Like millions of young college students before her, Kristin Smart stayed late at a frat party.

It was around 2 a.m. on Memorial Day weekend 1996 when the 19-year-old Cal Poly freshman headed back to her residence hall. She was accompanied by three fellow students. Two peeled off before reaching her dorm, walking back to their own residences. The third, Paul Flores, later told police he dropped her off on campus at the intersection of Grand Avenue and Perimeter Road in San Luis Obispo.

Smart was never seen again.

For 23 years, her disappearance has remained a mystery. But a break may soon be coming according to her family.

Kristin's mother Denise told the Stockton Record she was recently contacted by FBI agents.

"Be ready," the FBI reportedly told her. "This is really going to be something you don’t expect."

Denise Smart also says she was advised to find a family spokesperson and potentially prepare to "get away for a while." Smart told the Stockton Record she expected news "within a month."

The case has received increased scrutiny over the last few months after the release of a popular true crime podcast about the case called "Your Own Backyard." The podcast focuses on Flores, who has long been considered the primary suspect by law enforcement and Smart's family.

A 1998 San Francisco Examiner story goes into detail about the investigation's focus on Flores. Police records indicated he had a black eye the day after Smart's disappearance, something he alternately chalked up to a basketball game and an accident while fixing his car. Some months later, San Luis Obispo County sheriff's deputies employed scent dogs trained to alert at the smell of human remains; police said four dogs independently led them to Flores' dorm room, but no evidence was found.

Smart's family also believed Flores knew more about their daughter's disappearance than he was letting on. For years, they kept tabs on him, even sending news articles about Flores' link to the case to employers. The Smarts said the Navy declined to enlist him after learning of the disappearance.

Multiple searches of Flores' family home over the years have yielded nothing.

Although Smart's body was never found, she was legally declared dead in 2002.

"It's been like having an open wound and having someone continually pouring salt in it," Denise Smart told the Examiner in 1998. "Having a missing child is just not something that gets better over time. It's another dimension, and it just can't heal."

Katie Dowd is an SFGATE Senior Digital Editor. Contact: katie.dowd@sfgate.com | Twitter: @katiedowd