Mom-of-three who vanished just before Christmas 2001 is seen for first time in 24 years after and reveals how she’s been forgiven by her daughter
A woman who went missing for 24 years and was found leading a new life was arrested Wednesday over a decades-old DUI charge.
Michele Hundley Smith was 38 when she left her home in Eden, North Carolina, to go Christmas shopping across the border in Martinsville, Virginia, on December 9, 2001.
And now she has told the Daily Mail that she is finally in touch with her daughter Amanda who has forgiven her. ‘We are going to make it work,’ she said.
‘People don’t know me and they don’t know my situation,’ she added.
She never came back but last week was found alive and well living in North Carolina, at an address she asked police not to disclose to anyone – even her anguished family.
But she was arrested Wednesday night over a November 11 2001 charge of driving while impaired which has been outstanding since she vanished four weeks later, according to Rockingham County court records first revealed by the Daily Mail.
She failed to appear for her December 27 2001 court date, having gone missing, leaving her children then aged 19, 14, and seven without their mom.
An arrest warrant was then issued when she failed to appear, which has remained outstanding until officers finally caught up with her.
Robeson County officers arrested Smith, now 62, on behalf of Rockingham County at an address in Saint Pauls, North Carolina, almost three hours from the Stoneville home she vanished from.
She appeared before Robeson county Magistrate Macan Singh and was granted bond on the condition she appear at a March 26 court hearing in Rockingham County, police said.
Michele Hundley Smith is seen in a mugshot after she was arrested for DUI earlier this week. She abandoned her children to start a new life in 2001 and was recently rediscovered
Smith pictured before her disappearance. The discovery of the mom-of-three has shocked America
The mother-of-three was released from Robeson County jail Thursday morning on a $2,000 bond, court records obtained by the Daily Mail show.
In her mugshot obtained by the Daily Mail, Smith looks worlds away from the last seen photos of her included on the missing posters circulated when she disappeared.
Her previous dark locks are now grey and were tied back.
Smith will face no charges over her disappearance, Katy Gregg, District Attorney for Caswell and Rockingham County, told the Daily Mail.
She said 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.
After Smith was discovered alive last week, her cousin Barbara Byrd spoke of her utter shock.
‘I kind of want to go outside and scream, “she’s alive, she’s alive”,’ Byrd told WFMYNews 2.
A photo of Smith taken shortly before her disappearance in 2001. She had been due to attend court on a DUI charge when she vanished
‘For years, we didn’t know if we were grieving or waiting… My biggest question is to her, “What happened all those years ago in December? What made you leave? What happened?”‘
‘I understand and respect that she doesn’t want any of us to contact her,’ Byrd told the outlet.
‘I’m not angry…The biggest answer I had today was she was alive. Nothing else matters right at this moment.’
On Facebook, Smith’s daughter Amanda wrote a lengthy statement responding to the news that her mother had been found.
‘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.
‘When my mom was a part of my daily life, she showed me a love and bond that will never ever be forgotten. There were mother daughter arguments of course, but right now all I can remember are the smiles we shared, the times together that were happy and the love I felt!’
‘My dad has been in my daily life all of my life, and he shows me love and we have a life that will never be forgotten! There were father daughter arguments as well but all I remember are the smiles we have, the love I feel and the bond we share!
‘Both my dad and my mom deserve to have their choices and their feelings respected as well.’
A missing poster for Smith that sought information after her disappearance. Smith has yet to comment on why she fled or what she has been doing in the ensuing years
Smith’s disappearance haunted her family for years, leaving them with many unanswered questions.
‘I don’t know what exactly happened. I’m not even sure til this very day if you are still here on Earth or if you have passed,’ her daughter wrote on Facebook in 2024.
‘All I do know is that you left a hole in people’s hearts! I cry and mourn for a relationship that will never again be, I cry and mourn for a relationship that was never had …and we will never know, will we?’
‘I love you and I miss you and that’s every single day. I’m angry because of the hurt but I’m mostly angry that my brother and sister had/have to feel hurt and pain. If I were to find you in life, if I was to find out that you did simply run away from everything… I am sure that I would still love you just the same,’ she said, adding that she believed she would still be angry for the pain her siblings also had to endure.
A Facebook page, 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.
‘Michele would have never left her children by choice. We are desperate for answers and we are asking for community support and assistance in trying to find the truth on what happened to Michele and why she mysteriously vanished never to be seen again,’ the page said.
‘There has been no real investigation into her disappearance to this day almost 20 years later…Lets try and end this nightmare for Michele’s loved ones and bring her home.’
The page is set to be repurposed for other missing persons cases.
