A North Carolina mom of three who vanished more than two decades ago ditched her family because of “ongoing domestic issues,” she told law enforcement after finally being tracked down.
Michele Lyn Hundley Smith, then 38, disappeared in December 2001 after leaving her home in Eden to supposedly do Christmas shopping at a Kmart in Virginia, according to the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office.
“Let me just say there were no allegations of any foul play regarding to her leaving,” Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page told PEOPLE.
“She said she left … due to ongoing domestic issues at the time,” he said.
Page did not give specifics about the “domestic issues” but said the sheriff’s office had no record of domestic incidents in the household, the outlet reported.
Smith’s “troubling” disappearance prompted multiple agencies across North Carolina and Virginia, including the FBI, to search for her for “countless” hours and pursue multiple investigative leads at the time, cops said.
A missing-person flier distributed at the time said she should be considered “endangered” and that she “would not leave her kids by choice.”
Smith was found “alive and well” at an undisclosed location in North Carolina on Friday after officers received a tip, authorities announced.
Her family has been notified that she was found.
In a lengthy statement posted to Facebook on Sunday, one of Smith’s shocked children wrote that “these last couple of days … have been a whirlwind of emotions.
“As far as my opinions and feelings on my mom … I am ecstatic, I am p—ed, I am heartbroken, I am all over the map!” the unidentified daughter said in the statement posted on a Facebook account dedicated to finding her missing mother.
“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,” she wrote.
“When my mom was a part of my daily life, she showed me a love and bond that will never ever be forgotten. There were mother-daughter arguments of course, but right now all I can remember are the smiles we shared, the times together that were happy, and the love I felt!”