{"id":50855,"date":"2025-11-18T04:48:24","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T04:48:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/50855\/"},"modified":"2025-11-18T04:48:24","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T04:48:24","slug":"orlando-woman-missing-for-14-years-latest-on-search","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/50855\/","title":{"rendered":"Orlando woman missing for 14 years; latest on search"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Brief<\/p>\n

An Orlando mother, Michelle Parker, went missing on Nov 17, 2011. Today marks 14 years since she disappeared.<\/p>\n

Parker had three children: an 11-year-old and 3-year-old twins.<\/p>\n

Parker’s fianc\u00e9 was the only suspect in her disappearance. He was never charged.<\/p>\n

ORLANDO, Fla. – 14 years. That’s how long it’s been since Michelle Parker’s three children have seen their mother. <\/p>\n

On Nov. 17, 2011, an Orlando mother of three, Michelle Parker, disappeared. Over a decade later, the Orlando Police Department and Parker’s family continue their search for her \u2013 not knowing if she’s dead or alive.<\/p>\n

\"\"Who is Michelle Parker?<\/p>\n

Michelle Parker, who was 33 at the time of her disappearance, had three children: 11-year-old Austin, and twins Taylor and Trey, 3, according to her missing persons Facebook page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Parker worked at a bar in Sanford, where she was reportedly going before she disappeared. She never showed up to work, authorities said. <\/p>\n

Her mother, Yvonne Stewart, described her as being the coolest person, who is fun and bubbly.<\/p>\n

The day Michelle Parker disappeared, The People’s Court<\/p>\n

14 years ago, Parker and her ex-fianc\u00e9, Dale Smith Jr. appeared on The People\u2019s Court, going before a judge about a dispute involving a $5,000 ring. The show was recorded months before her disappearance.<\/p>\n

Hours before it aired on television, Parker disappeared.<\/p>\n

According to Parker’s mother and sister<\/a>, she was on her way to drop her, then, 3-year-old twins, at their father, Smith’s house. The last time they saw her, she was leaving the family salon to go to her job in Sanford.<\/p>\n

Parker was last seen at the Carter Glen Condominiums in the Lee Vista area, police said.<\/p>\n

Parker’s eldest son called his grandmother asking where his mom was. Parker didn’t answer her phone, her sister told FOX 35.<\/p>\n

The family called police, who immediately began searching for Parker.<\/p>\n

Missing persons investigation<\/p>\n

The next day, the Orlando Police Department<\/a> found Parker’s Hummer abandoned in a parking lot in southwestern Orlando. Parker’s iPhone was discovered in a lake south of Orlando, just a few feet away from a bridge.<\/p>\n

Dale Smith Jr. \u2013 Parker’s fianc\u00e9 and father of her twin boy and girl \u2013 was identified as the only suspect in her disappearance. But, he was never charged.<\/p>\n

“I don’t think any person that has a heart can’t try to imagine the pain that it is to lose one of your children and not know what really happened, or to be kept away from her children,” Parker’s family told FOX 35 News in 2018.<\/p>\n

Joe Kennedy, a former special agent for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) said only about one in 100 cold cases are actually successful with a prosecution. There are only three ways to solve a homicide, he told FOX 35 in 2023. You have to have physical evidence, witnesses, or a confession, Kennedy explained. The majority of the time, the suspect confesses.<\/p>\n

“A lot of people would be surprised to know that only about 15% of homicides are solved with physical evidence. About 35% of homicides are solved with witnesses,” Kennedy said.<\/p>\n

Smith has not cooperated with law enforcement. Kennedy said that shows red flags.<\/p>\n

“Red flags immediately go up. Well, why are they not cooperating? Wouldn’t you think you would want to find this person? Wouldn’t you think you would want to assist the police?”<\/p>\n

\"\"The search for Michelle Parker<\/p>\n

In 2022, the police department obtained a search warrant for Smith’s home and searched his property, looking for her remains under a concrete slab. They didn\u2019t find anything.<\/p>\n

A FOX 35 News crew went to Smith’s home during this time and asked him what detectives were searching for, to which he replied, “A dinosaur.” He then implied he, himself, was searching for Parker as well.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019ve been looking for her,” he told us, and when asked why, he answered, “Because I want to.”<\/p>\n

Stewart, refuses to give up her search for answers.<\/p>\n

“Today they had a search warrant to look for my daughter under that slab. He [Smith Sr.] poured it without a permit in 2012,” Stewart said in 2022.<\/p>\n

What you can do<\/p>\n

Over a decade later, Orlando Police continue its missing persons investigation for Parker. A $200,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest of Parker’s whereabouts.<\/p>\n

The family and police are encouraging anyone with information to come forward and contact Crimeline at 1-800-423-TIPS (8477).<\/p>\n

The Source<\/p>\n

Information in this story was sourced from previous reporting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Brief An Orlando mother, Michelle Parker, went missing on Nov 17, 2011. Today marks 14 years since…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50856,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[32203,29069,32204,31741,6888,139,141,140,8416,32202],"class_list":["post-50855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-dale-smith-jr","tag-disappearance","tag-joe-kennedy","tag-michelle-parker","tag-missing-persons","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-orlando-police-department","tag-yvonne-stewart"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}