An Orlando man has been arrested in the disappearance of his ex-fiancée, who vanished in 2011 hours after the pair appeared in a pretaped episode of “The People’s Court,” police said.
Dale Smith Jr., 55, was arrested Wednesday at his business on a charge of second-degree murder, police said.
Michelle Parker’s body has not been found, but police said “all evidence leads to Dale Smith Jr. as the person responsible for Michelle’s murder.”
Smith was booked into jail in Orange County. It’s not immediately clear whether he has retained an attorney.
The arrest comes nearly 15 years after Parker, a mother of three, disappeared.
She was last seen on Nov. 17, 2011, dropping off her twins with their father, Smith. He was the last person to see her, Orlando Police Chief Eric D. Smith said Wednesday.
The afternoon she went missing, Parker and Dale Smith appeared on a prerecorded episode of “The People’s Court.” On the episode, they settled a dispute over a $5,000 engagement ring.
Smith “gets pretty malicious and vindictive,” Parker said in court. “He said that he wanted his ring, so I took it off, and I threw it at him.”
The day after Parker’s disappearance, her car was recovered on the west side of Orlando, with the decal for her tanning business scraped off its window. Her cellphone was recovered from a lake south of Orlando, police said.
Smith was considered a prime suspect at the time, but he was not charged until now. In the past, he denied involvement in her disappearance.
Police said Smith’s arrest comes after years of investigative work and a renewed effort over the past year. They pointed to re-examining evidence and using advances in digital forensics to “uncover and analyze additional evidence that moved this case forward.”
Police shared video of Smith being escorted out of a building in handcuffs and placed into a police vehicle.
Smith, the police chief, said investigators re-examined the suspect’s testimony and conflicting statements over the years, but declined to release details to “protect the integrity of this case.”
“The suspect was interviewed more than once, and since then has taken part in depositions related to this case. And very specific questions were asked of him numerous times over the years where he gave different answers to those same questions,” Detective Phillip McMican said at a news conference Wednesday.
McMican said advancements in technology helped reveal new information from years-old evidence relating to cars, electronic devices, phones and computers.
“We were able to better interpret that evidence today than what we were able to do back in 2011,” he said. Digital forensics revealed more detailed location data and communications between devices used then, he said.
New evidence was also found in the last year, McMican said.
Asked whether the suspect was surprised when police arrived, the detective said, “Yes.”
Parker’s mother, Yvonne Stewart, was told in person about Dale Smith’s arrest.
“It’s like the happiest day because she deserves this,” Stewart told NBC affiliate WESH of Orlando.
She said she held on to hope throughout the years.
“I just knew that one day everything dark would come into the light,” she said. “And it’s been hard, let me tell you. It’s not easy to lose a child this way. And her children didn’t deserve to lose a mother this way.”
Parker’s eldest child is now 26, and her twins are 18, WESH reported.
Parker’s stepmother, Gayle Shabronsky Parker, said Wednesday, “We have been praying since day 1 for answers and closure. We are pleased that karma has finally captured Dale.”
“We look forward to a conviction as the justice Michelle deserves. Also hoping that we will finally be lead to finding her to allow her to rest in peace,” she said.
A former peer of Parker’s also praised the arrest.
“I cried a lot today, and I am beyond happy to see him in handcuffs! I knew the day she went missing that it was his fault,” Jennifer Bryant-Antilla, who attended Aveda Institute of Orlando with Parker, told NBC News on Wednesday.
State Attorney Monique H. Worrell, who represents the Ninth Judicial Circuit, said the charge could be upgraded to first-degree murder if evidence supports it.
