Mom Found After 24 Years Doesn't Want to Be Found

A North Carolina wife and mother who disappeared in 2001 has been found "alive and well," though with no apparent desire to return to her family. Authorities in Rockingham County say they located 62-year-old Michele Hundley Smith on Friday at an undisclosed location in the state, nearly 24 years after she vanished on a Christmas shopping trip, per People. Smith, then 38, disappeared on Dec. 9, 2001, after leaving her Eden home to go to a Kmart in Martinsville, Va., and was reported missing by her husband. After years of work by local deputies and agencies including the SBI, DEA, and FBI, detectives say "new information" led them to her.

The sheriff's office says Smith has asked that her current whereabouts remain private; her family has been told of both her status and her request. Her daughter Amanda, who was 14 at the time of the disappearance and ran a Facebook page seeking answers, wrote that she was both "ecstatic" and "heartbroken" and unsure what a future relationship with her mother might look like, per People. Smith also left behind a younger son and adult daughter, per WCSC. Cousin Barbara Byrd told WFMY that she has many unanswered questions, but for the moment, knowing Smith is alive is enough. Still, "I would love to hear you say I'm OK, but when I'm ready, I'll talk to you."