‘Shy podcaster’ helps police move closer to cracking California cold case of missing college student Kristin Smart

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 from his career as a singer-songwriter and recording engineer three years ago.

He created a podcast about the 1996 disappearance of college freshman Kristin Smart and it has taken over his life.

“I can’t step away from it for more than a few days,” Mr Lambert said.

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.

Police credit Lambert’s role in arrests

On…