THE heartbreaking reason a mother-of-three wasn’t reported missing for nearly a month after she vanished has been revealed more than 20 years later.
Struggling with a secret drinking problem, Michelle Hundley Smith had been prone to disappearing from her home in Eden, North Carolina.
She had been arrested for driving under the influence just one month before vanishing for the final time in 2001, according to court reports seen by the Daily Mail.
The then 38-year-old mom had also been recently sacked from her job at a veterinary clinic for “drinking on the job” her daughter Amanda Hundley told “The Vanished Podcast”.
Last week police located Smith after 24 years, revealing she had been living a secret new life.
It had not been a strange occurrence for Smith to be absent for long periods of time, Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page said.
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He said it also explained why she hadn’t been reported missing until New Year’s Eve in 2001 – more than three weeks after she vanished.
Trapped in an unhappy marriage with her then husband Randy, Amanda said her mother had attempted to keep her battle with the booze a secret.
“My dad didn’t like the fact that my mom hid her drinking,” Amanda told the podcast in 2018.
“I knew about it, and I was the only one and I felt, you know, I was young and I felt obligated not to say anything to betray my mom.”
The pair had both been having affairs and Randy had suspected her of drinking, but only discovered the depth of the problem after Smith left, according to Amanda.
Her father had requested to see where the bottles were hidden.
“I showed [him] – we had a little red building outside and it was full of rum bottles, the empties, the ones that she had already drank,” she said.
Amanda had been just 14 years old at the time.
She revealed her parents arguments had escalated and “got physical a few times”, however said her dad was “a good man”.
The sheriff has no records of domestic abuse from the home.
Amanda said she had been shocked to learn her mother had vanished and started a new life.
“If she wanted to leave my dad, that’s one thing, but to leave us, I just don’t see it happening,” she said.
Police found Smith at an undisclosed location in North Carolina last week, now 62 years old, “alive and well”.
Investigators managed to track her down after receiving a tip.
Despite her family being notified, the sheriff said she had requested “not to make contact” with them.
Amanda said she was “still processing” her mother being found after all this time.
The mother-of-two said her feelings on the situation were “all over the map”.
“I am ecstatic, I am pissed, I am heartbroken,” she wrote in a statement on Facebook.
“Will I have a relationship once more with my mom? Honestly, I can’t answer that because I don’t even know,” she added.
“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.”
Smith’s other daughter Melissa Martin, now 44, also wrote a statement to the social media platform.
She said it was “great to know she’s alive after 24 years,” and that she hoped her mom would reach out.
Since she walked out of their lives, Smith’s husband went on to find a new partner and her three children – Melissa, Amanda and son Randal, 33 – are all married with their own children.
Smith’s mother Margaret died in November, after spending nearly a quarter of a century searching for her daughter.
Her reasons for leaving remain unknown.
Her brothers Gary and Kevin, spoke to the Daily Mail, saying “all is forgiven”.
The pair said they looked forward to possibly reconnecting with their sister.
“We want Michele to know that we are so glad she is alive, we love her, we are not mad at her, all is forgiven,” they told the outlet.
“We would love to be in contact with her, but we understand that she has decided she doesn’t want contact as of now, and we respect her wishes.”
Smith’s new life still remains a mystery to both her family and the public.
On Tuesday, Katy Gregg – the District Attorney for Caswell and Rockingham Counties, said her office would not be filing charges against Smith.