Found Alive NC - Michele Lyn Hundley Smith, 38, Eden, 9 Dec 2001* found alive February 2026*

[CastlesBurning]

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

Disappearance of North Carolina mother remains a mystery nearly two decades after she went Christmas shopping and never returned

One chilly winter evening, a few weeks before Christmas, a North Carolina woman told her husband and children she was heading out to do some Christmas shopping and kissed them goodnight. She got into her 1995 Pontiac Trans Sport van, drove away into the night, and was never seen again.

This holiday season will mark the 19th Christmas that Amanda Smith will spend without her mother, Michele Lyn Hundley Smith.

“I’ll never forget that first Christmas without her,” Amanda told Dateline. “We didn’t even care about presents or anything - our mom was gone. Nothing was ever the same after that.”

Amanda was 14 years old when her 38-year-old mother disappeared on December 9, 2001. Her younger brother was almost eight. Their older sister was 19 and already out of the house.

“It affected all of our lives,” Amanda said. “But I think I took it the hardest. My mom… we were best friends. She was a really good mother, you know, but then became more of a friend when I got older.”

Amanda described Michele as a mother who was always there when they got off the bus from school, cooked their favorite meals, and while she wasn’t very strict, she never let them get away with everything.

“Then later on, we just became such good friends,” Amanda said. “I just felt like we had a special bond.”

Amanda told Dateline that on the evening of December 9, 2001, she remembers her mother kissing them goodnight and leaving their house in Stoneville, North Carolina around 8:30 p.m. to go shopping in Martinsville, Virginia, which is about a 30-minute drive.

“It wasn’t unusual for her to go shopping in the evenings,” said Amanda, who explained that her mother stayed at home with them while their father worked as a truck driver. “And she often went to Martinsville to shop. We expected her back within a couple of hours. But she never came home.”

Amanda told Dateline her father woke her up around 12:30 a.m. and seemed concerned that Michele had not returned home yet.

“He was really worried,” 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.”

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Disappearance of North Carolina mother remains a mystery nearly two decades after she went Christmas shopping and never returned

 

[ChatteringBirds]

This case really needs more attention. Her van never turning up is mysterious, IMO.

The press release from December 2020:
20201209 Anniversary Date of Missing Person (2001) - MICHELLE LYN HUNDLEY SMITH

Which shows there is a Crimestopper's reward for information.

In the article posted above, it says her daughter has created a Facebook group about the case.

Also
At the time of her disappearance, Michele was 38 years old with brown hair and hazel eyes. She has a scar on her upper arm and a brown birthmark the shape of a baseball bat on her ankle. Her vehicle is described as a green 1995 Pontiac Trans Sport van with North Carolina license plate ROK-N-ON.

 

[MrsWatson]

I wonder if it was ever confirmed if she made it shopping? Did she use cash, a debit card, write a check?

Her Transport not turning up makes me wonder about bodies of water in the area, a car accident that's gone undiscovered. Is it mountainous in that area?

 

[MrsWatson]

Michele Lyn Hundley Smith – The Charley Project

Smith routinely carried a purse containing her wallet, her own Social Security card and the cards of her children. About five years after Smith went missing, someone in Cumberland, Maryland used her daughter's Social Security number. This person has never been identified and it's not clear whether this has any relationship with Smith's case.

More at link.

 

[Curious_in_NC]

I wonder if it was ever confirmed if she made it shopping? Did she use cash, a debit card, write a check?

Her Transport not turning up makes me wonder about bodies of water in the area, a car accident that's gone undiscovered. Is it mountainous in that area?

I don't really see many places with water she would have encountered, but since her van is also still missing, it's reasonable to consider that scenario. If her route included Business 220 just south of Stonesville, she might have crossed the Mayo River. The Mayo isn't large but it's certainly wider and deeper than the creek where Kyle Clinkscale's car was hidden for decades. Car of a missing college student and skeletal remains found in an unsolved 4-decade-old case

Other than that it looks like a pretty direct route to Martinsville on 220. Not a lot of water along that way. The Smith River runs through Martinsville. I've kayaked on it upstream from there. I've also walked down the center of it when the dam upstream had its gates closed. It's shallow. I'd think it would be hard for a vehicle to remain hidden in it but there's a lot of places where roads run near it.

