Dennis Mahon’s Absolute Loyalty to the Smart Family is Remarkable by Any Standard of Measurement

Dennis Mahon standing in front of the Flores home. He's been on the case since November 1997.

Edgar Bergen said, “Well, a friend in need is a friend indeed.”

Dennis Mahon was going about his life on the East Coast when a young woman disappeared in San Francisco. After speaking with her parents, Dennis decided he had to do something to help them out and made plans to travel to SF as a self-appointed private eye.

He walked for miles and knocked on hundreds of doors on a case that still is unsolved. Another mother by the name of Denise Smart invited Dennis to her home in Stockton, CA for a home-cooked meal around Thanksgiving 1997. After sleeping in his car and eating junk food for literally months, a home-cooked meal certainly sounded inviting.

Stan and Denise Smart were frustrated because the San Luis Obispo Sheriff at the time no longer was calling her as frequently as he did after Kristin disappeared from the Cal Poly campus. They told the whole story to Dennis over the dinner table. Once again Dennis Mahon was moved by the pain he saw and heard. He decided to split his time traveling from SF to SLO, working half the week to find Kristin Smart in SLO, and the other half to find Kristen Modaferri in San Francisco.

There were more miles to walk and more doors to knock on. Never asking a penny from anyone, he ventured out into the unknown. Eventually, the good-old-boys weaved their little web and ended up stealing his car, camera and signs all under the color of law. Eventually, he was compelled to leave town for two primary reasons, his father was getting older and needed help, and because he did not have the financial strength to fight the evil that had surrounded him.

But, just because he left town, Dennis Mahon has never given up. Instead of knocking on doors, he makes phone calls and does everything he can think of to help the Smarts find the peace they need that can only come from the closure that finding their daughter would give.

For over TWO DECADES, Dennis Mahon has been a loyal servant to a family he never knew. If any of us ever lose our loved one in a similar fashion, pray to God that he sends you a Dennis Mahon to fight the good fight.