Daughter reunites with mother who went missing 24 years ago while Christmas shopping: ‘It was wild’

UNITED STATES, March 28 — ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, N. C. (WXLV) — A woman in North Carolina was reunited with her mother who went missing 24 years ago.

For the first time since she was 14, Amanda Smith was able to hug her mother, Michele Hundley Smith, outside a courthouse Thursday morning. “It was weird, it was wild, it was emotional. I didn’t really know what to feel,” Amanda Smith said.

“I ran up to her, hugged her, we cried a little, but then we had to rush in. ” On Friday, Feb. 20, the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office said Michelle Hundley Smith, 62, who was first reported missing Dec.

31, 2001, had been found. (Source: Rockingham County Sheriff's Office) The moment was cut short, as Michele Hundley Smith was due in court for a 2001 DWI case. “[Our first hug] could have been a different setting, but she lives so far away,” Amanda Smith said.

“I knew it wasn’t going to be what we wanted at first, but it will be. ” Michele Hundley Smith was reported missing in December 2001. Rockingham County deputies said the mother of three went on a Christmas shopping trip to Kmart and never came back.

For more than two decades, multiple agencies searched for her. But on Feb. 20, detectives finally made contact and learned she had left of her own accord.

When Michele Hundley Smith was found, she told deputies she left due to domestic issues. Her daughter said she forgives her. “I understand life happens, and we all go through things,” Amanda Smith said.

“Life is too short for me to hold a grudge against her, because she’s my mom. ” But while Amanda Smith is still processing her mother being alive, Michele Hundley Smith still faces a pending charge of failing to appear in a 2001 DWI case. “I’m gonna support her any way that I can,” Amanda Smith said.

“I still want her as my mom, as a friend, and just go from there. ” Copyright 2026 WXLV via CNN Newsource. All rights reserved.