Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Killers Amongst Us: Mom of 3, Michelle Parker, vanishes after ‘The People’s Court’ appearance. (episode 4)

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Killers Amongst Us: Mom of 3, Michelle Parker, vanishes after ‘The People’s Court’ appearance. (episode 4) · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:04
Speaker 1: Hi, guys, Nancy Grace here, welcome back to Killers amongst Us,
0:08
Speaker 1: the production of iHeart Media and Crime Online. How do
0:13
Speaker 1: you know who is around you? How do you know
0:18
Speaker 1: who's walking beside you at the mall or the grocery store,
0:21
Speaker 1: or when you're out for a walk or a jog
0:23
Speaker 1: and you pass people who wave and smile? Who are they? I?
0:29
Speaker 1: Nancy Grace? This is Killers amongst Us? Where the mom
0:36
Speaker 1: to beautiful children, the daughter to loving devoted parents? Where
0:42
Speaker 1: is she? What happened to Michelle? First of all, take
0:50
Speaker 1: a listen to our friend Bob Kealing at WESH two.
0:54
Speaker 1: When Parker was last seen dropping off her twins at
0:57
Speaker 1: their father, Dale Smith's condo, her had this sticker advertising
1:02
Speaker 1: her home tanning business. Hours later, when red light camera
1:05
Speaker 1: video picked up footage of it being driven at Conroy
1:08
Speaker 1: in Vineland, the sticker was gone. Police suspects someone involved
1:12
Speaker 1: with her disappearance pulled into this remote area to strip
1:15
Speaker 1: it off and make the vehicle less recognizable. We don't
1:19
Speaker 1: know who was driving it, but somebody was driving it,
1:22
Speaker 1: and I hope to god there was nervous as hell
1:24
Speaker 1: that we're coming after them, A lead detective tells wesh to.
1:27
Speaker 1: This area is also where Parker's phone pinged for a
1:30
Speaker 1: final time with a text message. Police believe someone else
1:34
Speaker 1: sent to give her family the impression Michelle was still alive.
1:38
Speaker 1: So we've got the car, we now have the cell
1:41
Speaker 1: zone discarded into a body of water. We've got video surveillance,
1:45
Speaker 1: we've got everything, but Michelle with me an all star panel.
1:51
Speaker 1: Bianca Prieta, former Orlando Sentinel criminal justice reporter. You can
1:56
Speaker 1: find her on insta at Bianca Prieto. Doctor Jen Mann,
2:03
Speaker 1: marriage family therapist, host couples Therapy on VH one, the
2:06
Speaker 1: Doctor Jen Show on Sirius x sim author of The
2:10
Speaker 1: Relationship Fixed, and you can find her at doctor Jen
2:13
Speaker 1: dot com. Cheryl McCullum, founder and director of the Coldcase
2:17
Speaker 1: Research Institute, find her at Coldcase Crimes dot org. John W.
2:23
Speaker 1: Deal renowned lawyer out of the Orlando jurisdiction. He's been
2:28
Speaker 1: on team find Michelle from the get go, and you
2:31
Speaker 1: can find him at John W. Deald Ill dot com.
2:36
Speaker 1: Awesome lawyer, but special guests joining me right now. A
2:42
Speaker 1: voice we've been waiting to hear Michelle's mother, Yvon Stewart,
2:50
Speaker 1: Miss Stewart. After all this time, I feel like I
2:55
Speaker 1: know you, as to so many other legal egals across
2:59
Speaker 1: not only the country, but the world. As you join
3:04
Speaker 1: us today, recall the first moment you learned Michelle is missing.
3:13
Speaker 1: I'll never forget that moment. And excuse me because I
3:16
Speaker 1: do cry, because it's pure of love, tears to heaven.
3:22
Speaker 1: I was at the salon and her oldest son at
3:25
Speaker 1: the time, Austin, he was eleven, and he called and
3:28
Speaker 1: it was dark, and she didn't come home to meet
3:30
Speaker 1: him at the school bus, and he waited a few hours,
3:33
Speaker 1: and then he called the salon to talk to my
3:36
Speaker 1: daughter Lauren, to see if she was at the salon
3:38
Speaker 1: with us. And we knew then that something wasn't right
3:42
Speaker 1: because I had spent the morning with her and she
3:45
Speaker 1: told me, you had to run some errands, and she
3:47
Speaker 1: ran them for the salon, brought them back to the salon,
3:50
Speaker 1: and then she said, I'm going to go pick up
3:51
Speaker 1: the twins and then I'm going to go home, take
3:53
Speaker 1: a nap. I'm tired. So that didn't add up. You know,
3:57
Speaker 1: that's one of the worst things. The very few times
4:00
Speaker 1: and all years the twins have been his school. It's
4:03
Speaker 1: when I drive up and they're the last ones there.
