sds71

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  • #1
“On February 20 (detectives) made contact with Michelle Hundely Smith at an undisclosed location within North Carolina – alive and well,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release.
“At her request, her current whereabouts will remain undisclosed. Her family has been notified that she has been located and informed of this request as well.” One of Smith’s children issued a statement Feb. 21, via a Facebook page created in 2018 to collect tips in the case. “There is too much going on to deal with everything,” the statement said. “The personal details are not going to be dived into right now, but I will say that my mother chose her new life, and we know she is alive, and for now that is enough. I can’t really think straight right now.”
A motive for 62-year-old Smith’s decision to vanish was not released. The Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office says it never gave up searching for Smith, who was officially reported missing on New Year’s Eve of 2001 – nearly two weeks after she was last seen. She was 38 at the time, and living with her family at a rural home in Eden, N.C., about a 105-mile drive northwest from downtown Raleigh. “According to her husband, Michelle had left home to travel to K-Mart in Martinsville, Virginia, for Christmas shopping and never returned,” the sheriff’s office said.

“Over the years, the case drew the attention and collaboration of multiple agencies across North Carolina and Virginia, including the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Despite countless hours of investigative work and the pursuit of numerous leads, Michelle Hundely Smith’s whereabouts remained unknown.” The tip that resulted in her being found was received on Feb. 19, officials said. The source has not been revealed.

Read more at: https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/state/north-carolina/article314794103.html#storylink=cpy

 
  • #2
I think there's another thread on here already about this. If there is, I'll see if they can be whooshed.

ETA: Maybe it was another website I was looking at. Is anyone else reminded of the story of Audrey, the teen mom who vanished from Wisconsin ca. 1960 and turned up a year or two ago, in Kentucky? She was being abused, yes, but she also just wanted to leave her old life behind, and did.
 
  • #3
She never though it important to notify the police or her family that she was safe and alive? Surely this years-long search would have cost a huge amount of time, money and mental energy.
 
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