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On a cold winter evening a few weeks before Christmas, a North Carolina woman told her husband and children that she was going Christmas shopping and hugged them for a good night’s sleep. She got into her 1995 Pontiac Trans Sport van, left overnight and was never seen again.
This holiday season will mark the 19th Christmas that Amanda Smith will spend without her mother, Michele Lyn Hundley Smith.
“I will never forget that first Christmas without her,” Amanda told Dateline. “We didn’t even care about the presents or anything – our mother was gone. Nothing was the same after that.
Amanda was 14 when her 38-year-old mother disappeared on December 9, 2001. Her younger brother was almost eight. Their older sister was 19 and was already out of the house.
“It has affected all of our lives,” Amanda said. “But I think I took the hard part. My mom… we were best friends. She was a great mother, you know, but she became more friends with age.
Amanda described Michele as a mother who was always there when they got off the school bus, cooked their favorite meals, and although she wasn’t very strict, she never let them get away with everything.
“Then later we became such good friends,” Amanda said. “I just felt like we had a special bond.”
Amanda told Dateline that on the evening of December 9, 2001, she remembers her mother kissing them for a good night’s sleep and leaving their home in Stoneville, NC around 8:30 p.m. to go shopping in Martinsville, Virginia, about a 30 minute drive.
“It was not unusual for her to go shopping at night,” said Amanda, who explained that her mother stayed at home with them while their father worked as a truck driver. “And she often went to Martinsville for shopping. We expected his return in a few hours. But she never came home.
Amanda told Dateline that her father had woken her up around 12:30 am and seemed worried that Michele hadn’t come home yet.
“He was really worried,” Amanda said. “She had left before, like they had an argument or something, but she was just going to my grandmother’s house and coming back the next day.” But it was different. She was not at my grandmother’s. She was nowhere.
Michele’s family contacted the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office and reported her missing. Local searches were carried out, but neither Michele nor his vehicle was found.
“The years have been a blur after that,” Amanda said. “Detectives would come in and out of our lives, asking questions, working on the tips they received. But nothing ever led to my mother.
Captain Marcus Marshall, of the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office, told Dateline Michele’s case was “an active investigation” but that he would not release specific details of the case. He no longer encouraged with information to call the authorities.
The Sheriff’s Office issued a press release on December 9, 2020, the anniversary of Michele’s disappearance, with a further call to the public for information. Her flyer, listing her as an endangered missing person, holds a place on their Missing Persons page in the hopes that someone will provide them with information that will lead them to Michele.
As many other Christmases passed with a trace of Michele, her daughter Amanda had grown more desperate to find her.
“I was just a teenager at the time and didn’t really know what to do,” Amanda told Dateline. “It’s been seven or eight years that I’ve really put in more time and effort. It is overwhelming though. Sometimes I have to take a step back.
With help from the online research community, Amanda created the Bring Michele Hundley Smith Home Facebook page, where she shares photos and updates on her mother’s case, hoping someone with information will manifest.
In 2018, The Vanished podcast featured Michele’s case, but Amanda told Dateline that didn’t lead to any substantial leads on her mother’s whereabouts.
Amanda’s older sister and younger brother, who still live in North Carolina, ask for updates every now and then, but Amanda says they’re not heavily involved in the research.
Her father, who has since remarried, still lives in their family home in Stoneville. Amanda told Dateline that he has health issues and is having trouble talking about Michele.
“He thinks she just took off and left him and us that night,” Amanda said. “And I guess it’s possible. It’s hard to rule out that she just left us all and started a new life. But there is also something that bothers me that something happened to him on the way home.
Over the years, there have been countless stories, rumors, and speculation about what happened to the North Carolina mother that night. Some believed her father was involved, others believed her grandmother had been instrumental in helping Michele start a new life.
“I have to take a step back and not listen to the rumors,” Amanda said. “My mother disappearing like this devastated our whole family. I lived with my grandmother for a few years and heard her cry at night about my mother. All of our hearts are broken.
Captain Marshall wouldn’t say if investigators believe foul play was involved or if there is a person of interest in Michele’s disappearance, only that she is considered a missing person in danger.
Almost two decades have passed, but as many celebrate the holidays with their families this year, Amanda tells Dateline that she would just like answers on what happened to her mother.
“If she contacted me now, I would have, well, I would have a lot of questions,” Amanda said. “But she’s still my mother. I would accept it in return. I want her to know that. And I would just be happy if she was alive.
Amanda now has two daughters and her siblings also have children. She told Dateline that she has a little hope in her heart that her mother will find out that she has grandchildren and that she will return.
“My hope is that if she’s out there somewhere, she will see this and reach out,” Amanda said. “I just want her to know that I would accept her – and welcome her with open arms.”
At the time of her disappearance, Michele was 38 years old with brown hair and hazel eyes. She has a scar on her upper arm and a brown baseball bat-shaped birthmark on her ankle. His vehicle is described as a green 1995 Pontiac Trans Sport van with the ROK-N-ON license plate from North Carolina.
If you have any information on Michele’s whereabouts, call the Rockingham County Crime Stoppers at (336) 349-9683 or the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office at (336) 634-3232.
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