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A North Carolina mom reported missing more than two decades ago and recently found alive was dealing with a tumultuous marriage and struggling with alcohol abuse, according to her daughter.
Michele Lyn Hundley Smith disappeared with a trace in Dec. 2001 and was until last week an unsolved missing person’s case. The woman, now 62, was located Feb. 20 in North Carolina after detectives received new information about her case.
In a 2018 interview on “The Vanished Podcast,” her daughter Amanda Hundley said that her mother’s marriage was unraveling under the weight of alcohol abuse, infidelity and escalating marital arguments.
Smith, then 38, left her home Dec. 9, 2001, telling her family she was going Christmas shopping in nearby Martinsville, Virginia. She never returned. For years, her daughter believed her mother had simply walked away.
Michelle Hundely Smith disappeared after leaving her home in North Carolina to go Christmas shopping in Virginia in December 2001. (Bring Michelle Hundely Smith Home/Facebook)
Smith had recently lost her job at a veterinary practice after being fired for drinking on the job, Hundley said.
“My dad didn’t like the fact that my mom hid her drinking. I knew about it, and I was the only one, and I felt, you know, I was young, and I felt obligated not to say anything to betray my mom,” Hundley said on the podcast.
According to Hundley, her father suspected the drinking but did not fully understand the extent of it until after Smith vanished.
“He said, ‘Do you know where she kept the bottles at?’ And I showed them we had a little red building outside, and it was full of rum bottles, the empties, the ones that she had already drunk,” Hundley recalled. She was 14 at the time.
Missing mom found alive after 24 years reveals she left due to domestic issues. (Bring Michelle Hundely Smith Home/Facebook)
The couple’s relationship had also deteriorated. Hundley said both of her parents had affairs during the marriage. She described frequent arguments that “got physical a few times.”
Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page told Digital that there were no records of domestic abuse involving the couple.
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In the months before Smith disappeared, the couple were no longer sleeping in the same bed, according to Hundley. She said her mother often slept in a chair in the living room while her father remained in the bedroom.
“If she wanted to leave my dad, that’s one thing, but to leave us, I just don’t see it happening,” Hundley said in the 2018 podcast episode.
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A missing persons flyer circulated at the time of Michelle Hundely Smith’s disappearance in December 2001. (Bring Michelle Hundely Smith Home/Facebook)
On Tuesday, Sheriff Page said that Smith told police that she left her family due to ongoing domestic issues.
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“She relayed that she had left on her own accord,” Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page said. “She did reference some domestic issues. When we made contact, she was safe.”
Page told Digital that he has spoken with the district attorney’s office and no criminal charges will be filed.
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Michelle Hundely Smith was found living a new life in North Carolina after disappearing 24 years ago, according to the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office. (Bring Michelle Hundely Smith Home/Facebook)
In a lengthy Facebook post on Feb. 22, her daughter Amanda Smith wrote that the last 48 hours were a “whirlwind of emotions” for her family.
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“You are free to think whatever, of course, just please don’t put them out there for my family to see. Please respect my family bc [because] we are hurting and going through a lot,” she wrote.
“My dad has been through so many accusations since all the way back then… Even before social media was big, where we liv[ing] in a small town, there were many ppl [people] acting as if they just knew he was involved… Well he wasn’t! Of course, I never thought he was… My father has been through so much and I want it made clear that while their marriage had issues (just as many marriages go through) that my mom did not leave simply bc of a bad marriage. Everyone is entitled their opinions but please remember that my father has been proven innocent.”
Digital’s Julia Bonavita and Ashley Carnahan contributed to this report.
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