Missing NC Mom Found 'Alive and Well' After 24 Years

Missing NC Mom Found ‘Alive and Well’ After 24 Years

A North Carolina mom who vanished without a trace 24 years ago has been found “alive and well,” according to a statement from the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office. She reported to law enforcement that she left after alleged domestic issues in the home.

On Friday, Feb. 20, officials said that Michele Hundley Smith had been located after she left her Eden, NC home to go Christmas shopping in 2001 and never returned. At the time, she was 38-years-old and a mother of three.

Law enforcement officials met with the woman face-to-face in an undisclosed location.

The family has been notified that she’s well, but Smith has requested that her current location not be shared.

“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.”

In a lengthy statement on Facebook, Smith’s daughter, Amanda, shared her feelings after learning that her mother is alive. She had created a social media page in dedication to Smith’s disappearance.

“I am ecstatic, I am pissed, I am heartbroken, I am all over the map!” she wrote. “Will I have a relationship once more with my mom? Honestly I can’t answer that because 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.”

Missing NC Mom Found ‘Alive and Well’ After 24 Years was originally published on thelightnc.com