It's hilly around there, but it only gets what I'd call mountainous about 30-40 miles west of that area where you cross the Blue Ridge Parkway.

 

[MimosaMornings]

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

Disappearance of North Carolina mother remains a mystery nearly two decades after she went Christmas shopping and never returned

One chilly winter evening, a few weeks before Christmas, a North Carolina woman told her husband and children she was heading out to do some Christmas shopping and kissed them goodnight. She got into her 1995 Pontiac Trans Sport van, drove away into the night, and was never seen again.

This holiday season will mark the 19th Christmas that Amanda Smith will spend without her mother, Michele Lyn Hundley Smith.

“I’ll never forget that first Christmas without her,” Amanda told Dateline. “We didn’t even care about presents or anything - our mom was gone. Nothing was ever the same after that.”

Amanda was 14 years old when her 38-year-old mother disappeared on December 9, 2001. Her younger brother was almost eight. Their older sister was 19 and already out of the house.

“It affected all of our lives,” Amanda said. “But I think I took it the hardest. My mom… we were best friends. She was a really good mother, you know, but then became more of a friend when I got older.”

Amanda described Michele as a mother who was always there when they got off the bus from school, cooked their favorite meals, and while she wasn’t very strict, she never let them get away with everything.

“Then later on, we just became such good friends,” Amanda said. “I just felt like we had a special bond.”

Amanda told Dateline that on the evening of December 9, 2001, she remembers her mother kissing them goodnight and leaving their house in Stoneville, North Carolina around 8:30 p.m. to go shopping in Martinsville, Virginia, which is about a 30-minute drive.

“It wasn’t unusual for her to go shopping in the evenings,” said Amanda, who explained that her mother stayed at home with them while their father worked as a truck driver. “And she often went to Martinsville to shop. We expected her back within a couple of hours. But she never came home.”

Amanda told Dateline her father woke her up around 12:30 a.m. and seemed concerned that Michele had not returned home yet.

“He was really worried,” 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.”

What stores would have been open past 9-9:30pm in Martinsville?
Liberty Fair Mall closed at 9pm.
Maybe Walmart?

The kids would have been in school during the day so it’s not like she had to wait for someone to watch the younger children?

Was there an argument that night?

The “going shopping”’could have been what she told the children. What does her husband say about her frequent shopping trips later in the evening? Did she wait until the children’s bedtime to go shopping for some reason? I’d like to hear more from the father.
JMO

 

[Curious_in_NC]

I don't really see many places with water she would have encountered, but since her van is also still missing, it's reasonable to consider that scenario. If her route included Business 220 just south of Stonesville, she might have crossed the Mayo River.

I noticed one source says she "left her Stoneville home" but she's also listed as being missing from Eden. I would guess that means they lived somewhere in between the two towns and she was therefore less likely to encounter the Mayo River. The Smith River and the Dan River meet near Eden, so it's possible those locations could be considered.

 

[MimosaMornings]

Is her husband still alive? What can he add to the circumstances of that night?

Where did the grandmother live?

How frequent were the arguments?

 

[MimosaMornings]

Bring Michele Hundley Smith Home is on Facebook.

 

[Curious_in_NC]

Bring Michele Hundley Smith Home is on Facebook.

I just looked, the FB group seems to be run by a family member, They say that she left for Martinsville from a home on Price Rd, which is about halfway between Stoneville and Eden. They also said Adventures with Purpose has already searched some local water location(s).

 

[MadMcGoo]

Details of disappearance updated.

Michele Lyn Hundley Smith – The Charley Project

Details of Disappearance
Smith was last seen leaving her residence in Eden, North Carolina at 8:30 p.m. on December 9, 2001. She planned to go Christmas shopping in Martinsville, Virginia. She never returned and has never been heard from again.

Smith was driving a green 1995 Pontiac Trans Sport van with the North Carolina license plate number ROK-N-ON at the time of her disappearance; it has not been recovered. A photo of a similar vehicle is posted with this case summary.

According to Smith's then-teenage daughter, her parents' marriage was troubled: both her mother and father struggled with alcohol, they argued often, and there was infidelity on both sides.

