By Bond Robertson 
A 44-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday, 25 years after college student Christine Smart, aged 19, disappeared from California State Polytechnic University in San Luis Obispo between San Francisco and Los Angeles in 1996.
The two are seen together after a party, that same night the woman is gone.
Writes for the news agency a.
The man is said to have been seen with the woman that evening.
The arrest took place after the arrested man’s father was taken into custody in connection with another incident. The 44-year-old is now suspected of killing the 19-year-old woman.
A very emotional day
This news comes about a month after the two youngest members of the family were identified as the main suspect in the disappearance case.
Crime technicians are said to have searched his father’s home with dead dogs and ground-penetrating radars, but the Smart has yet to be found.
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The family of the missing 19-year-old did not comment directly on the arrest, but says through his spokesperson that the arrest led to a very emotional day.
Arrested earlier
The 44-year-old has also been linked with the disappearance, but has chosen to remain silent until a possible trial.
He was last arrested in February, in connection with a weapons charge, but was released on bail.
Although Smart had not yet been found, she declared her death in 2002, six years after her disappearance.