4:07
Speaker 1: It's happened twice. They're thirteen, and they started going in
4:11
Speaker 1: pre pre k and she would never have left him
4:17
Speaker 1: standing there, never, Yvonne. No, he m. He wrote a
4:23
Speaker 1: school bus and we only lived down a very short
4:26
Speaker 1: little road in the country, and she was always there
4:31
Speaker 1: when he gets home from school and he would call
4:35
Speaker 1: or she would call him to have five minutes away
4:38
Speaker 1: or whatever. She was one of the most involved moms,
4:41
Speaker 1: like we all are. You know, all good moms do that, Yvonne.
4:44
Speaker 1: When you realize she wasn't where she was supposed to be,
4:47
Speaker 1: what went through your mind? I was? I was scared
4:51
Speaker 1: because I knew that she was taken the twins, who
4:56
Speaker 1: were three and a half, over to their dad's house
5:02
Speaker 1: for his weekend visitation rotation. And I knew that the
5:08
Speaker 1: People's Court had aired that afternoon, and well, hold on
5:13
Speaker 1: right there. Speaking of People's Court, take a listen to
5:18
Speaker 1: our friends at Fox Knees. A search is underway in
5:21
Speaker 1: Florida for a young mother who disappeared the same day
5:24
Speaker 1: that her case air on the TV show The People's Court.
5:27
Speaker 1: Her name is Michelle Parker, mother of three, has not
5:29
Speaker 1: been seen since Thursday, she and her exbiance appearing on
5:33
Speaker 1: that show in a heated dispute over a five thousand
5:37
Speaker 1: dollars engagement ring. Now her sister speaking out on Fox
5:40
Speaker 1: and Friends a bit earlier today, it's definitely a fact
5:43
Speaker 1: that she went missing the same day. Of whether or
5:45
Speaker 1: not it's a coincidence, I don't know. I don't know
5:47
Speaker 1: if somebody saw her on TV and thought, hey, she's
5:50
Speaker 1: beautiful and did what they do and you know, figured
5:52
Speaker 1: out where she was at or something. I really I
5:55
Speaker 1: don't know. And take a listen to our friend Matt
5:57
Speaker 1: Gutman at ABC. It seemed like typical episode of the
6:01
Speaker 1: People's Court, but he gets pretty malicious and vindictive, and
6:04
Speaker 1: he's a mean person, especially when he's been drinking. Thirty
6:07
Speaker 1: three year old Michelle Lee Parker and her ex fiance
6:10
Speaker 1: Dale Smith bickering over an engagement ring thrown out of
6:13
Speaker 1: a balcony, and then he said that he wanted his ring,
6:17
Speaker 1: so I took it off and I threw it at him,
6:19
Speaker 1: but away from the camera. Even their mundane domestic arguments
6:23
Speaker 1: tended to turn violent. As he grabbed and turned around.
6:26
Speaker 1: He was holding on to me, screaming at me. Pointing
6:29
Speaker 1: back after the stage, going, get on that backup on stage.
6:32
Speaker 1: You know, just hours after this episode of the People's
6:35
Speaker 1: Court finally aired last Thursday, Parker vanished. But was her
6:40
Speaker 1: disappearance early foreshadowed or was it an untanned coincidence? Let
6:45
Speaker 1: me understand this, Bianca Prieto, former Orlando Sentinel criminal justice reporter.
6:49
Speaker 1: At Bianca Prieto, Bianca, the program People's Court one of
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Speaker 1: the biggest judge shows that there has ever been on TV.
7:01
Speaker 1: She Michelle Parker taped a show with Dale Smith, the
7:07
Speaker 1: father of the twins. Now the older boy is from
7:10
Speaker 1: her first marriage, the eleven year old, but the twins
7:13
Speaker 1: are from Dale Smith Junior. They were on People's Court
7:18
Speaker 1: the day she disappears, Bianca, it was taped before and
7:22
Speaker 1: you know sometimes they hold them and then they aired
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Speaker 1: them later. Well, it was that same exact afternoon. It
7:27
Speaker 1: was the big TV show. Everybody knew that it was
7:29
Speaker 1: coming out, and then that same afternoon she goes missing,
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Speaker 1: never heard from again. Take a listen again to Matt Gutman, ABC.
7:36
Speaker 1: Kind up smashing my camera on the ground because I
7:39
Speaker 1: was a little angry and I didn't want Tom Smith
7:41
Speaker 1: is the father of their three year old twins. It's
7:44
Speaker 1: been a hell of a rollercoaster ride, and it's poison,
7:49
Speaker 1: something Parker knew for years. In two thousand and nine,
7:52
Speaker 1: she filed and was granted a restraining order against Smith.
