A mother missing for 24 years was just found alive. What she revealed to the sheriff has shattered her family all over again

A North Carolina woman who disappeared on a Christmas shopping trip in 2001 has been found alive after nearly 25 years. However, she does not want her family to know where she is, bringing a decades-long search to an unexpected and painful end for her loved ones.

According to NBC News, Michele Hundley Smith was 38 years old when she disappeared on December 9, 2001. She had left her Rockingham County home after 8:00 PM to go Christmas shopping in nearby Virginia. Her family officially reported her missing on December 31, 2001, starting a search that would last almost a quarter of a century.

The Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office recently found Smith and confirmed she is “alive and well” in North Carolina. However, at Smith’s own request, her location will not be shared; not even with her family. The sheriff’s office said they informed her family of the news, along with her request for privacy.

Smith’s children are left dealing with a painful mix of relief and heartbreak

Smith has two daughters and a son. Her daughter Amanda Smith had been running a Facebook page for years to keep her mother’s missing person case in public view. This past Sunday, Amanda posted an update describing a “whirlwind of emotions,” writing, “I am ecstatic, I am pissed, I am heartbroken, I am all over the map!”

Cases like this are not uncommon, a Kansas City woman who vanished amid reports of an abusive relationship left her family with similarly unanswered questions. The reasons behind Smith’s original disappearance in 2001 are still unclear. Sheriff Sam Page said Smith indicated there were “domestic issues” before she left on her own. However, the sheriff’s office has no records of such issues from before her disappearance.

Amanda had previously spoken about her parents’ relationship, acknowledging it wasn’t perfect. In a 2020 interview, she mentioned her father believed her mother “just took off and left him, and us, that night,” and Amanda had said at the time it was “possible” and “hard to rule out that she just left all of us and started a new life.”

More recently, Amanda clarified on Facebook that the situation was more complicated than just a difficult marriage. 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.”

In another puzzling disappearance, a Florida woman who went missing on a cross-country trip left her family searching for answers after a strange note arrived at her mother’s house. Law enforcement is respecting Smith’s wishes for privacy. Sheriff Page said he is not aware of any contact between Smith and her family since she was located, and noted the family will need time to heal.

Detectives are also in contact with the district attorney’s office and are conducting a full review of the case. Amanda summed up her uncertainty about the future, saying, “Will I have a relationship once more with my mom? Honestly, I can’t answer that bc I don’t even know.”