alone and that is it. She didn’t come home that night but her roommates thought nothing of it there were some times she didn’t come home they thought maybe she spent some time with a guy she met or something like that. She never showed in the photography class.
The friend who had the photography class too noticed she wasn’t there and thought this was odd the next day when she didn’t show or answer the calls she called Kristen’s parents and asked if they knew why she never showed the friend thought she did something to offend Kristen as she wasn’t taking her calls. Her parents knew something wasn’t right they had heard from Kirsten on Sunday because it was fathers day But since then it was silent so they called the house asking her to call them back. When Griffin got the message he called them back and let them know she hasn’t been seen in 3 days They got on a plane and on the 27th they went to the police station. They went in and the police said the lead investigator had gone home for the weekend so they wouldn’t be able to do anything till Monday. They told her she would just show up. The parents went to put up flyers and put up several all over. They even immediately hired a private detective when they went through her room they found a newspaper called the bay times and an ad that said Friends Female seeing female friends who enjoy music, photography, working out, walks, coffee, or simply the beach, interested? Call me. The police finally take notice on June 30th which now has been 8 days since someone saw her last. She still had a check from Spanellies for $400 that she never picked up. There is no evidence that she responded to the ad but there isn’t anything against it either. The phone number attached to the line was disconnected.
Roomates said Kristen wasn’t home on Monday or Tuesday but they didn’t call them right away even tho they have talked to her parents several times before some people think this is odd. They also claimed that they had talked to the classmate as well but didn’t call the parents till Wednesday. Kirsten had been waiting on her library card to come and it finally came after she went missing. The roommates opened up the mail claiming to see if they had some clues to where she was but then they taped it back together and put it back in the mailbox once they saw what it was. Some find it weird that they were concerned enough and felt the need to be nosey and check her mail but they weren’t concerned enough to call her parents. She also withdrew $500 from her wells fargo account to give to Griffin on June 20th for July’s rent but he refused it saying he needed a money order even though that is how she paid him prior. He told Kristen’s parents that because the house was in foreclosure the rent wasn’t actually going to the landlord so he wanted a personal money order and he asked her to put the money back in her account and get a money order. Kristen agreed but she never deposited the money back into her account or got a money order. She actually withdrew more money from her account the day she went missing even though she already had $500 out of her account.
July 3rd the local media station got a call from a man saying he knew what happened to Kirsten he even had some very graphic details about what happened. He said he saw two lesbians from the YMCA who came on to her and when she turned them down they became very violent and took her into the back seat of a car and took her to a wooded area under the golden gate bridge. The police tracked the car and the man who claimed this and found the two women the caller was talking about and both women wear about were confirmed that night and both claimed they knew who made the prank call his name was Jon Onuba.
Apparently, Jon was furious with these two-woman because they got his girlfriend fired he even went to the YMCA and physically threatened these women. The police got out of him that this was a joke to get back at these two. The police have used bloodhounds to trace Kristens sent which was found from the bus stop even to the end of the route which is close to Baker beach but the lead ends at the end of the stop.
Turns out this house that she was staying in was being used as a halfway house which her parents and the police were unaware of. Apparently, in the 1960’s this house was used as a hospital and was closed down due to licensing issues in 1985 This house has been the home of some terrifying things. Such as a Pitbull breeding site. A Rabbit slaughterhouse a meth lab and a not legit restaurant that was not licensed and was shut down after poisoning people and selling drugs on the side. It’s also been a Mental house, as well as a program for youth with Gender confusion. After discovering that they obtained a search warrant and found several ads’s circled in the newspaper of men looking for women where Griffin’s girlfriend would lead them to the house and then Griffin would rape the men. One of the men this happened to said that Griffin said the same thing that happened to Kristin could happen to you.
Another man said Griffin said you will meet the same fate as Kristen. When doing the investigation they also found over 100 pints of cat blood. As well as Griffin’s girlfriend Jills planner and journal, on her planner the date Kristen went missing and the day before were ripped out. Also found Matthew Luque’s name in her journal as well as Kelly straftman who both started working at the coffee shop after Kristen. Also before Kristins disappearance, Jill broke up with Griffin and started dating Mathew Luque Then Jill broke up with Mathew shortly after Kistens disappearance and then dates Jon Onuma and Jill is the woman who worked at the YMCA that got fired. Then Jill broke up with Jon and said she feared for her life after he tried. to beat her to death she left valuable music equipment because she claimed she was too scared to go back.
Jon relocated to Hawaii about a year after she disappeared.
about a year later Jill called her uncle started confessing a lot of things she claimed she got involved with a man that convinced her to do things and that the guilt was tearing her apart. Uncle started writing all these crazy things she was telling him. Her Uncle didn’t want to get involved in anything but her Aunt thought they should do something she googled Jill lampo’s name and found a connection on findkirsten.com and she reported all of what she said to the website and police. Paul Darcy the family’s private investigator 2017 another search was done to the house and a cadaver dog alerted to human remains in the basement. They reported this to the police but the police never checked out the lead. A forensic anthropologist from Tennesee made a device that can detect human decomposition chemicals. They found a match for human decomposition and it indicated that this might be a crime scene but there wasn’t enough to indicated it was a burial site. This was all reported to the police department. Then months later the police make a statement saying they never got any of this information and that none of this can be verified but all the police department needs. to do is to test the soil with supplies any forensic team should have.
Theories:
Robert Durst he was living in the area and she lived very close to Karen and some people believe because Durst commonly dressed as a woman that the blonde woman people saw walking side by side with Kirsten at the end of her shift was actually Durst. This is basically all speculation right now and the fact that Karen went missing in the same area as Karen is suspicious.
Some think she drowned she told co-workers she was gonna go to Baker Beach and forensic dogs did trace her at the end of the bus at the end of the beach.
and then her roommates are still known persons of interest throughout the whole time period of this case. They were highly suspicious. But it would also be bizarre to be thrown into the middle of this when you hardly know someone like this. I also think with the history of the house it isn’t that suspicious as to why they didn’t contact the police. But the fact that they had human remains hit at the house. The house right next to her was a juvenile halfway house. Who’s to say they didn’t come on to her and when she said no they attacked her. She had a routine where she went to work and came home around the same time 11 pm every day that would make it very easy for one of them to pick up on her routine.
Some also think that a man named Paul Flores could have a connection He just got arrested in the Kirstein smart case Ruben Flores has also been charged with being an accessory to Kirsten’s murder. There have been multiple women who have claimed these two touched them inapropartly and raped them They even had nicknames around the town “Chester the Molester” and “Psycho Paul”
Paul Flores was the last person seen with Smart on May 25, 1996, at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, where they were freshmen. Prosecutors said he killed Smart while trying to rape her in his dorm room after walking her home from a party, where she had gotten intoxicated. There is a theory that he also attacked Kirsten they were in the same area and around the exact age and Paul was known to hang around that university. There is no firm evidence that Paul killed Kirsten Smart it’s all speculation but it is a suspicious theory.
Sources:
pocast episode