7:55
Speaker 1: Parker claims, you quote smashed the passenger side window and
7:58
Speaker 1: my suv took our seats out and threw them into
8:01
Speaker 1: the road. His Facebook page lists his education is having
8:05
Speaker 1: quote studied death, destruction, terror and mayhem at the US
8:09
Speaker 1: Marine Corps. But Orlando Police a Smith is not a suspect,
8:13
Speaker 1: and that he is so far cooperated with investigators. We're
8:16
Speaker 1: not looking at him, We're looking at everything. Back to
8:21
Speaker 1: Michelle's mother, Yvonne Stewart with us, and again, Ivan, thank
8:26
Speaker 1: you because I know this hurts so much for you
8:30
Speaker 1: to talk about it. But what I attracted her to
8:36
Speaker 1: Dell Smith Junior to start with, Oh, she really didn't
8:42
Speaker 1: like him when she first met him. And I think
8:46
Speaker 1: that some of his friends approached her and said, he's
8:49
Speaker 1: a really great guy. He really likes you. I think
8:52
Speaker 1: you should give him a chance. And after she dated
8:56
Speaker 1: him for a while, she saw the temper and the
9:00
Speaker 1: behavior and she was looking for an apartment to move out,
9:06
Speaker 1: like a be on her own, and she found out
9:12
Speaker 1: that she was pregnant, and then a couple of months
9:15
Speaker 1: later they found out it was twins. So she wanted
9:19
Speaker 1: to try to make it work, so she reconciled. You know,
9:22
Speaker 1: that's what That's what women and domestic violence situations do
9:26
Speaker 1: when they have children. They just want to believe that
9:29
Speaker 1: it's going to get better, and it never goes It
9:32
Speaker 1: just gets worse. Two. Doctor gen Man, Marriage and Family Therapist,
9:36
Speaker 1: host Couples Therapy VH one, Doctor Jin shows series XIM,
9:40
Speaker 1: author Relationship Fixed at doctor jen dot com. Doctor Jen
9:45
Speaker 1: statistics show that it is when the woman tries to
9:50
Speaker 1: break off the relationship, not just talk about it, but
9:53
Speaker 1: actually do it and leave, that that is when violence
9:57
Speaker 1: typically escalates. Yes, Nancy, you know, I spent many years
10:03
Speaker 1: working for the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults against Women
10:05
Speaker 1: as a raping domestic violence counselor, and I remember early
10:09
Speaker 1: on our training that that was one of the first
10:11
Speaker 1: things we learned that when a woman leaves an abusive partner,
10:15
Speaker 1: that the odds of her being helled go up exponentially.
10:19
Speaker 1: And let me emphasize that. Dale Smith Junior, the biodat
10:23
Speaker 1: of the twins has not been formally charged in the
10:26
Speaker 1: death or disappearance of Michelle Parker. To Yvonne Stewart, this
10:30
Speaker 1: is Michelle's mother joining us. Why did she Michelle Parker
10:35
Speaker 1: decide to go onto People's Court? They filmed that in
10:39
Speaker 1: June the same year, twenty eleven. Dale found out that
10:45
Speaker 1: if you go on the People's Court, nobody has to pay.
10:49
Speaker 1: That the People's Court will pay whatever the decision is.
10:53
Speaker 1: And they flew her up separately in her own plane.
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Speaker 1: They put her in a different hotel so she wouldn't
11:00
Speaker 1: have to have any face to face with him, and
11:03
Speaker 1: immediately afterwards they scooped her up and took her to
11:07
Speaker 1: the airport and she flew home. She said it was
11:10
Speaker 1: the most humiliating day of her life that the judge
11:13
Speaker 1: was actually flirting with Dale. She said it was disgusting
11:17
Speaker 1: and she never ever wanted to see it. And that's
11:20
Speaker 1: what she told me the day she went missing, because
11:24
Speaker 1: she knew that it was gonna air, and she said,
11:27
Speaker 1: I don't even want to see it. Who was the judge,
11:31
Speaker 1: that woman with a long brown, reddish hair, Judge Million.
11:36
Speaker 1: I think it's Judge Million. They yeah. She told Michelle
11:41
Speaker 1: that she was an idiot on that show. What somebody
11:45
Speaker 1: called Michelle an idiot, Yeah, that's judged. And this is
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Speaker 1: a woman who is working a day job, taking care
11:53
Speaker 1: of three children, including little twins, and going back to school,
11:59
Speaker 1: and she's the idiot. That's what you can see Michelle
12:04
Speaker 1: clenching her teeth and her jaw is flexing. And I
12:07
Speaker 1: know my daughter, she was keeping it together because she
12:11
Speaker 1: was not an idiot. She got out of an abusive
12:14
Speaker 1: situation a year prior and the hummer was still in
12:19
Speaker 1: his name and he wanted it off, so she made
12:21
Speaker 1: arrangements to buy a suburban. It was coming the next day,
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Speaker 1: So she's not an idiot. Marilyn Million, Yes, you're absolutely right,
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Speaker 1: John Deal, was that you jumping in go ahead like
12:36
Speaker 1: a vam was saying? This was turned out to be
12:39
Speaker 1: something that she you know, it was not a pleasant experience.
12:42
Speaker 1: Knew this was coming on, didn't want to see mister
12:44
Speaker 1: Smith in the first place, and then certainly airing again
12:48
Speaker 1: was you know, not something she was happy about her
12:50
Speaker 1: looking forward to, So she never even watched the episode.
12:55
Speaker 1: Listen again to our friend Matt Gutman. Parker was a
12:58
Speaker 1: doting mother who was forced to move back, owned by
13:00
Speaker 1: economic hardship and that bitter breakup with Smith. She became
13:04
Speaker 1: a reluctant participant on the show. It was just so
13:07
Speaker 1: that she wouldn't have to pay for that engagement rain.
