A North Carolina woman who vanished in 2001 has been found alive and living a new life more than 24 years after she disappeared.
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Michele Hundley Smith, now 62, disappeared from her Eden, North Carolina, home on Dec. 9, 2001, at age 38 after telling her family she was going Christmas shopping. Law enforcement and her loved ones never saw or heard from her again, launching a long-running missing persons investigation.
On Feb. 19, 2026, deputies with the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office received new information that led them to locate Smith “alive and well” in an undisclosed location within North Carolina. At her request, authorities have kept her exact whereabouts private, including from her own family.
Smith told investigators that “ongoing domestic issues” at the time drove her decision to leave. However, the sheriff’s office said it has no records of official domestic complaints from that period. Deputies stressed that she left on her own accord and there was no evidence of foul play.
Michele Smith To Be Kept From Her Own Family, For Now
Smith’s reappearance has stirred a complex emotional response among her children. Her daughter Amanda, who was 14 when her mother vanished, wrote on social media that she felt “ecstatic,” “p–sed,” and “heartbroken” all at once upon learning her mother was alive. Amanda also made a point of saying that while her parents had marital issues, her father was never culpable for her mother’s disappearance.
In a development days after her discovery, Smith was arrested on Feb. 25, 2026, on an outstanding warrant for failing to appear in court on a 2001 drunk-driving charge from the time of her disappearance. Deputies with the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office took her into custody on behalf of Rockingham County authorities. She posted bond and was released pending a March 26 court date.
No charges related to abandonment or other allegations stemming from her disappearance have been filed. Investigators say the focus remains on understanding what happened in the decades since she vanished.