A mom-of-three who disappeared from her North Carolina home 24 years ago has now been located — still within the same state.
Michele Hundley Smith vanished after leaving her house in Stoneville, North Carolina, on December 9, 2001.
At the time, the 38-year-old told relatives she was heading to Martinsville, Virginia, to do some Christmas shopping. She never made it back.
Her oldest daughter, 19, no longer lived at home, but her other two children — 14-year-old Amanda and her eight-year-old brother — woke up the next morning and realized their mom hadn’t returned.
Speaking to Dateline, as quoted by NBC News, Amanda remembered her mother kissing them goodnight before leaving at around 8:30pm to go shopping.
Amanda said evening shopping trips weren’t out of character for Michele, and traveling to Martinsville was also routine, given it was about a 30-minute drive away.
The family reportedly “expected her back within a couple of hours,” but when Michele’s father woke around 12:30am, she still hadn’t come home.
Amanda said: “She had left before, like if they had an argument or something, but would just go to my grandma’s house and come back the next day. But this was different. She wasn’t at my grandma’s. She wasn’t anywhere.”
The family contacted the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office to report her missing. Investigators and volunteers searched locally, but neither Michele nor the family’s 1995 Pontiac Trans Sport van was found.
Even with detectives repeatedly checking in over the years — and with the family continuing efforts to keep her case in the public eye — there were no answers for decades.
In 2020, marking 20 years since Michele disappeared, the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office issued another release asking the public for information about “missing person” Michele Lyn Hundley Smith.
Now, deputies say they’ve finally located her after receiving new details through a nationwide law enforcement network.
Officials added they do not anticipate any charges related to the case.
According to WFMY News 2, Michele was found alive in North Carolina, but authorities say she has asked that her precise location not be made public.
Barbara Byrd, Michele’s cousin, told the outlet: “I kind of want to outside and scream, ‘She’s alive, she’s alive.'”
Through tears, Byrd said learning Michele is alive is what matters most at this moment — while also wondering what led to Michele leaving so long ago.
Emphasizing that she isn’t angry and hopes for contact, Byrd asked the question many are still grappling with: “What happened?”
Meanwhile, Michele’s daughter posted on the Facebook page ‘Bring Michele Hundley Smith Home’ to thank supporters and acknowledge the conflicting emotions the family is experiencing now that Michele has been found.
The post described the last few days as a “whirlwind,” asking people to avoid “accusations and assumptions” and to respect the family as they process what’s happened.
Addressing remarks directed at her father, she defended him — then shared her own complicated feelings about her mother’s return:
“As far as my opinions and feelings on my mom… I am ecstatic, I am pissed, 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 bc 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.”