She stated her father, after Smith disappeared, assumed she'd simply left. He claimed she had removed an unspecified amount of money from their bank account before leaving the house that night. However, Smith's other relatives never believed she would have left on her own, as she was close to her mother and they don't think she would have abandoned her or her three children.

Smith routinely carried a purse containing her wallet, her own Social Security card and the cards of her children. About five years after Smith went missing, someone in Cumberland, Maryland used her daughter's Social Security number. This person has never been identified and it's not clear whether this has any relationship with Smith's case.

The circumstances of Smith's disappearance are unclear.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

Too bad there isn't photo or video footage to verify if she (or someone else) removed money from the bank account and how much.

Just brainstorming here.
Did someone else take out the money?
Or if she did, was it simply money to go shopping?
Or could she have owed money to someone, went to pay it back, and something happened to her?

When her daughter's SSN was used, what exactly was it used for?

 

[annpats]

Oh my, I could go one of 3 ways on this case:

Foul play.
Voluntarily missing/new life.
Accident.

Her vehicle not turning up is an odd one.
"Going shopping" at 8.30pm is also a bit hinky.

The fact it wasn't a happy marriage and arguments and drink were involved skews the case also to potential foul play by the husband. But also foul play if she went off and met someone else. Infidelity on both sides was mentioned.

I don't think she was the type to run off and start a new life. She could have just gone to live at her Mom's, where she used to go when arguments occurred.

Plus, was the relationship that bad she would have abandoned her 3 children?

Anyone else like to add their thoughts?

 

[ChatteringBirds]

I don't think it sounds like she left voluntarily.

Could her car have ended up in a body of water (there are numerous cases like that here, unfortunately), or she met a man who was not actually a nice person and he knew how to make a vehicle disappear ? JMO.

 

[Curious_in_NC]

I was in that area yesterday thinking about this. There's a lot of sparsely populated areas to the west of there.

There's one rule-out for her in NamUs, UP12683, found in 2014 in Newport News VA who in turn has 3574 (!) other MP exclusions listed. Virginia has certainly documented their efforts well in these cases.

 

[indicolite22]

I don't think it sounds like she left voluntarily.

Could her car have ended up in a body of water (there are numerous cases like that here, unfortunately), or she met a man who was not actually a nice person and he knew how to make a vehicle disappear ? JMO.

BBM. YouTube channel Adventures with purpose just published a new video, detailing their recent search for her car in the waterways in the area. The hosts also mentioned that they received strong, but unofficial information that her disappearance involved foul play. Allegedly the perpetrator(s) and the location is known, although evidence is circumstantial.

 

[Curious_in_NC]

BBM. YouTube channel Adventures with purpose just published a new video, detailing their recent search for her car in the waterways in the area. The hosts also mentioned that they received strong, but unofficial information that her disappearance involved foul play. Allegedly the perpetrator(s) and the location is known, although evidence is circumstantial.

It looks like they searched some stretches of the Smith River in and around Martinsville which, as expected, was pretty shallow and nothing was found. They seemed prepared to search a second river near the end of the video, but apparently they abandoned the search because of this new "off the record" information about foul play. It looked like they were at a bridge over the Dan River near Eden, maybe the Settles Bridge (?). Despite there having been an accident at that site, they described it as a suicide location. I was hoping to see more facts and less innuendo from AWP.

 

[Andreee]

It looks like they searched some stretches of the Smith River in and around Martinsville which, as expected, was pretty shallow and nothing was found. They seemed prepared to search a second river near the end of the video, but apparently they abandoned the search because of this new "off the record" information about foul play. It looked like they were at a bridge over the Dan River near Eden, maybe the Settles Bridge (?). Despite there having been an accident at that site, they described it as a suicide location. I was hoping to see more facts and less innuendo from AWP.

I just watched that video and they did thoroughly search local waterways, despite the information they had received in the meantime about foul play.

 

[Andreee]

BBM. YouTube channel Adventures with purpose just published a new video, detailing their recent search for her car in the waterways in the area. The hosts also mentioned that they received strong, but unofficial information that her disappearance involved foul play. Allegedly the perpetrator(s) and the location is known, although evidence is circumstantial.

They did a thorough search, but had strong info that there was foul play. Obviously the location is unknown.