A North Carolina woman who resurfaced 24 years after she was reported missing has now been arrested on an outstanding driving while impaired (DWI) charge dating back to 2001.
Michele Hundley Smith was taken into custody in Robeson County on an outstanding failure-to-appear warrant tied to the November 2001 DWI charge, according to a Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office press release.
Court records show Smith was cited for driving while impaired on Nov. 11, 2001, and failed to appear in court on Dec. 27, 2001, per the release.
She was arrested on Wednesday, Feb. 25, and posted bond the same day. She is scheduled to appear in Rockingham County District Court on March 26.
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Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office
PEOPLE previously reported that Smith was 38 years old when she disappeared on Dec. 9, 2001, after she left her Rockingham County, N.C., home to go Christmas shopping in Martinsville, Va., and never returned. Her husband told authorities at the time that she did not come back.
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namus.gov
Earlier this month, detectives made contact with Smith at an undisclosed location in North Carolina after receiving new information in the decades-old case. Authorities said she was located face-to-face on Feb. 20 and was “alive and well.”
Smith, a mother of three, told investigators she left in 2001 due to ongoing domestic issues, PEOPLE previously reported. Authorities said there were no prior domestic reports on file and no evidence of foul play.
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Rockingham County District Attorney Katie Gregg said there was not enough evidence to pursue criminal charges related to Smith’s disappearance, such as abandonment, WFMY reported. However, the original DWI charge remained active.
Over the years, local, state and federal agencies — including the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and the FBI — assisted in the investigation, per the outlet.
PEOPLE previously reported that Smith’s daughter expressed mixed emotions after learning her mother was alive, writing on social media that she felt “ecstatic,” “pissed,” “heartbroken” and “all over the map.”
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