Struggling with a secret drinking problem, Michelle Hundley Smith had been prone to disappearing from her home in Eden, North Carolina.
Sign up for newslette Your info will be used in accordance with our Privacy Policy
Michele Hundley Smith disappeared 24 years ago after struggling with a drinking problem
She was located ‘alive and well’ by investigators last week
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.
READ MORE WORLD NEWS
XMAS HORROR
Chilling moment gunshots fired at Christmas event as three critically injured
UNDERWATER TROVE
Mystery as 32 cars are found in lake by divers looking to solve cold cases
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.”
Most read in The US Sun
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.
