The daughter of a missing North Carolina woman is speaking out after her mom was found alive. She had been missing for more than 20 years prior.
Authorities confirmed they located Michelle Hundley Smith. The North Carolina native disappeared in December 2001. Smith was alive and well and hadn't left the state.
"On [Feb. 20], Sgt. A. Disher and Detective C. Worley made contact with Michele Hundley Smith at an undisclosed location within North Carolina, alive and well," the sheriff's office announced. "At her request, her current whereabouts will remain undisclosed."
Missing North Carolina Woman Found
"An extensive investigation was immediately launched," the sheriff's office wrote. "Over the years, the case drew the attention and collaboration of multiple agencies across North Carolina and Virginia, including the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)."
Her family has also held out hope that she was alive after all these years. Smith's cousin, Barbara Byrd, couldn't believe the news.
"I kind of want to go outside and scream, 'She's alive, she's alive,' " Byrd said. "My biggest question is to her ... What happened all those years ago in December? What made you leave?"
"I understand and respect that she doesn't want any of us to contact her. I'm not angry," she continued. "The biggest answer I had today was she was alive. Nothing else matters right at this moment."
Meanwhile, Smith's daughter Amanda feels heartbroken and angry at the news.
"I am ecstatic, I am pissed, I am heartbroken, I am all over the map!" she wrote. "Will I have a relationship once more with my mom? Honestly I can't answer that because I don't even know... 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."
