A North Carolina mother who was missing for 24 years is reunited with her daughter
For more than two decades, Amanda Smith wondered what happened to her mother, who disappeared 24 years ago in North Carolina. While leaving Hollywood, he had an emotional reunion on Thursday with his mother, who had not wanted to be found for years.
Michele Hundley Smith was 38 years old when she was reported missing in December 2001, the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office in North Carolina said. In February, he was found “alive and well” in the province following a tip.
On Thursday, the moment Amanda had been dreaming about for years came true.
The two reunited outside the Rockingham County courthouse, where his mother was scheduled to appear.
Smith approached his daughter with open arms, held her and hugged her for a long time. He admired his daughter’s hair and kissed her.
“Oh, I know everything’s not black and white. There’s every gray area,” Amanda Smith told NBC affiliate WXII of Winston-Salem. “Life is too short to hold a grudge against her because she is my mother.”
“We only get one life, and I want my mother in it,” he told the station.
Days after he was found, Smith was arrested on an outstanding warrant related to his failure to appear in court 25 years ago. That order was related to a driving while intoxicated charge issued on November 11, 2001, by the Eden Police Department.
His daughter accompanied him to his trial on Thursday. During the trial, Smith requested a court-appointed attorney, and his next court date was set for April 23, the sheriff’s office said.
It is still unclear why Smith left behind all those years ago.
She was last known to leave home on Dec. 9, 2001, to go to a K-Mart in Martinsville, Virginia, for Christmas shopping and never returned, the sheriff’s office said.
After being found, she told authorities there were “domestic problems” and that she had left for herself, said Rockingham County Sheriff’s Capt. Jonathan Cheek. The sheriff’s office had no records related to such matters before he left.
Smith has asked that his whereabouts not be disclosed, including the family members who were notified that he was found, the office said.
Smith has two daughters and a son, Amanda said on Facebook in 2021.
For more than 20 years, Amanda did not give up hope. He wrote a Facebook page asking for information and sharing his thoughts on the loss of his mother.
Last month, after her mother was adopted, Amanda wrote on her Facebook page: “I will say that my mother has chosen her new life and we know that she is alive, that’s enough for now.
He said his family was “hurt” and that his father had been suffering from “many suspicions since then.”
“I’m happy, I’m angry, I’m sad, I’m all over the map! Will I have a relationship with my mother again? I honestly can’t answer because I don’t know,” he wrote at the time.
