ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) – A missing persons case that was more than two decades old has finally been solved, according to the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office.
On December 31, 2001, RCSO received a report that Michelle Hundley Smith, then 38, of Eden, had been missing since December 9 of that year. According to her husband, Smith left home to go shopping at a Kmart supermarket in Martinsville, Virginia, but never returned home.
The case was investigated by multiple agencies in North Carolina and Virginia, including the North Carolina Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI.
On Thursday, the RCSO Criminal Investigation Division received new information about Smith and his disappearance and immediately followed up on the tip. Detectives made contact with Smith on Friday at an undisclosed location in North Carolina, where he was “alive and well.”
RCSO said her current location will not be disclosed at her request.
A family member of Smith shared the following statement with Fox 8.
“We would also like to thank everyone who has supported and continues to support her daughter during this time.”
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