Something may break soon in the case of Kristin Denise Smart, the former Stockton resident and student at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, whose disappearance in 1996 remains unsolved.

Kristin’s mother, Denise Smart, said she recently has been contacted an agent retired from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and told to be ready for a development that might bring closure to her 23-year nightmare. Denise said she was told by authorities, “Be ready. This is really going to be something you don’t expect. We want to give you the support you need.”

The retired FBI agent also suggested she secure a family spokesperson and the family “might want to get away for a while.” What the retired agent didn’t say is when this development might be announced.

“It’s like, ‘Can you give me the flight plan?’ ” Denise said. “When is this happening?”

The preparation alert certainly has brought renewed optimism. Though answers finally might be coming, not knowing what to be prepared for or when news might break has been agonizing.

“I wish I knew when,” Denise said softly, “because it’s very anxiety-producing.”

Hope. Anxiety. Disappointment.

That’s the roller coaster the Smarts involuntarily boarded and have ridden every day since 19-year-old Kristin vanished from the Cal Poly campus late her freshman year. Fingers have been pointed at Cal Poly’s campus Police Department, which handled the early stages of the investigation, and the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office. Optimism has been raised time and time again then shattered. New leads led to brick walls. The bottom line: Kristin Smart has not been found.

Denise Smart said she never has harbored more hope, even more than in 2016, when the FBI and the Sheriff's excavated a Cal Poly hillside following a tip that proved to be fruitless.

“When they did the big dig, I had no anxiety,” Denise said. “I said she’s not there.”

But now, there is belief the end may be near.

Chris Lambert, 31, 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, still trying to master tying his shoes, when Smart disappeared. He had no connection with the Smarts. But growing up in the Central Coast, he knew her name and face. As an adult, Lambert became interested, to put it mildly, with her case.

Day after day he drove past the billboard in Arroyo Grande just 15 minutes from his home that shows Kristin’s smiling face with phone numbers and an offer of a $75,000 reward. Lambert read articles about Smart. Many of the landmarks in the stories were places he knew. He searched the internet for updates.

“It’s one of those things growing up here,” Lambert said. “You see the sign, you see her face, but you don’t know.”

Lambert asked people if they knew anything or remembered anything about Kristin’s disappearance. Based on their answers, he knew Kristin’s name was fading from the public’s consciousness. He decided to do something, motivated not so much to solve the case but to find Kristin and bring some closure to the Smart family’s torture.

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

Lambert has produced a documentary podcast, “Your Own Backyard: The Disappearance of Kristin Smart,” employing his talents as a recording engineer and intriguing storyteller. Lambert spent countless hours over many months conducting research and interviews, fine-tuning his presentation before he launched the podcast in September 2019. The podcast is beautifully produced, riveting, haunting, shocking, fascinating.

The reaction from the public around the world has been nothing shy of remarkable: 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,” Denise said. “So, he’s obviously made (the sheriff’s) job easier.”

Denise said she could feel in March the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office was on a positive, goal-oriented path.

“And then Chris supporting it, I think it’s going to bring an answer,” Denise said. “But I wish I knew when.”

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 residence 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 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.

“And then the biggest mistake I think the sheriff’s department made was that the first sheriff commented within one year of investigating that if (Flores) didn’t talk they would never be able to solve this. That was a huge judgment error.”

Lambert is firm in his belief Flores, who resides in San Pedro, was responsible for Kristin’s death.

“I believe that Paul Flores is responsible for her death and I believe that he knows where she is currently located,” Lambert said. “There is no doubt in my mind.”

Lambert said a few people he has encountered have criticized the Sheriff’s Office for having tunnel vision, focusing on one suspect.

“As I hope I made it clear in the podcast, there is just such overwhelming circumstantial evidence in this case,” Lambert said. “I don’t think they focused on the wrong suspect and I don’t think they had tunnel vision. I think there were many, many things that pointed to this person.”

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.

“It’s probably imminently going to break I would say within a month,” Denise said. “Something’s going to happen.”

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.

In May, Lambert quit his full-time job to devote himself to the podcast. He and his girlfriend live off savings and a GoFundMe account.

More information about Kristin Smart can be found at https://kristinsmart.org and facebook.com/groups/kristinsmart/.

Contact reporter Bob Highfill at (209) 546-8277 or jhighfill@recordnet.com. Follow him on Twitter @bobhighfill.

CLARIFICATION: Jan. 22, 2020

The Smart family was contacted by a retired FBI agent who has provided general guidance to them over the years. Incorrect information was included in the print and initial online version of this article.