Prosecutors can’t find records in DWI of NC mom missing for 24 years
A missing North Carolina woman who turned up alive after 24 years appeared in court for a second time on Thursday to face an old driving while impaired charge dating to when she disappeared.
But the case was delayed because prosecutors in Rockingham County said they couldn’t yet find the old records they needed for court.
Michele Hundley Smith, 62, missed a court appearance more than two decades ago after vanishing in December 2001, the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office said Feb. 26, a day after her arrest in Robeson County.
In court Thursday, District Court Judge Erica Brandon agreed with a motion from prosecutors to continue the case to June 8.
“This is a 2001 case,” Assistant District Attorney Kayla Tilley told the judge. “The officer is no longer with the agency. So we’ve had difficulty getting that report.”
She said her office would need to get a report from “storage” to determine whether to proceed.
Jason Ross, an attorney for Smith, opposed the motion to continue. He later declined to comment, and told Smith not to talk to anyone.
Smith lists her most recent address in court records as St. Pauls, a town of nearly 2,700 residents in Robeson County, 15 miles north of Lumberton, 21 miles south of Fayetteville and 125 miles southeast of Charlotte.
Background on missing mom case
“The Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office, after consultation with the District Attorney’s Office and further investigation, identified an outstanding Order for Arrest for Michele Hundley Smith for failure to appear,” the sheriff’s office said in their February Facebook post.
Smith previously appeared in the Rockingham County courthouse March 26, where she asked District Judge Christine Strader for a court-appointed attorney. Strader appointed attorney Ross to represent her and set the next court date for April 23.
In a brief, exclusive interview in the courthouse after the March hearing, Smith told The Charlotte Observer — when asked why she disappeared for years — “It was personal.”
She added: “I had my own demons at the time and I was in my own head, and I had my reasons.
“People who’ve been in that situation will understand.”
Smith left the building and then left in a car, declining to answer questions from reporters waiting outside.
Her car ran off the road, officer said
“The Order for Arrest stemmed from a DWI charge issued by the Eden Police Department on a November 11, 2001,” sheriff’s officials said. “Michele Hundley Smith failed to appear in court on December 27, 2001, for this charge.”
Smith registered a blood/alcohol level of .28 when an officer stopped her on Mebane Bridge Road at 1:33 a.m. Nov. 11, 2001, according to an arrest warrant affidavit
The officer said Smith “crossed center line, swerved and ran (off) right side of road, red glassy eyes, had odor of alcoholic bev.”
Smith was 38 when she vanished, according to Rockingham County District Court records.
Rockingham County is about a 105-mile drive northwest from downtown Raleigh.
“Whereabouts will remain undisclosed”
Smith gained international attention since the sheriff’s office said a tip revealed her new life since she disappeared from her home in Eden.
“On February 20 (detectives) made contact with Michelle Hundley Smith at an undisclosed location within North Carolina — alive and well,” the sheriff’s office said in a Feb. 20 news release.
“At her request, her current whereabouts will remain undisclosed. Her family has been notified that she has been located and informed of this request as well.”
Smith cited “ongoing domestic issues at the time” as the reason she vanished, Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page told PEOPLE magazine.
After Smith disappeared, her husband told deputies that she left home to Christmas shop at a Kmart in Martinsville, Virginia, and never returned.
Many North Carolina, Virginia and federal law enforcement agencies searched for Smith over the years, the sheriff’s office said.
Daughter discusses case
Amanda Hundley, one of Smith’s daughters, hugged her mother outside the courthouse after the hearing in March.
“It wasn’t that she didn’t want contact with us. It was never that, because she reached out to me,” Hundley told reporters then.
“I’m not going to hold any grudge, because she’s my mom. Stuff’s always going to happen.”
This story was originally published April 23, 2026 at 10:18 AM.