
A North Carolina woman who disappeared on a Christmas shopping trip in 2001 has been found alive after nearly 25 years. However, she does not want her family to know where she is, bringing a decades-long search to an unexpected and painful end for her loved ones.
According to NBC News, Michele Hundley Smith was 38 years old when she disappeared on December 9, 2001. She had left her Rockingham County home after 8:00 PM to go Christmas shopping in nearby Virginia. Her family officially reported her missing on December 31, 2001, starting a search that would last almost a quarter of a century.