ORLANDO, Florida (Isabelle Zehnder reporting) – During Monday's press conference police announced that missing Orlando mom Michelle Parker's ex-fiancé, Dale Smith, has been named the primary suspect in her case; her family urged her community to not give up searching for her.
Orlando Police Chief Paul Rooney began the press conference saying, "As you all know, 11 days ago Michelle Parker was reported missing. The Orlando Police Department immediately involved other law enforcement agencies, media, and the public to assist us in locating Ms. Parker. After numerous tips and investigative leads we are officially naming Dale Smith, the ex-fiancé, as the primary suspect in the disappearance of Michelle Parker.”
“Many questions will be asked why Dale Smith wasn’t considered a suspect prior to today. And the answer is, we had to look at every aspect of the case before we could come out publicly and state that Mr. Smith is our primary focus. Right now Michelle Parker is still out there missing. We still need the public’s help in terms of trying to find her. We will not rest until Michelle is found," he continued.
“I will not go into details about the case but I will say that we are putting forth all of our resources to bring Michelle home and at this point, I would like to introduce Michelle’s mom, Yvonne Stewart,” Chief Rooney said.
“I want to thank all of you guys for all the help and support, and all the people who have helped us," Yvonne said. "All the prayers that have been answered today. My daughter is still not found. She is still missing. I am so sad this has happened but we have to do what we have to do. We still need to find Michelle. In my heart I know she’s out there somewhere and we need her. We need to find her. We still need searchers, we still need the flyers.
“And this is a sad day, really. But I think it was inevitable,” Yvonne said.
She turned to her daughter, Michelle’s sister Lauren Ericksen, and said, “You need to say what you need to say about Dale. And Dale, honestly, if you’re out there honey, and you’re listening to me I have always said from day one it’s OK if couples fight. I’ve fought. I’ve fought with my sister, I’ve fought with my husband. I’ve fought with my kids. If you made a mistake and it was just a second of like ‘oh, I lost my head’ or whatever and you didn’t know what to do, our family needs to have Michelle home. We need to heal …”
Lauren said, “We want to ask him, if he’s out there watching, and I’d say to him directly help us – if you know something directly let her be a mother to her children. Work with us, that’s all we’re asking is for you to work with us and come forward. If there’s anything that you know that you’re holding back, please just work with us. Help us. She’s the mother of your kids. You loved her at one point. Try to love her again and love those children. They need their mother.”
Yvonne said, “If you could have avoided this, Dale, if you would have cooperated with the police and took a polygraph test when they asked you, you could have eliminated a lot of stress so unfortunately, you’ve brought this on yourself. We’re not going to stop until we find out who did this. We love our Michelle so much. Thank you guys for sticking with us. We’re still going to find her. I’m going to bring that girl home. We’re going to find her.”
Asked if he believes Dale Smith has lied to him, Chief Rooney said, “I don’t want to go into that part of the investigation. I will say that we offered him a polygraph test and he simply refused the polygraph.”
Asked if police were planning to make an arrest Rooney said, “We’re still in the investigative stage.”
Rooney said he can’t discuss specifics on evidence that they seized or didn’t seize during the SWAT team search of Dale's father's home on Saturday, the home where Dale was living.
Asked if he believes Dale’s father had a role in Michelle’s disappearance Rooney said, “I’m not sure. We’re still following up on every investigative lead that we have.”
Rooney was asked if Dale Smith is a murder suspect. Rooney said, “We have a missing beautiful young lady that we’re trying to recover at this point.”
Asked if Dale Smith still has the children Rooney said, “That I don’t know.” Rooney said Dale is their primary suspect and that there are no other suspects that he’s aware of as the Orlando Police chief.
Asked why the change of focus after 11 days Rooney said, “It was an investigative strategy that we wanted to follow up on every lead before coming out today and naming him as our primary suspect.”
Rooney was asked what was found in Michelle’s SUV. He said, “No, I can’t go into that.” He would not confirm if they found any valuable evidence from the SUV.
