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The long-missing mother of three, who reemerged after 24 years, reportedly left due to marital dissatisfaction and struggles with alcohol, according to revelations by the Daily Mail.
Michele Hundley Smith disappeared at the age of 38, after leaving her residence in Eden, North Carolina, on December 9, 2001, intending to do some Christmas shopping in Martinsville, Virginia.
However, she did not return from that shopping trip.
Her disappearance was not reported by her family until three weeks later, leaving them in suspense for nearly 25 years, hoping for her eventual safe return.
Finally, advancements in technology and enhanced information sharing brought a surprising end to this decades-long mystery last Friday, reuniting Smith with her past.
Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office revealed Smith had been found alive and well at a mystery location in North Carolina.
Cops went to see Smith, now 62, after they received ‘new information’ in the investigation, which involved several agencies including the FBI.
Michele Hundley Smith, who went missing 24 years ago, was found on February 20 ‘alive and well’ in North Carolina
They said Smith asked them to keep her location secret – dealing a blow to any immediate hopes of a family reunion.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page revealed that Smith told his officers there were ‘ongoing domestic issues’ at the time she left but he said she wouldn’t elaborate.
Meanwhile, Smith’s daughter Amanda told the Daily Mail she is still processing her emotions over the news and her brothers, Gary and Kevin, said the complex situation was a ‘lot to comprehend’ but they are hopeful for future contact.
Years ago, Amanda had painted a troubled picture of her parents’ marriage.
Speaking on the Vanished podcast in 2018, she said her mother had been unhappy and struggling with alcohol in the months before she disappeared.
However, Sheriff Page said he was not aware of any police reports of domestic violence at the time.
The sheriff revealed that prior to her final disappearance, Smith had gone ‘It wasn’t 100 per cent unusual’ for her, he said
But after she didn’t return home for weeks, her family became concerned and officially reported her missing on December 31, he said.
When officers went to see Smith, ‘they determined that she had left on her own accord and she was safe, the sheriff added.
Amanda Hundley (pictured with her two daughters) was 14 when her mother went missing. She says she now feels ‘ecstatic’ but ‘heartbroken’ after learning Michele is alive but does not want to reunite
‘We notified her family and let them know that she was okay, that she’d been located, but at that time, she didn’t want to make contact.’
He declined to share specifics of the February 19 tip that led detectives to her, saying only that advancements in technology and information sharing had led to the breakthrough in the case.
‘We share a lot of information and a lot of times that information will connect with somebody who’s had a contact from different sources.
‘When that information came back to us, we followed up on it.’
Katy Gregg, District Attorney for Caswell and Rockingham County, told the Daily Mail she met with detectives on Tuesday and based on their investigation, they have decided there will be no charges.
‘I support their decision,’ said Gregg.
Smith’s disappearance has haunted her family for years, leaving many unanswered questions.
Amanda addressed her mother in 2018, saying ‘I’m not mad at you if you did leave’, but pleaded for answers
Amanda had also appeared on a podcast about her mother, revealing Smith had been struggling with alcohol because she was ‘unhappy’ with her marriage at the time
But life has also gone on without her.
Smith’s husband Randy has moved on with another partner, while her three children, Melissa, 44, Amanda, 39, and Randal, 33, have married and had children of their own.
Smith’s mother, Margaret, tragically died in November, just three months before she would have learned that her daughter was alive.
She had spent years searching for her daughter, hiring a private investigator, and asking relatives to give their DNA to databases for comparisons in case her body was found.
An online obituary for Margaret, who died aged 83 on November 5, describes Smith as her ‘most important crowning accomplishment’ in life, without making any mention of her disappearance.
Amanda – who told the Daily Mail she is still ‘processing’ her emotions over the news – wrote on Facebook: ‘As far as my opinions and feelings on my mom…I am ecstatic, I am p***ed, I am heartbroken, I am all over the map!
‘Will I have a relationship once more with my mom? Honestly, I can’t answer that because I don’t even know.’
