NC - Mom of 3 who vanished 24 years ago while Christmas shopping found ‘alive and well’.

[sds71]

“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

https://people.com/mom-who-vanished-without-a-trace-24-years-ago-found-alive-leaving-family-with-unanswered-questions-11911606

 

[airportwoman]

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.

 

[musicaljoke]

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.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

There isn't a thread here for Michele but I thought it worth noting that she turned up alive and well but not wanting to hear from her family.

Mom who went missing without a trace 24 years ago is found alive living double life in North Carolina​

A mother of three who went missing 24 years ago has finally been found after living a double life in North Carolina as her family wrestles with the gut-wrenching news.

Michele Hundley Smith vanished in December of 2001 at 38 years old after she left her home in Eden to go Christmas shopping, leaving behind her three children, aged 19, 14 and seven.

But after more than two decades of searching, Smith was found 'alive and well' on Friday by the Rockingham County Sheriff's Office, a release announced.

Mom who went missing 24 years ago is found ALIVE living double life

A missing mother of three was found after 24 years 'alive and well' living a double life in North Carolina.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Something must have been very wrong in her life for her to abandon three children just before Christmas. It's also interesting that she managed to disappear so completely for 24 years without leaving the state where she had been living at the time.

 

[SilentHill]

There was another thread about this that I was looking at yesterday but I'm unable to find it now. There's also this thread here

I'm wondering if the original thread was removed because she has been located but doesn't want to hear from family, I'm not sure what the rules on WS are regarding this. I've had a look but couldn't see anything?

 

[Rikissa]

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.

Maybe because she realised what was going to happen when she was found alive. Even if the police didn't informwhere she was, the tabloid press begun their hunt of her, and reveal who, and where, she was, regardless that they were about to destroy the new life she had managed to get. People would judge her in a negative light, without bothering to question why she had left the way she did.

I'm glad that she has been found alive, and I don't judge her for her actions, as I have no knowledge whatled to her going missing. I hope she is strong, and have people who support her now during the media chase.

 

[Sarahlou]

Wow. What a shock that would be to find out she's alive.
I don't know how anyone can just walk out and leave their children like that. Letting them forever worry about what awful thing could have happened to you.
I'd like to know more about how she managed to not be found all this time.