Son of Carolina mom who's been found after abandoning her family two decades ago when he was nine tells why he's better off without this 'stranger' in his life
The son of a woman found alive after disappearing for 24 years has revealed he has no plans to contact her.
Randal Smith was just nine years old when his mother, Michele Hundley Smith, left their home in Stoneville, North Carolina, to go Christmas shopping across the border in Martinsville, Virginia, and failed to return.
'She's nothing more than a stranger to me now,' Smith, 33, told the Daily Mail in an exclusive interview.
'I'm not angry with her because that's a wasted emotion, but I really don't have any emotions,' he added. 'But I don't wish her any ill.'
Sheriffs tracked his mother down to a trailer park in St. Pauls, North Carolina, a two-and-a-half-hour drive from where she went missing, ending the near-quarter-century mystery. She hadn't been heard from since December 9, 2001.
'My life turned out good, being raised by my father, and I grew up early,' Randal Smith, a mechanic, said.
'I learned to become self-sufficient, and I think it turned me into who I am.
'I'm sure our lives would have been a little more normal if she stayed around. But overall, I'm happy with how mine turned out.'
Randal Smith was just nine years old when his father Randy was left to care for him when his mom, Michele Lyn Hundley Smith, went missing in 2001. Now she's been found, he told the Daily Mail he has no interest in reconciling with her
Michele Hundley Smith posed for a mugshot this week after she was arrested Wednesday night over a decades-old DWI charge and spent the night in jail
She was bonded out Thursday morning and returned to her mobile home in Saint Pauls North Carolina where sheriffs found her alive and well last week
Smith's 24-year absence saw her miss key milestones in her son's life: becoming a father for the first time in 2015 and his 2024 wedding to Ashley.
But Randal, a happily married father-of-two, says while it was hard on him and his siblings, he wouldn't change a thing if it would risk the life he has now.
Asked if he wanted to contact his mother, he replied: 'No, not really. She's been gone this long, and for someone to meet my children is a privilege in my eyes.
'That's not one she deserves.'
For her part, Smith, 62, told the Daily Mail from her home in St. Pauls, 80 miles south of the state capital Raleigh, that she had never realized how long her family had spent looking for her after she walked out on them.
She said she has already spoken to her daughter Amanda, 39, who she claims has forgiven her and wants to start rebuilding their relationship.
She said that at the time she disappeared she believed her husband and three kids were better off without her.
She insisted she had not abandoned her children and she had left them with their father as she was not in the 'mental state' to care for them.
Randal, 33, says he has moved on from the pain caused by his mother’s disappearance and has built his own family with his wife, Ashley, and their two children
Randal's sister Amanda posted a message on Facebook directly to her mother in 2018, saying 'I'm not mad at you if you did leave', but pleaded for answers
Michele Hundley Smith was found living in a mobile home park in St Pauls, North Carolina after going missing for 24 years
Randal Smith revealed how a fluke family connection first alerted the family to the news that his mother had been found alive.
His sister Melissa's eldest son, an officer in the local sheriff's department, was contacted by detectives who wanted to meet with the family.
A family summit was hastily arranged at Randal's house, where his wife, dad Randy, stepmother, and sisters all gathered to hear the bombshell news.
The three detectives were 'pretty vague' during the 30-minute sit-down and said they found Smith two or three hours away in southeastern North Carolina.
They revealed further details of her secret life over the past 24 years, saying she had been living off-grid in a truck for more than a decade.
They said that after she left in 2001, she met a truck driver in Texarkana on the Texas/Arkansas border, and lived with him in his 18-wheeler on the road, mainly traveling the West Coast.
Randal first learned his mother was found alive when a police officer, the son of his eldest sister Melissa (left), informed him that detectives had contacted him about Michele’s case - leading Randal and his family to have a sit down interview
Hundley Smith disappeared in December of 2001 at 38 years old while Christmas shopping, leaving behind her three children
But in 2013, the pair returned to North Carolina.
Smith revealed to the Daily Mail that she had met a truck driver called Randy Johnson and they traveled together for years before returning to North Carolina in 2013. Johnson died in November 2024.
She said Johnson had never pressed her for details about her past, but eventually, she said: 'I just told him what I went through.'
Once Smith was discovered on Friday last week, her life was turned upside down. On Wednesday she was arrested on a decades-old DWI charge and spent the night in jail.
She was bonded out Thursday morning and returned to her home where she lives with her pets.
Smith said her estranged husband – also called Randy – is happy she was found alive but has now moved on.
Randal hit back at reports of domestic issues in the family home before his mother left, insisting his father never abused her.
Amanda appeared on a podcast about her mother, revealing Hundley Smith had been struggling with alcohol because she was 'unhappy' with her marriage at the time
Randal (right) dismissed claims that their father Randy (center) got into physical fights with their mother
He dismissed previous claims by his sister, Amanda, that their mom and dad got into physical fights and cheated on each other.
'They might not have been happy, but he didn't abuse her.
'He was a great father, and other than her drinking, we had a normal childhood until she left,' he went on.
He said his parents did argue about his mom's drinking and his dad wanting her to get help.
'She would just blow up, get angry. The threat of not being able to drink was too scary for her.'
Smith's drinking and fear of losing her driver's license over the 2001 DWI charge played a large part in her leaving, Randal believes.
Months after she left, the family found what he described as 'gallon bottles' of alcohol hidden under an old building on the property.
According to her son, Smith's departure was premeditated as she had packed up jewelry and clothes weeks before she fled.
Randal said he believes conflicts between his mother and father over her drinking, along with her fear of losing her driver’s license from a 2001 DWI, played a major role in her decision to leave
Randal also believes his mother's leaving was 'premeditated' as she packed up jewelry and clothes weeks before she fled and that when she did leave, she left behind numerous bills that led to his father to lose his truck
'I can't say it was a shock at first because she had done it before. It was just something in her nature to run.'
He said whenever she returned, she would say she just needed a break.
But after she left for the final time, the family discovered Smith had allegedly not paid the bills, including for husband Randy's 18-wheeler truck, her son claims.
She allegedly hid the late notices, and by the time they found them, Randy could only afford to pay off the household bills and had to send his truck back.
'That was his livelihood. It turned his life upside down. As a nine-year-old, I didn't know, didn't see it,' says Randal.