13:10
Speaker 1: She said, that was the most humiliating experience of my life.
13:15
Speaker 1: I don't even ever want to see it. Well, it's
13:18
Speaker 1: not clear whether Parker watched that episode of the People's Court.
13:21
Speaker 1: Her mother claims. One thing seems clear so far. I
13:25
Speaker 1: know that Dale Smith was the last person to see
13:27
Speaker 1: her alive. The police have investigated, They've talked to him,
13:31
Speaker 1: they've searched everything he owns, but the timing of Parker's
13:34
Speaker 1: disappearance continues to mistify investigators. Here again, let me emphasize
13:39
Speaker 1: that Dale Smith Junior, the biodat of the twins, has
13:43
Speaker 1: not been formally charged in the death or disappearance of
13:47
Speaker 1: Michelle Parker. You know, just Cheryl McCollum, director of the
13:54
Speaker 1: Coal Case Research Institute A. Van Stewart. Cheryl and I
13:58
Speaker 1: go back way way back to when I was prosecuting
14:02
Speaker 1: an inner city Atlanta and on scenes investigating crimes. You know, Cheryl,
14:08
Speaker 1: this is anecdotal. I don't have statistics. Black and white
14:11
Speaker 1: in a book. But I'm telling you I have never
14:14
Speaker 1: believed in coincidences when it comes to criminal law. No, ma'am,
14:18
Speaker 1: not at all. And I don't like this one bit.
14:21
Speaker 1: You've got somebody with a pass violent and history toward her,
14:24
Speaker 1: somebody that she's gotten to restrain in order for the
14:28
Speaker 1: last person to see her, the person that never looked
14:32
Speaker 1: for her, Nancy, and the first chance he got, even
14:35
Speaker 1: though she's missing, moved to Tennessee. Guys, many of us
14:40
Speaker 1: do not believe in coincidences in criminal law. There is
14:44
Speaker 1: no such thing. According to me. Did someone see her
14:49
Speaker 1: on the People's Court, then I believe rated the number
14:52
Speaker 1: one court show in America. Either that or Judge Judy
14:56
Speaker 1: right up there together duking it out. Was there coming?
15:00
Speaker 1: But speaking off coincidences, take a lesson to our cut
15:04
Speaker 1: twenty two. On September fifteenth of two thousand, Shannon was
15:07
Speaker 1: treated at a South Carolina hospital for head injuries, and
15:10
Speaker 1: Smith was arrested for criminal domestic battery. I remember when
15:14
Speaker 1: she came home there was a cut on her head
15:16
Speaker 1: and her fate were cut up and it was through
15:23
Speaker 1: I think it was through some concrete where she had
15:25
Speaker 1: been I don't know if she was dragged or what,
15:27
Speaker 1: but her fate were bloody. In a military court, Smith
15:32
Speaker 1: was convicted of domestic battery and direct possession and was
15:35
Speaker 1: dishonorably discharged from the Marines. When Shannon died, Smith was
15:38
Speaker 1: still serving time for both charges, and that was not
15:42
Speaker 1: the first time he had run ins with the law.
15:44
Speaker 1: In nineteen ninety two, Smith fled no contest who attempted
15:47
Speaker 1: aggravated battery after a fight in Orlando. He was given
15:50
Speaker 1: two years probation. In nineteen ninety seven, he pleaded guilty
15:53
Speaker 1: to battery charges and served jail time. In two thousand
15:56
Speaker 1: and nine, Michelle Parker filed a restraining order against Dale Smith,
16:00
Speaker 1: which a judge later dissolved. I'dn't known more about this
16:03
Speaker 1: guy before. Haina never stepped foot in the house, let
16:06
Speaker 1: alone see my sister. Now, ten years after Shannon's death,
16:09
Speaker 1: the Collins are coming forward to shed light on the
16:12
Speaker 1: man police are linking to Michelle Parker's disappearance. Smith has
16:16
Speaker 1: denied any involvement to Bianca Prietta, former Orlando sent in
16:20
Speaker 1: Little Criminal Justice reporter. We've heard the name, of course,
16:24
Speaker 1: Michelle Parker. That's who we're trying to find Shannon is
16:26
Speaker 1: an ex wife of Dale's and there is a history
16:29
Speaker 1: of domestic violence with this guy. I mean, anybody that
16:32
Speaker 1: would you date somebody Hopefully they're hoping that he's a
16:35
Speaker 1: good person, he's a good man, but then you find
16:37
Speaker 1: out stuff like this, and it's just it's scary too.
16:41
Speaker 1: Avon Stewart, Michelle's mother. Did Michelle have any idea what
16:48
Speaker 1: had happened to Shannon? She did not. When she met Dale.