‘My initial reaction would be yes absolutely but then I think of all the hurt…But even then, my mom is only human just as we all are,’ she wrote.
Smith disappeared in December of 2001 at 38 years old while Christmas shopping, leaving behind her three children, aged 19, 14, and 7
Amanda previously told how her mom disappeared the night she was going to buy Christmas gifts for her and her siblings.
Amanda was 14 when her mother went missing. She had an older sister, Melissa, who was 19 at the time and a brother Randal, 7.
She told the The Vanished podcast in 2018 that prior to her disappearance, her mother had lost her job at a veterinary practice.
She said she had been struggling with alcohol because she was unhappy in her marriage and had been arguing with their dad, her husband, a truck driver.
Amanda has consistently insisted her father is a ‘good man’ who had not done anything wrong.
‘If she wanted to leave my dad, that’s one thing, but to leave us, I just don’t see it happening. She loved us, and she bragged about us to her mom,’ she told the podcast.
Before she went missing, Amanda said her mother told her she had lost her driving license over a ticket for going over a yellow line when she was taking one of her husband’s friends home.
A month before she went missing, on November 11, 2001, Smith was charged with driving under the influence, according to Rockingham District court records seen by the Daily Mail.
Online records show an arrest record was never served and printed records of the case have since been destroyed, court staff said.
Amanda told the podcast there were several tantalizing developments in the years the family were searching for her mom.
She said when she was 19, a letter from Cumberland, Maryland, addressed to her and her mom arrived at the house.
It claimed Amanda’s social security number was used in an ambulance ride, without giving further details.
She said her Smith had taken her and her brother Randal’s social security cards with her in her purse.
But when Amanda followed up, she came up against a brick wall.
Another time, a woman with the same name was arrested in Arizona, but Amanda says she knew by the woman’s voice and her picture that it wasn’t her mother.
Smith’s family are now wrestling with the extraordinary news she has been found safe, against her decision not to contact them.
A Facebook page dedicated to her missing mother, Bring Michele Hundley Smith Home, said that Smith had been driving her forest green 1995 Pontiac Trans Sport van which was never found when she disappeared
‘I am still in shock, it’s one day at a time, I’m just thankful that she’s alive,’ her cousin Barbara Byrd told the Daily Mail.
Asked why Michele left and stayed under the radar for so long, she replied: ‘I have no clue, because the last time that I physically saw Michele was on November 24, 2001, when she came to the funeral home for my grandfather, who had passed away.
‘I spoke to her and her mom, but there was nothing I could honestly say that I remember would give me any inclination of what made her go.’
She fears the many questions over Michele’s disappearance could remain unanswered.
‘My question is, how does she stay hidden with this world of technology for so long?
‘A lot of the stuff, we don’t know what happened. She’s the only one that can answer that question.
‘She’s probably not going to answer that question, but she might surprise us.
‘She doesn’t want no one to know where she’s at.
‘If she sees any of these reports, what I’m going to say to her is that she is still loved by people.
‘People are hurt and it’s not me that needs the answers to why she left.
‘It’s her husband, her two daughters, her son, her two brothers.’
Smith’ daughter, Melissa Martin, said on Facebook it was ‘great to know she’s alive after 24 years, just hoping she decides to contact someone, because right now she doesn’t want contact.’
Smith’s brothers, Gary and Kevin, told the Daily Mail the ‘complex situation’ was a ‘lot to comprehend’ but they are hopeful for future contact.
‘We want Michele to know that we are so glad she is alive, we love her, we are not mad at her, all is forgiven,’ they said in a statement.
‘We would love to be in contact with her, but we understand that she has decided she doesn’t want contact as of now, and we respect her wishes.
‘Although we hope for future contact with our sister, we want to make it known that we do not and cannot speak on behalf of the rest of our family.
‘We will not share details regarding her disappearance all these years ago. That is not our story to tell.’