Missing Rockingham County woman arrested for failure to appear on DWI charge in 2001

A Rockingham County woman who resurfaced after being missing for decades was arrested Thursday in Robeson County for failing to appear in court for a 2001 driving while impaired charge. 

Michele Hundley Smith was 38 years old when her husband reported her missing after she didn't return home from a shopping trip to K-Mart in Martinsville, Virginia, on Dec. 9, 2001. She left behind a husband and three children.

According to Rockingham County District Court records, Smith was issued a citation for driving while impaired and civil revocation of her driver's license on Nov. 11, 2001. An arrest warrant was issued for her on Dec. 27, 2001. 

For decades, local, state and federal agencies, including the FBI, looked for Smith, and neighbors speculated about what happened to her.

Earlier this month, after 24 years, the Rockingham County Sheriff's Office got new information regarding Smith. Detectives made contact with her at an undisclosed location in North Carolina, and she asked them to keep her location a secret.

They relayed to her family that she was alive and well.

On Thursday, Smith was taken into custody for failing to appear on those 2001 charges. She was given a $2,000 bond and is due in court next month.