16:55
Speaker 1: One of the first things he told her the first
16:57
Speaker 1: night of their date was his wife was murder when
17:00
Speaker 1: he was in desert storm. We never knew anything. We
17:04
Speaker 1: just believed that we didn't know any different until Michelle
17:07
Speaker 1: went missing and people started digging around, and then the
17:11
Speaker 1: truth came out. I've been I am in touch with
17:14
Speaker 1: Shannon's family, so they have a notebook that's probably two
17:19
Speaker 1: inches thick of all of the things that Shannon wrote
17:23
Speaker 1: personally and medical examiners and things like that when she
17:29
Speaker 1: was supposedly slipped and fell crushed your head in a shower.
17:38
Speaker 1: Doctor jen Man, marriage family therapist, doctor Jin showing serious
17:42
Speaker 1: XM and author Doctor Jen I know that in theory
17:48
Speaker 1: people can change, but I have argued to so many
17:52
Speaker 1: juries when you don't know a horse. Look at the
17:55
Speaker 1: track record. Help me out. Domestic violence does it ever
17:59
Speaker 1: get better? Look? It is unusual for it to get better.
18:03
Speaker 1: If it does, it generally involves intensive anger management, domestic
18:08
Speaker 1: violence classes, intensive therapy. And it doesn't sound like anything
18:12
Speaker 1: like that took place here. And typically once someone is
18:16
Speaker 1: capable of that, once they have broken that boundary and
18:20
Speaker 1: become physically violent, that's just what they do. That is
18:25
Speaker 1: part of who they are, and that is something that
18:28
Speaker 1: they are oftentimes triggered and then unable to control. John W. Dial,
18:33
Speaker 1: high profile lawyer out of Orlando working with Michelle Parker's family.
18:38
Speaker 1: Do you believe Michelle Parker had been a victim of
18:41
Speaker 1: domestic violence at the hands of Dale Smith Jr. But
18:44
Speaker 1: I think without question based on everything we've heard and
18:47
Speaker 1: also the attemper restraining order that was dissolved. You know,
18:53
Speaker 1: all this information comes out subsequent about mister Smith, but
18:57
Speaker 1: it certainly fits the pattern of the way he was
19:00
Speaker 1: treating her during the relationship and when ultimately ended up
19:03
Speaker 1: ending the relationship. To Yvon Stewart, this is Michelle's mother.
19:07
Speaker 1: What did she endure during the relationship. Oh, so many
19:13
Speaker 1: things happened. They went to Universal one night they asked
19:18
Speaker 1: me to baby sist of twins, and he came home
19:26
Speaker 1: and got his car, left the hummer in the front yard,
19:31
Speaker 1: and Michelle wasn't in the hummer, and neither was neither
19:35
Speaker 1: was any of her belongings. Everything from the hummer was gone.
19:40
Speaker 1: And I waited a few minutes for her to, you know,
19:42
Speaker 1: walk in the house, and she didn't come and didn't come,
19:45
Speaker 1: and then we got a phone call saying that he
19:49
Speaker 1: left her at Universal in the parking lot where she
19:52
Speaker 1: was hiding between other vehicles because he kept speeding around
19:56
Speaker 1: the parking garage to try to find her, and she
20:00
Speaker 1: didn't want to get in the truck with him because
20:02
Speaker 1: she was scared. So my daughter Lauren went and picked
20:05
Speaker 1: her up, and we found out that he on the
20:09
Speaker 1: way home. All of her belongings were thrown out on
20:12
Speaker 1: the side of the road about two and a half
20:15
Speaker 1: miles from our house for prs and it had vomit
20:20
Speaker 1: in it, and he threw out all of her clothes
20:24
Speaker 1: that were like in the backseat, and her camera, the
20:28
Speaker 1: baby's thing. And I told her then, I said, you
20:34
Speaker 1: know what you can't. You cannot make this relationship work.
20:39
Speaker 1: Nobody leaves a beautiful woman alone if they love her,
20:43
Speaker 1: they don't do stuff like that. So that was that
20:48
Speaker 1: was pretty much the end of it right there. Is
20:50
Speaker 1: that why she got the temporary restraining order. That was
20:54
Speaker 1: another time when she was picking up the twins. He
20:57
Speaker 1: came out and he was angry at her for what
21:00
Speaker 1: I don't know what reason, but he did that in
21:03
Speaker 1: his father's front yard, and that's when she called Orange County.
21:06
Speaker 1: What did he do in the front yard, in the
21:09
Speaker 1: front yard, for Pete's sake? I think broke her. He
21:13
Speaker 1: broke her mirror and her window and was trying to
21:18
Speaker 1: get the baby seats out. I don't know he's there
21:22
Speaker 1: were several instances where he was violent with her, and
21:27
Speaker 1: you know, it was the smartest thing she ever did,
21:29
Speaker 1: was to move home and she put herself back in school.
21:32
Speaker 1: She was going to Avada. She was going to work
21:34
Speaker 1: at my salon. She had a tanning business, and she
21:38
Speaker 1: was still working part time a couple of nights a week,
21:41
Speaker 1: you know, at a local little country bar here in
21:44
Speaker 1: Sanford called the Barn. And she was doing everything she good.
21:48
Speaker 1: She was even looking to buy a house. I have
21:49
Speaker 1: her notes where she was showing me. Look at this house.
