STOCKTON, Calif. — Chris Lambert's podcast "Your Own Backyard," which re-examined the disappearance of Kristin Smart during a time when many in the public had written-off the case, is topping the Apple Podcasts charts roughly half a year after the last episode aired.
"Your Own Backyard" is currently sitting in the number one slot on the Apple Podcasts app.
The series' first episode aired in September 2019 for a total of six episodes released once a week until mid-November 2019. Then, two follow-up episodes aired in January 2020 and November 2020.
One explanation for why the podcast is topping charts over a year and half after its initial release date could be the recent developments in the 1996 Smart disappearance. The arrests of 'prime suspect' Paul Flores and his father Ruben Flores have certainly sparked renewed interest in the case.
"Your Own Backyard" played its own part in helping bring Smart's disappearance into the spotlight. San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson credited Lambert and the podcast in a press conference directly following the arrests for helping find new witnesses in the case.
Lambert had interviewed multiple members of the San Luis Obispo Sheriff's Department, including the lead investigator for the Smart case, detective Clint Cole, for a January 2020 follow-up episode of the podcast. In the episode, Cole detailed some of the behind-the-scenes work that the sheriff's department had done on the case.
"The case has never been cold. It's always been active, especially since Sheriff Parkinson got elected in 2011. Someone's always been working on the case," Cole said in the episode titled "The Iceberg."
Shortly after the episode aired, the sheriff's department served four new search warrants in the Smart case. In April 2020, another search warrant was served at the home of Paul Flores. It was a push that very well could have led to the arrests one year later.
Paul Flores was charged with first-degree murder in the killing that allegedly happened as he tried to rape Smart in his dorm room at California Polytechnic State University campus in San Luis Obispo after a party. His father Ruben Flores is charged as an accessory after murder and is accused of helping hide Smart's body.
Ruben Flores was released from jail on April 22 after having his bail reduced from $250,000 to $50,000, according to ABC News.