Lauren said that all possibilities have been open and that there hasn’t been a single time that as a family they ever let it slip their minds that Dale might be involved. Yvonne said Dale cooperated at first leading them to believe it might have been a carjacking.
Asked now that it’s official and Dale has been named a suspect, what is she thinking now, Lauren said, “My personal opinion has never changed. She’s my sister and I’m going to protect her. I was there for the fights that they had so as sisters we talked. Of course I never really cared for the guy but he is the father of my niece and nephew and I love them more than anything in this world, and I’m going to do whatever I have to do to make sure they’re in my life for the rest of my life.”
Asked if she believes Dale has something to hide Yvonne said, “I believe if he had nothing to hide he would have taken a polygraph test. I would have. He would have been out here helping us find her. And his family might have been out here helping.”
Michelle’s brother interrupted media questions and said, “I hate to interrupt your questions but my sister is still missing and although we do have a primary suspect it has nothing to do with finding my sister. I still need help from each and every one of you in the community to still help find her.”
“Just because we have a lead now that leads us to one area, I do not want anyone to stop searching or stop looking or stop listening at this moment,” he said.
Asked if Dale is the primary suspect, how he can believe she might be alive, her brother said, “I have no reason to think that she’s dead. So realistically it can go either way right now. Either she’s alive or not. But of course I’m her brother and I’m gonna hope that she’s alive.”
Lauren said, “If she’s not, then may God have mercy on the soul who did it.”
When media asked Yvonne if it is painful to think that her grandchildren’s father is the prime suspect Yvonne said, “If things go really bad they’re not going to have either parent. But you know what they do have? They have us and they have the thousands of people that love Michelle and they’re going to grow up in a normal life. They’re going to ride 4-wheelers, they’re going to ride horses, they’re going to have dogs and cats, and they’re not going to be around people who hide.”
Watch Monday’s press conference.
Scroll down for links to more on Michelle's story.
Michelle's disappearance:
Michelle Parker, 33, went missing Thur., Nov. 17. She was last seen on surveillance video at 3:15 p.m. in an east Orange County neighborhood. She was seen driving to her ex-fiancé, Dale Smith’s home dropping off their 3-year-old twins.
Moments before she arrived, Michellea and Dale had just appeared on a previously taped episode of The People’s Court. The show centered on who would be responsible to pay for a $5,000 engagement ring that Michelle admittedly threw at Dale at a hotel, and that went over a balcony.
The two had a tumultuous relationship. CNN reports that in 2009 Michelle reportedly obtained a temporary restraining order against Dale, citing and incident in which Dale broke the window of her car, threw car seats onto the ground, cursed at her, and told her, “Your day is coming.”
Even though there is a trail of violent incidents in Dale’s past, Michelle’s mother told WFTV she believes her daughter was the “victim of a random crime” and doesn’t think Dale was involved. Because Michelle’s car was found in a mall parking lot they believe she might have been the victim of a car-jacking. This was her belief before Dale's father's house was raided.
Michelle is described as a white female with short brown hair. She is 5’6” tall and was last seen wearing a silver-cross necklace, jeans, and a Florida Gator’s zip-up hoodie.
At 4:26 p.m. her brother, Dustin Erickson, received a text message from Michelle’s iPhone suggesting she was in the Waterford Lakes area, also on the county’s east side.
By 8 p.m. Michelle’s iPhone pinged in the area of Oakridge Road near Belle Isle, more than seven miles from where she was last seen. Her phone was powered down in that area and has not been recovered.
The next day police found her black H3 Hummer license plate AWG-M26 in the parking lot of Walden Palms Apartments, 4700 Walden Circle. Decals for her Glow mobile-tanning business had been removed from the windows. From there the trail has grown cold.
A $50,000 reward is being offered in the case.
Police are urging anyone with information about the case to call Crimeline at 1-800-423-8477.
Readers' comments are welcome below.
Follow this National Missing Persons news writer:
Comments