The North Carolina daughter who has spent her whole life trying to find the mom who abandoned her 24 years ago reveals she’s “forgiven” her wayward parent after she finally resurfaced this week.
Michele Hundley Smith, now 62, disappeared without a trace in 2001, abandoning her 19, 14, and 8 year-old-kids just before Christmas. The sheriff finally found her living a secret new life in a trailer three hours away from the home she left in Rockingham County.
Her daughter Amanda, who was 14 at the time, has been in contact with her mother, a friend told The Post Thursday.
“Yes, they’re in contact through a friend of Michele’s, and she has forgiven her mom, but she doesn’t have any other comments,” the friend, who identified herself as Lynn, said.
Michele herself claimed on Thursday to have reconciled with Amanda, who had agonized over the fate of her mom for her entire adult life.
“My daughter is forgiving me. We are in contact, so leave me alone,” she told The Post from her trailer in a tiny town in Robeson County.
She recently was forced to return to Rockingham County to answer for a drunk driving arrest shortly before she vanished. She was charged with failing to appear in court. She was arrested, posted bond, and promptly returned to her home on the other side of the state.
The Rockingham County district attorney will not charge for abandonment, the county sheriff’s office told The Post, however she was arrested for an outstanding drunk driving charge filed just before she disappeared.
