Bob Highfill

The (Stockton, Calif.) Record

STOCKTON, Calif. – The family of Kristin Smart, the California college student whose disappearance in 1996 remains unsolved, has clarified that there's no imminent announcement about the case after her mother said she believed news was coming.

In a statement Wednesday, the Smart family said they were in touch with a retired FBI agent "who has provided guidance to us over the years" and said there is no current timeline for an announcement in the case.

"The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office is leading the investigation and they are not putting any timetable on the completion of it. We support the Sheriff Department's efforts and commitment," the family said in a statement.

Kristin’s mother, Denise, had previously said she was contacted by the FBI and told to be ready for a development that might bring closure to her more than 20-year nightmare. “Be ready. This is really going to be something you don’t expect. We want to give you the support you need,” Smart said she was told.

Smart said she believed something would break soon but that the official did not tell her when or what.

"When the Sheriff’s Department completes the investigation, they will notify all of us when there is news to announce. Thank you for your understanding and our shared interest in the ongoing investigation," the Smart family said in its updated statement.

The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office declined to comment, citing the active investigation. Laura Eimiller, a spokesperson for the FBI in Los Angeles, referred USA TODAY to the Sheriff's Office. "We have provided and continue to provide resources," she said. "This is an active investigation."

The 19-year-old student at from Stockton, California, vanished from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, late in her freshman year. Optimism has been piqued time and time again, then shattered. New leads led to brick walls. The bottom line: Kristin Smart has not been found.

In 2016, the FBI and the Sheriff’s Office excavated a Cal Poly hillside following a tip, but it proved fruitless.

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Adding to the recent interest in the case is Chris Lambert, 31, who was raised and resides in tiny Orcutt, an unincorporated town in Santa Barbara County about 40 miles south of San Luis Obispo. Lambert was in second grade when Smart disappeared. He had no connection with the Smarts. But growing up in the Central Coast, he knew her name and face and became interested in her case.

“It’s one of those things growing up here,” he said.

“I know there are many cold cases, but it really hit home, growing up in Orcutt."

Lambert produced a documentary podcast, “Your Own Backyard: The Disappearance of Kristin Smart,” employing his talents as a recording engineer and storyteller. He spent hours over many months conducting research and interviews, fine-tuning his presentation before he launched the podcast in September.

The reaction has been notable: candlelight vigils, more billboards, more articles, more awareness, more people coming forward, more information, more leads, more hope.

“He has rallied support like no one ever has and brought a lot of those people out of the woodwork,” Smart said.

Kristin Smart has been a missing person longer than she was known to be alive (she was officially declared dead on May 25, 2002). She was bright, intelligent and motivated. In May 1996, the then-freshman reportedly was escorted to her dorm by three students after an on-campus party.

One of the students who reportedly escorted Smart to her dorm was Paul Flores, the primary suspect. Flores told police that he walked Smart as far as his dorm, then allowed her to walk to her dorm unaccompanied.

Cal Poly police originally suspected Smart had gone on an unannounced camping trip. The case wasn’t turned over to the Sheriff’s Office for a month, Lambert and Denise Smart said.

“By the time they turned it over, so much had been lost, so many people had been able to move away and cover things up,” Lambert said. “So by the time the sheriff’s department came in, they had a lot of work to do.

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Kristin’s disappearance and the slow reaction by campus police resulted in the Kristin Smart Campus Security Act, signed into law by then-Gov. Pete Wilson on Aug. 19, 1998. The law requires all public colleges and publicly funded educational institutions to have their security services make agreements with local police departments and report cases involving violence against students, including missing students.

Lambert has shared some of his findings with the Sheriff’s Office, and after past interview requests were denied, his next podcast, the seventh in the series, due for release later this month or early next month, will be a sit-down with two San Luis Obispo County sheriff’s detectives.

Contributing: Ryan Miller, USA TODAY

Follow reporter Bob Highfill on Twitter @bobhighfill.