The Vanished Podcast

This episode originally aired on October 28, 2018. It has been remastered and now includes new information at the end regarding significant developments in this case.At 8:30 PM on December 9, 2001, 38-year-old mother of three, Michele Lyn Hundley Smith, told her family she was going Christmas shopping. She left her home in Stoneville, North Carolina, driving her green 1995 Pontiac Trans Sport van with North Carolina license plate “ROK-N-ON.” She was headed to Martinsville, Virginia, less than 20 miles away.Shopping at night wasn’t unusual for Michele. It wasn't long before Christmas and shortly before her oldest daughter’s birthday. No one thought twice about it. But by midnight, Michele still hadn’t returned. Her husband woke their 14-year-old daughter, Amanda, concerned that something was wrong. Michele never came home.For more than 24 years, Michele’s disappearance remained unsolved. Then, in February 2026, the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that Michele had been located alive. This re-r