21:52
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm gonna rent has a swimming pool. Austin
21:54
Speaker 1: will love it to ye, Sheryl McCallum. Way in Nancy. Again,
21:59
Speaker 1: if you look at the scene that we know where
22:03
Speaker 1: her hummer was left, the logo taken off the back,
22:07
Speaker 1: where the cell phone was found. This in no way
22:11
Speaker 1: to me, says it's a stranger. Strangers don't take tom
22:15
Speaker 1: that's not necessary. Stranger doesn't have to move her car
22:19
Speaker 1: and then take the logo off of it and then
22:21
Speaker 1: take her cell phone and throw it down the road.
22:24
Speaker 1: There's no connection to the two of them anyway, if
22:26
Speaker 1: it's a stranger, so he doesn't have to hide the phone.
22:30
Speaker 1: This desperately speaks of a domestic violence scene. Again, he
22:35
Speaker 1: doesn't call the police, He doesn't alert anybody she's missing.
22:40
Speaker 1: He doesn't go out of his way to try to
22:41
Speaker 1: find her. What does he do when she's missing from Florida?
22:45
Speaker 1: Moves to Tennessee and he does that because he knows
22:48
Speaker 1: she's not coming home. And let me remind everyone, the
22:53
Speaker 1: father of the twins, Dell Smith Junior, has not been
22:56
Speaker 1: formally charged with murder, napping, or another offense as it
23:02
Speaker 1: relates to Michelle's disappearance. But what can we learn As
23:11
Speaker 1: a matter of fact, let's hear from his attorney. Take
23:16
Speaker 1: a listen to our cut thirteen. This is wish to
23:21
Speaker 1: the attorney representing suspect Del Smith just washed out at investigators,
23:25
Speaker 1: insisting his client is cooperating and has given multiple statements.
23:28
Speaker 1: Qust choose Dave McDaniel live in Orlando, where Smith's attorney,
23:31
Speaker 1: marknew James, just finished a press conference. Well, that's right,
23:34
Speaker 1: markne James did make a huge point of the fact
23:36
Speaker 1: that the police are saying a lot about the fact
23:39
Speaker 1: that Dale Smith has refused a polygraph njam pointing out
23:42
Speaker 1: that polygraphs are not accepted in a lot of courtrooms,
23:44
Speaker 1: and a very desk compounding statement. Just moments ago, he
23:48
Speaker 1: said his client has been unfairly targeted. He has done
23:52
Speaker 1: that one single court in the United States of America
23:56
Speaker 1: accepts polygraphs as scientifically reliable admissible. Why because they're not
24:03
Speaker 1: And if they were so scientifically reliable, why does ze
24:07
Speaker 1: Orlando Police Department have a policy that when one of
24:10
Speaker 1: those rail officers is accused that they do not let
24:13
Speaker 1: them take polygraphs. In fact, he says Dale Smith has
24:16
Speaker 1: given voluntary statements to the police three times, and he
24:20
Speaker 1: says Smith himself has called in Texas equisearch to look
24:24
Speaker 1: for Michelle. Not the work, he says, of a man
24:27
Speaker 1: guilty of anything now. And that's what the defense attorney,
24:29
Speaker 1: Martine James says. But the reality is to you John W. Dial,
24:34
Speaker 1: renowned personal injury lawyer who's been working with Michelle's family,
24:37
Speaker 1: that's simply not the law as it relates to polygraphs.
24:41
Speaker 1: Polygraphs are allowed into evidence in civil cases where we saw,
24:46
Speaker 1: for instance, that OJ Simpson made what a negative forty
24:50
Speaker 1: something on his polygraph, and they are also admitted into
24:54
Speaker 1: criminal cases. If stipulated before the polygraphs taken by both parties,
24:59
Speaker 1: that will be admitted. I ordered people to have polygraphs
25:04
Speaker 1: before I would take a guilty or not guilty play
25:08
Speaker 1: very often as part of my investigation. So you know
25:12
Speaker 1: that's just not right, and that's no excuse when cops
25:15
Speaker 1: are looking at you and you want to clear the
25:18
Speaker 1: table and say, yes, look for the real part. I'll
25:22
Speaker 1: take a polygraph. I'll give you my DNA search, my
25:25
Speaker 1: own search, my car search, my property that did not
25:28
Speaker 1: happen here. Absolutely, yeah, I mean I can speak louder
25:32
Speaker 1: than words. Obviously, he goes on in subsequent statements, you know,
25:36
Speaker 1: when we were trying to talk to him taking the
25:38
Speaker 1: Fifth Amendment, which of course is his right. But if
25:41
Speaker 1: his goal is to find the mother of his children,
25:45
Speaker 1: it would seem that he could take himself out of
25:47
Speaker 1: the equation by going ahead and going with a polygraph.
25:51
Speaker 1: Like you said, we're not even at the trial stage yet,
25:53
Speaker 1: we're just trying to find out the truth. But that
25:55
Speaker 1: never happened. Von Stewart is with me. This is Michelle's mother.
26:00
Speaker 1: Is that true that Smith Junior brought in a search chain.
