Michele Hundley Smith opened up to authorities about the reason that she disappeared from her family’s lives and started a second life of her own nearly 25 years ago.
Hundley Smith was 38 when she left her home in Eden, N.C. on December 9, 2001. Her two youngest children and husband believed that she was going for a shopping trip across state lines in Virginia, according to a 2020 Dateline interview with her daughter Amanda.
However, that was the last time that the mom of three was seen by her family and loved ones for more than 24 years.
On Saturday (February 20), the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office issued a news release on Facebook, confirming that Hundley Smith, now in her 60s, had been found “alive and well.”
In a new interview, the local sheriff opened up about a conversation that the department had with the recovered woman, in which she alleged a reason for her disappearance.
Keep reading to find out more…
“Let me just say there were no allegations of any foul play regarding to her leaving,” Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page told PEOPLE. “But according to Ms. Smith, she said she left… due to ongoing domestic issues at the time.”
The sheriff stated that Hundley Smith “did not elaborate” on her allegation and stated that there were no official police records about responding to previous domestic issues before she left the home.
In their news release, the sheriff’s office stated that Hundley Smith wanted her location to “remain undisclosed,” seemingly even to her remaining family members.
However, she does still reside somewhere in North Carolina. Additional details about her second life have not been revealed to the general public at this time.
Speaking to PEOPLE, Page added that she “was in good health.”
He commented on the conclusion to the decades-long missing person case, saying that “the family has closure and they know she’s okay” after years of uncertainty.
However, there are some questions that will still be answered. Page told PEOPLE that the case was sent to the local district attorney’s office, which might decide to press charges against Hundley Smith.
“Of course, the question was, she had three children when she left, they were with the dad,” he explained. “Our detectives have been in contact with the district attorney’s office, if there are any consideration for any charges along the lines of abandonment or anything like that.”
Katy Gregg, District Attorney for the Twenty-Second Prosecuting District, told the outlet that “the case is ongoing and no decisions have been made at this time.”
During her interview with Dateline, Amanda said that her mother “had left” their home before after she and her father “had an argument or something.”
However, she stated that Hundley Smith “would just go to my grandma’s house and come back the next day.”
Speaking about her father, who has since remarried, she said, “He believes she just took off and left him, and us, that night.”
Amanda opened a Facebook page dedicated to helping to find her mom.
She reacted to her recent discovery and responded to allegations that have previously been made about her dad in a post on it.
“My dad has been through so many accusations since all the way back then… Even before social media was big, where we live in a small town, there were many ppl acting as if they just knew he was involved… Well he wasn’t!” she wrote on Saturday (February 20).
Continuing, she wrote, “I always knew that there was no way that he could do something like that for many reasons and the biggest being bc my father could never continue to lie to us for decades.”
“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. My dad is a great man and honestly, the fact that he is human just as I am human and you are human,… He’s close to being a super hero in my eyes and he ALWAYS will be,” she added.
Regarding her mother’s discovery, Amanda was conflicted, writing, “I am ecstatic, I am pissed, I am heartbroken, I am all over the map!”
“Will I have a relationship once more with my mom? Honestly I can’t answer that bc I don’t even know… My initial reaction would be yes absolutely but then I think of all the hurt… But even then … My mom is only human just as we all are,” she explained, adding, “Everything I have been through in life, I can absolutely understand taking off and leaving.”
“What I am saying is that I am a runner as well and while this isn’t something to be proud of at all, it’s a part of being human,” she said. “Each one of us humans have our faults, we each have a shadow part and we each deserve the chance to better ourselves and to heal from our past.”
Amanda has asked for privacy as her family processes the news and decides how to proceed.
See what family members have said about Hundley Smith‘s recovery.
