Podcaster helps US police solve cold case killing

LOS ANGELES: Chris Lambert would like to get back to making music, but he can’t seem to stop chasing a ghost that has haunted him for nearly 25 years.

A billboard on the side of the road on California’s Central Coast led him on a detour three years ago from his career as a singer-songwriter and recording engineer.

He created a podcast about the 1996 disappearance of college freshman Kristin Smart. It was an unlikely turn for someone who refers to himself as a shy, “random boy with a beard”, and it has produced results he never imagined.

On Tuesday, as San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson announced arrests, he credited Lambert with helping draw global attention to the case and bringing forward several key witnesses.

The longtime suspect, Paul Flores, and Smart were fellow freshmen at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. Now 44, Flores was charged with killing the 19-year-old while trying to rape her in his dorm room, prosecutors said.

His father, Ruben Flores, 80, was charged as an accessory after authorities said he helped hide the body, which has never been located.

Lambert, 33, has been thrust into the spotlight with the arrests. His series Your Own Backyard hit 7.5 million downloads on Thursday and was the No.2 podcast on iTunes.

All the attention isn’t leading to any money – Lambert takes no advertising for the podcast.

“I thought I’d give it a shot and see if I could get a few people talking,” he said.

People opened up to him, and he encouraged them to contact investigators with relevant information. Deputies asked him to connect them with people he interviewed.

“What Chris did with the podcast was put it out nationally to bring in new information,” Parkinson said.

“It did produce some information that I believe was valuable.”—