Mother Reunites with Daughter After 24-Year Disappearance

0:00It's March 26. From your city to your ears, this is Durham News today, powered by AI. A North Carolina woman missing for more than 24 years, just reunited with her grown daughter and an emotional courthouse moment. Michaeli Hunley Smith vanished at age 38 after a shopping trip on December 9, 2001. She was married with three kids when her family reported her gone. Sheriff's deputies located her alive and well last February. She faced an old driving while in pair charred from late 2001, leading to a court hearing Tuesday in Rockingham County. That's where her daughter Amanda waited outside and the two embraced for the first time in decades. Smith had asked deputies not to contact her family at first. Amanda shared mixed feelings of joy, anger, and heartbreak, but said, life is too short for grudges. She wants her mom back in her life no matter what. Smith got a quarter-pointed lawyer and has another hearing set for April 23. She was also arrested this week in Robison County for failing to appear on the old charge.

1:04Sheriff Sam Page credits new technology, teamwork with other agencies, and sheer persistence for cracking the long-cold case, giving this family a chance to reconnect after years