A mother who disappeared without a trace 24 years ago after heading out for Christmas shopping has been discovered alive more than two decades later – with a disturbing explanation for why she vanished.

Michele Hundley Smith abandoned her three children, then aged seven, 14 and 19, and they didn’t see her again for over two decades. Michele’s disappearance from North Carolina prompted investigations by both police and the FBI.

Earlier this year, Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office confirmed she was “alive and well”.

Her stunned family was left questioning what happened back in 2001, as it emerged she had been living a double life, with an unsettling reason for her departure, according to The Guardian.

Speaking to local broadcaster WFMYNews2, her cousin Barbara Byrd said: “I kind of want to go outside and scream ‘she’s alive, she’s alive’. For years, we didn’t know if we were grieving or waiting… My biggest question is to her ‘What happened all those years ago in December? What made you leave? What happened?”, reports the Daily Star.In an official statement, the Sheriff’s Office confirmed Smith had requested her location remain private. Barbara added: “I understand and respect that she doesn’t want any of us to contact her. I’m not angry. The biggest answer I had today was she was alive. Nothing else matters right at this moment.”

Federal law enforcement agencies in North Carolina and Virginia had been looking for Michele and considered her disappearance “troubling” but made no progress with her case. Then, on February 19, the Rockingham sheriff’s office reported receiving a tip regarding Michele’s whereabouts.

Michele’s daughter, Amanda, posted an extensive message on Facebook following her mother’s reemergence in February.

She stated: “As far as my opinions and feelings on my mom…I am ecstatic, I am p*****, I am heartbroken, I am all over the map. Will I have a relationship once more with my mom?”.

“Honestly I can’t answer that because I don’t even know. My initial reaction would be yes absolutely but then I think of all the hurt…But even then, my mom is only human just as we all are.”

Amanda reflected on the connection she shared with her mother, describing it as something that “will never be forgotten”. She continued: “There were mother daughter arguments of course, but right now all I can remember are the smiles we shared, the times together that were happy and the love I felt.”

She said that both her parents “deserve to have their choices and their feelings respected”.

Amanda said her mother’s disappearance had left the family traumatized and tormented them for years, creating numerous unanswered questions that lingered in their minds.

Investigators found Michele in a different North Carolina community, confirming they had found her in good health and safe. Rockingham’s sheriff, Sam Page, stated Michele had informed him that unspecified “domestic issues” prompted her to leave and she preferred to keep the details of her new circumstances private.

A Facebook page established following her disappearance – “Bring Michele Hundley Smith Home” – verified that she had been operating a forest-green 1995 Pontiac Trans Sport van, which was never located.

The page said: “Michele would have never left her children by choice”. It added: “We are desperate for answers and we are asking for community support and assistance in trying to find the truth on what happened to Michele and why she mysteriously vanished never to be seen again.

“There has been no real investigation into her disappearance to this day almost 20 years later. Lets try and end this nightmare for Michele’s loved ones and bring her home.”

Yet by March, following Amanda’s reunion with her siblings, Michele’s daughter expressed a different sentiment toward her mother and extended forgiveness. Embracing outside a courthouse, she said: “I know everything is not black and white – there’s a whole gray area. And so I mean, look – life’s too short for me to hold a grudge against her because she’s my mom.”

She explained that she and other relatives had decided to “make individual decisions about the relationship they want to have with” her mother. Amanda added: “We only get one life – and I want my mom in it.”