A North Carolina mom who was found safe more than two decades after she was reported missing told authorities that she left because of alleged “domestic issues.”

On Friday, Feb. 20, officials announced that Michele Hundley Smith had been located “alive and well” last week, after she left her Eden, N.C., home to go Christmas shopping in 2001 and never returned, according to a statement from the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office. At the time, the mom of three was 38 years old.

More than 24 years later, on Feb. 20, 2026, Sgt. A. Disher and Detective C. Worley met with the missing woman “face-to-face” in an undisclosed location in North Carolina after the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division received new information the day before.

Her family has been notified that she’s well, but the woman has requested that her current location not be shared.

“She was in good health,” Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page tells PEOPLE.

“Let me just say there were no allegations of any foul play regarding to her leaving,” he adds. “But according to Ms. Smith, she said she left… due to ongoing domestic issues at the time.”

She “did not elaborate on that,” he added.

Page went on to say that his office has no records related to domestic issues prior to Smith’s departure in 2001.

The conclusion of the missing persons case is a huge moment for Smith’s family and the local community — and Page wants to commend both detectives for “a job well done.”

“They went and found this young lady that [has] been missing for many years, 20-plus years. And we don’t see a lot of the missing person cases like that,” adds Page. “But now at least the family has closure and they know she’s okay.”

The mystery began on Dec. 9, 2001, when Smith left her home to go holiday shopping at a K-Mart in nearby Martinsville, Va., less than 20 miles across the state line, her husband told police, according to the press release. By Dec. 31, 2001, the sheriff’s office received a report that Smith was missing, resulting in a years-long search that involved multiple agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Decades later, on Feb. 19, the sheriff’s office received a new lead, which Page could not share much about.

“Some information came back to us that had been put out, and it alerted our detectives…to follow up,” he says.

After the missing woman was located on Feb. 20, officials referred the case to the local district attorney’s office.

“Of course, the question was, she had three children when she left, they were with the dad,” says Page. “Our detectives have been in contact with the district attorney’s office, if there are any consideration for any charges along the lines of abandonment or anything like that.”

So far, no charges have been filed. Katy Gregg, District Attorney for the Twenty-Second Prosecuting District, tells PEOPLE the case is ongoing and no decisions have been made at this time.

The news brings an end to a long search by Smith’s family. Her daughter, Amanda, created a Facebook page dedicated to Smith’s disappearance. In an emotional post on Feb. 20, she shared the wide-ranging emotions she felt following the news that her mom had been found.

“I am all over the map!” she wrote. “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, who asked that others not make accusations or assumptions as to what happened, also asked for her family to be respected during this new wave of hurt, including her father.

“My father has been through so much and I want it made clear that while their marriage had issues (just as many marriages go through) that my mom did not leave simply [because] of a bad marriage,” she alleged. “My dad is a great man and honestly, the fact that he is human just as I am human and you are human.”

The family did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

For Page, who will be retiring in December after serving as the Rockingham County sheriff for 28 years, providing answers to Smith’s family is monumental.

“Everybody has someone that cares about them, everybody has someone that loves them,” he tells PEOPLE.  “I can’t imagine if I was missing a loved one for years and didn’t know and didn’t know. I know you assume the worst.”

Page says that his team’s goal is bring a resolution to such cases.

“Our goal is to try to resolve the cases, solve the cases to provide closure, to bring the bad guys to justice,” he adds, “and on this particular case to find that person that’s missing and hopefully they’ll be in a safe situation.”