The North Carolina mother who vanished in 2001 and was located safe and sound earlier this month was arrested on an outstanding order, officials say.
Michele Hundley Smith, 62, was taken into custody Wednesday by the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office on an arrest order related to her failure to appear in court 25 years ago, the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
The sheriff’s office said Smith failed to appear in court on Dec. 27, 2001, in connection with a driving while intoxicated charge issued on Nov. 11, 2001, by the Eden Police Department.
She has posted bond and is scheduled to appear in Rockingham County District Court on March 26. Robeson County is about 175 miles southeast of Rockingham County, which is near the Virginia state border.
For decades, Smith’s disappearance baffled law enforcement and her community in Eden, North Carolina, a small town home to about 15,500 people.
She was 38 when she was reported missing, last known to have left home to travel to a Kmart in Virginia for Christmas shopping and never turned, the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office said.
Then a tip on Feb. 19 led to a break in the case. Detectives followed up and on Feb. 20 made contact with Smith “at an undisclosed location within North Carolina alive and well,” the sheriff’s office said.
At her request, her whereabouts were not disclosed, but her family was notified that she was found.
Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office Captain Jonathan Cheek told NBC News Wednesday that there are no charges against Smith connected to her disappearance.
He said he doesn’t believe there has been any contact between Smith and her family.
Smith indicated when she was found that there were “domestic issues” before she left on her own accord, Sheriff Cheek previously told NBC News. However, the sheriff’s office had no records related to such issues before she departed.
Smith has two daughters and a son, her daughter Amanda Smith shared on Facebook in 2021.
Amanda Smith has been vocal in the search for her mother.
On Saturday she posted on a Facebook page she made, dedicated to the search for mother, writing: “I will say that my mother chose her new life and we know she is alive, and for now that is enough.”
The following day she shared a lengthy post asking for respect for her family as “we are hurting and going through a lot.”
“My dad has been through so many accusations since all the way back then,” she wrote. “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.”
“As far as my opinions and feelings on my mom… 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,” she continued.
The sheriff’s office said the district attorney’s office is conducting a full review of the case.
