A North Carolina woman has been found “alive and well” more than two decades after she was reported missing.
On Friday, officials said that Michele Hundley Smith had been found in an undisclosed part of North Carolina, 24 years after she left her home in Eden, N.C., in 2001 and never returned.
“At her request, her current whereabouts will remain undisclosed,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement. “Her family has been notified that she has been located and informed of this request as well.”
The Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office said Smith, who was 38 at the time she went missing, left her home to go Christmas shopping on Dec. 9, 2001 at a K-Mart in Martinsville, Virginia. She was officially reported missing Dec. 31, 2001.
On Tuesday, Sheriff Sam Page told NBC News that Smith didn’t explicitly say she didn’t want her family to contact her, but he said he is unaware of any contact between the parties since she was located.
Page said that Smith said there were “domestic issues” before she left her house in 2001. He also said the sheriff’s office has no records related to those issues before she took off.
“Let me just say there were no allegations of any foul play regarding to her leaving,” Page told People. “But according to Ms. Smith, she said she left… due to ongoing domestic issues at the time.”
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He also said that Smith “was in good health.”
“They went and found this young lady that (has) been missing for many years, 20-plus years. And we don’t see a lot of the missing person cases like that,” Page added. “But now at least the family has closure and they know she’s OK.”
No charges have been filed and the case is ongoing, Katy Gregg, District Attorney for the Twenty-Second Prosecuting District, said.
The Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office worked on Smith’s case for more than two decades. The office posted online asking for information about Smith and her whereabouts in 2020 and 2021, offering a cash reward both times.
On Sunday, Smith’s daughter, Amanda, posted a statement to a Facebook page dedicated to her mother’s missing person case.
“These last couple of days, well not even a full 48 hours have been a whirlwind of emotions,” she began. “Please respect my family bc (because) we are hurting and going through a lot. My dad has been through so many accusations since all the way back then… Even before social media was big, where we live in a small town, there were many ppl acting as if they just knew he was involved.”
“Everything I have been through in life, I can absolutely understand taking off and leaving… I am not saying that she gets off scott [sic] free without accountability or responsibility bc (because) she absolutely needs to do that,” Amanda continued. “What I am saying is that I am a runner as well and while this isn’t something to be proud of at all, it’s a part of being human.
“Each one of us humans have our faults, we each have a shadow part and we each deserve the chance to better ourselves and to heal from our past.”
Amanda went on to defend her father, writing, “My father has been through so much and I want to make it clear that while their marriage had issues (just as many marriages go through) that my mom did not leave simply bc (because) of a bad marriage.”
She said that hearing that her mother is alive left her with numerous emotions.
“I am ecstatic, I am pissed, I am heartbroken, I am all over the map!” Amanda said of the police locating her mother. “Will I have a relationship once more with my mom? Honestly, I can’t answer that bc (because) I don’t even know.”
Smith’s other daughter, Melissa Martin, wrote on Facebook that 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 sons, Gary and Kevin, told the Daily Mail in a joint statement that “all is forgiven.”
“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 told the outlet. “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.”
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