26:04
Speaker 1: I was told that his attorney suggested that he do that,
26:12
Speaker 1: and the police department talked to me about OPD talk
26:16
Speaker 1: to me about it and said that they really didn't
26:20
Speaker 1: want them to help because they can destroy like evidence
26:27
Speaker 1: with like all the horses and things, and they didn't
26:31
Speaker 1: feel like it was a good idea, and so they
26:34
Speaker 1: told me to tell him no. And at that time,
26:38
Speaker 1: you have to understand, I was under extreme darress, and
26:42
Speaker 1: I was being led by detectives and police captains, and
26:47
Speaker 1: I just went along with whatever they told me to do.
26:51
Speaker 1: I totally knew it, all of this. As it turns out,
26:55
Speaker 1: they said it was November, people would be hunting, if
26:59
Speaker 1: there was anything in the woods, they would be able
27:01
Speaker 1: to find maybe a body or a grave, and they
27:04
Speaker 1: just didn't want evidence stampered with. Did that search team
27:09
Speaker 1: ever actually come in, Yvonne, I honestly don't. I don't know.
27:16
Speaker 1: I think they were. I think it was actually a
27:19
Speaker 1: chessboard move for him to look innocent. The night I
27:23
Speaker 1: called him when I knew Michelle was missing, right before
27:26
Speaker 1: we reported it to the police department, I called him
27:30
Speaker 1: at his mother's house and I told him Michelle didn't
27:34
Speaker 1: come home. Is she with you? He goes, no, I
27:36
Speaker 1: think she said she was going shopping or something. And
27:39
Speaker 1: then I said, well, she's not at home, she's not
27:43
Speaker 1: at work. Something's happened. I think something's happened to her.
27:46
Speaker 1: I'm going to call the police, and he said, oh, well,
27:50
Speaker 1: I hope they find her. And I remember taking the
27:53
Speaker 1: phone away from my face and staring at the pay phone,
27:56
Speaker 1: going what it was just the weirdest response to me.
28:02
Speaker 1: He never ever ever called me to see how I
28:06
Speaker 1: was doing. Anybody in the family his family, Nobody ever called,
28:12
Speaker 1: Nobody helped us book for her on his entire side
28:16
Speaker 1: of the family. They didn't put out the first flyer,
28:18
Speaker 1: the first poster. Nothing. I mean, let me just understand that.
28:23
Speaker 1: Sean McCollum, help me process what Evan Stewart just said. Yeah,
28:27
Speaker 1: it's a clue. It's a gigantic parade of clues. Anybody.
28:33
Speaker 1: When you look at somebody and you think of means,
28:35
Speaker 1: mode of an opportunity, Okay, could they have done this?
28:38
Speaker 1: And then you look at pre and post behavior. So
28:41
Speaker 1: somebody that has been violent toward her but has three
28:44
Speaker 1: year old twins with her, But the minute she goes missing,
28:48
Speaker 1: I don't care what y'all were fighting about her an
28:50
Speaker 1: hour ago. You flip that switch and that becomes the
28:54
Speaker 1: mother of your children and never flipped for him, Nancy,
29:03
Speaker 1: you know, speaking of speaking of our friend Tim Miller
29:07
Speaker 1: at Texas Equisurch crime victim himself as daughter was murdered
29:11
Speaker 1: and we're longtime friends and associates. The founder of Texas Equistarch,
29:17
Speaker 1: Tim Miller said that his search and rescue group will
29:22
Speaker 1: not aid and the search for missing mom Michelle Parker.
29:27
Speaker 1: This while police dive teams begin searching and a new
29:31
Speaker 1: pond near oak Ridge Road. Miller got back on a
29:35
Speaker 1: plane and headed to Texas after flying to Orlando on
29:40
Speaker 1: Thursday at the request of the person of interests Dale
29:46
Speaker 1: Smith Junior's lawyer, so that search never happened. For those
29:53
Speaker 1: of you just joining us. Michelle a gorgeous young mother
29:57
Speaker 1: of three. Last scene after she dropped her three year
30:01
Speaker 1: old twins off with bio dad Dale Smith Junior. She
30:07
Speaker 1: was never seen again and video released shortly after that
30:12
Speaker 1: drop off. Somebody's in her homer, but it's not her.
30:17
Speaker 1: Anne is going in the opposite direction that she would
30:21
Speaker 1: have gone to go to work. But speaking of the twins,
30:27
Speaker 1: we're getting tons of calls and emails about the twins.
