Contrary to recent reports, federal agents told The Chronicle on Wednesday that they did not tell the family of missing Cal Poly freshman Kristin Smart that a big break in the 23-year cold case was imminent.

The agency’s comments raise questions about whether an announcement is forthcoming in the cold case, as reported by several news outlets this week — including The Chronicle — after the missing woman’s mother was quoted in a Stockton Record news story saying that the FBI advised the family to prepare for a major development that would bring closure to the case.

A spokesman for the family confirmed Wednesday that the person who advised Smart’s mother, Denise, was not an active FBI agent.

“To clarify, the Stockton Record news story was based on a conversation between the Smart family and a former FBI agent,” said family spokesman John Segale. “The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office is leading the investigation and will notify all of us when there is official news to announce.”

The FBI would not comment on whether an announcement in the case is actually impending.

“The FBI is not aware of any details being made public in this ongoing case,” said Laura Eimiller, a spokeswoman with the Los Angeles FBI office. She declined to comment further, other than to say federal investigators continue to assist the San Luis Obispo Sheriff’s Office in their probe of the college student’s 1996 disappearance that drew national headlines.

Segale declined to identify the former federal agent or explain his connection to the case.

A spokesman for the San Luis Obispo Sheriff’s Office told The Chronicle on Wednesday that the department could not comment on the case because it’s open and active.

Last week, Denise Smart told The Stockton Record that the FBI advised her to be ready for an “imminent” major development that could bring closure to the decades-old mystery that has drawn renewed interest in recent weeks with the release of a popular podcast series documenting the case.

“Be ready,” Denise Smart told The Stockton Record she was told recently by the FBI. “This is really going to be something you don’t expect. We want to give you the support you need.”

Kristin Smart was walking home from a fraternity party and went missing in spring 1996. Her body was never found, but in 2002 law enforcement said that the 19-year-old college student was presumed dead.

Her Stockton parents never stopped searching for answers, buying billboards, walking the crime scene and suing a possible suspect.

Denise Smart told The Record that the FBI suggested she find a spokesperson and take a vacation due to anticipated media attention.

On Tuesday, the family spokesman Segale, a Roseville public relations expert, told The Chronicle that the Smart family did not want to comment further about the purported FBI comments, but he said they “stand behind” that newspaper report.

Matthias Gafni is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: matthias.gafni@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @mgafni