For 24 years, Michele Hundley Smith’s family lived with uncertainty, unsure whether they should be mourning or still hoping for answers about the North Carolina mother, who was quietly living a different life after she disappeared in 2001.

On Dec. 9, 2001, Michele Hundley Smith Eden kissed her two young children goodbye and left her North Carolina home to do holiday shopping at a K-Mart in Martinsville, Virginia, about 17 miles away.

It was the last time she was seen by her husband and her children — Amanda, 14, an 8-year-old son, and a 19-year-old daughter who had already moved out.

“I’ll never forget that first Christmas without her,” Michele’s daughter Amanda, who was a young teenager when her mother disappeared, told Dateline in 2020. “We didn’t even care about gifts — our mom was gone. Nothing was ever the same after that.”

After she did not return home that December evening, a large search involving agencies across North Carolina and Virginia began — an investigation that would continue for decades, according to reports from People.

Despite years of searching, tips, and public appeals, clear answers did not emerge.

Credit: Facebook / Bring Michele Hundley Smith Home
“Those years were a blur after that,” Amanda said on Dateline. “Detectives would be in and out of our lives, asking questions, following up on whatever tips they received. But nothing ever led to my mom.”

‘Just want to know that you are safe, Mama’
In July 2018, the family created a Facebook page called “Bring Michele Hundley Smith Home,” sharing photos and messages in hopes that someone might recognize her — or that she might see their posts. She was 38 when she disappeared.

Some of the most emotional messages came from Amanda, who now has two daughters of her own.

“I’m writing this in hopes that maybe, if my mom is out there, she will see it. Mama, this is Amanda. If you see this, please know I’m not angry with you. I just want to know that you are safe, Mama,” she wrote in a July 28, 2018, post alongside an older photo of her mother.

‘Grieving or waiting’
As the years passed, the uncertainty continued to shape the family’s life.

“For years, we didn’t know if we were mourning or still waiting,” Michele’s cousin, Barbara Byrd, told WFMY.

Birthdays and Mother’s Day were marked on social media, with Amanda sharing how deeply she missed her mom, whom she described as her best friend.

“Happy birthday to my mom!” she began in a post on her mother’s 60th birthday. “There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about her. I wish I could talk to her one more time. I hate not knowing what happened — not knowing whether she is alive or not — and living with so many questions for so many years.”

Then came news the family did not expect.

‘Alive and well’
On Feb. 20, the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office announced that Michele Hundley Smith, now 62, had been located after investigators “received new information” about her disappearance.

“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 said. “At her request, her current whereabouts will remain undisclosed.”

Authorities confirmed that her family had been notified and informed of her request for privacy.

‘What happened?’
The update prompted a wave of emotion.

“I feel like I want to go outside and shout, ‘She’s alive,’” Byrd told WFMY.

But relief quickly came with unanswered questions.

“My biggest question for her is… what happened back in December all those years ago? What made you leave? What happened?” Byrd said.

“I understand and respect that she doesn’t want any of us to contact her. I’m not angry,” Byrd added. “I would love to hear you say you’re OK, and that when you’re ready, you’ll talk to us.”

Even with so many unknowns, she said she is focusing on gratitude.

“The biggest answer today is that she’s alive. Nothing else matters at this exact moment,” she said.

‘Chose her new life’
In a statement shared with WFMY, Amanda thanked people for the “love and support,” adding that Michele “chose her new life, and we know she is alive, and for now that is enough.”

Later, in a Facebook post, Amanda also shared the mix of emotions she felt after learning her mother had been found.

“As far as my feelings about my mom… I’m overwhelmed. I’m relieved, I’m upset, I’m heartbroken — I’m all over the place. Will I have a relationship with my mom again? Honestly, I can’t answer that because I don’t even know… My first reaction is yes, of course, but then I think about all the hurt… Still, my mom is human just like all of us,” she wrote on Feb. 22.

How would you react if you learned a missing loved one had been living separately for more than two decades? Share your thoughts, and consider sharing this story so others can weigh in too.