30:30
Speaker 1: Take a listen to our cut fifteen West two's Bob Keeling. Yesterday,
30:36
Speaker 1: the Department of Children and Family took emergency custody of
30:39
Speaker 1: Parker's three year old twins fathered by Smith. In this
30:42
Speaker 1: emergency court hearing, DCF lawyers argued that Smith's criminal and
30:47
Speaker 1: abusive past meant that children were in danger. The mother's
30:50
Speaker 1: not here, but the fact that she's not here is
30:52
Speaker 1: something that It's like eight hundred pound rolling where you
30:55
Speaker 1: can't ignore it. Smith's attorney, Martinie Jane, punched hole after
30:59
Speaker 1: hole in this it's custody petition. You just don't go
31:02
Speaker 1: and pay children from a home with this most minimal
31:08
Speaker 1: and most today accusations. Judge Thomas Turner cited with Smith,
31:12
Speaker 1: saying nothing in his recent past made him afraid for
31:16
Speaker 1: the children. I don't see any eviden he presents any
31:19
Speaker 1: imminent risk of substantial harm to these children. Parker's sister
31:26
Speaker 1: sobbed and stormed out of court. Are you satisfied with
31:29
Speaker 1: today's decision, mister Smith? Smith said nothing, and also would
31:33
Speaker 1: not answer questions about Michelle Parker's disappearance. You know it
31:37
Speaker 1: was me and my husband was missing. I would be
31:40
Speaker 1: on the front of the court house steps screaming for justice.
31:46
Speaker 1: How could a judge Avon Stewart, this is Michelle's mom
31:50
Speaker 1: say there was no history of violence when the previous wife,
31:56
Speaker 1: I think, pled guilty to agg assault on her. And
32:00
Speaker 1: then there's the t r O Temporary Training order taken
32:03
Speaker 1: out by your daughter, Michelle against him. It was an
32:06
Speaker 1: emergency hearing. They gave me the children custody. The night
32:09
Speaker 1: before at eleven o'clock, I met with the DCS people.
32:14
Speaker 1: They came to my home, they brought the children and
32:17
Speaker 1: then I immediately got a phone call ban I had
32:20
Speaker 1: to be in court the next very next morning at
32:22
Speaker 1: nine o'clock. The judge was a temporary judge. He didn't
32:28
Speaker 1: have any backgrounds, like we didn't have any. There wasn't
32:31
Speaker 1: enough time to do any background So Mark me James
32:35
Speaker 1: made that happen because he's just an absolute He'll do
32:39
Speaker 1: anything for money. That's the kind of guy he is.
32:42
Speaker 1: I know that that judge didn't have enough. He didn't
32:46
Speaker 1: have enough information. Guys, take a listen to Kelly Cook,
32:50
Speaker 1: Spectrum News thirteen. It's been nearly sixteen months since Michelle
32:54
Speaker 1: Parker appeared on this episode of A People's Court with
32:57
Speaker 1: her x Beyonce Dale Smith. A second the day that
33:00
Speaker 1: show aired, Michelle vanished. Despite numerous searches, there have been
33:04
Speaker 1: no signs of Parker, a young mother of three whose
33:07
Speaker 1: picture is still posted all over central Florida. Now, a
33:10
Speaker 1: wrongful death lawsuit has been filed on behalf of Parker's mother,
33:13
Speaker 1: Yvonne Stewart. No doubt in their mind that del Smith
33:17
Speaker 1: is responsible for the death of Michelle Parker. There's no
33:20
Speaker 1: doubt in Yvonne's mind at all, and she didn't take
33:25
Speaker 1: this lightly. And the complaint filed on Thursday, Michelle Parker
33:28
Speaker 1: is listed as deceased, although her body was never found.
33:32
Speaker 1: Parker's mother is seeking damages in excess of fifteen thousand dollars,
33:35
Speaker 1: claiming Smith was negligent and her daughter's death. Michelle Parker's
33:40
Speaker 1: family believes and they've provided to us evidence and information
33:46
Speaker 1: and circumstances surrounding her disappearance that gave us the confidence
33:51
Speaker 1: to file this lawsuit today. Again, let me emphasize that
33:55
Speaker 1: Dale Smith Junior, the biodubt of the twins, has not
33:59
Speaker 1: been formally charged in the death or disappearance of Michelle Parker.
34:04
Speaker 1: But listen to Michelle Parker our friends at WFTV News
34:09
Speaker 1: Channel N. I felt somebody grabbed me and he yanked
34:12
Speaker 1: me around. As he grabbed and turned around, he was
34:15
Speaker 1: holding on to me, screaming at me, pointing back after
34:17
Speaker 1: the stage, going get on that back up on stage.
34:20
Speaker 1: That's what TV viewers across the country heard Michelle Parker
34:24
Speaker 1: say about her expiance Dale Smith, just hours before she
34:27
Speaker 1: disappeared after dropping off their twins at his home. He
34:31
Speaker 1: was the last known person to see her alive. Orlando
34:34
Speaker 1: police have called him their prime suspect, and now Parker's
34:37
Speaker 1: mother has filed a wrongful death lawsuit accusing him of
34:40
Speaker 1: causing her death. Her lawyers say they have their own
34:43
Speaker 1: strong evidence against him. There's text messages and just the
34:50
Speaker 1: whole the timing of the disappearance, with the text messages
34:56
Speaker 1: and the relationship. Orlando attorney John Morgan does not expect
35:00
Speaker 1: to be able to access whatever evidence police might have
35:03
Speaker 1: against Smith, and he's not phased by the possibility that
35:06
Speaker 1: Smith could take the fifth in a civil case to
35:09
Speaker 1: prevent incriminating himself in any future or criminal case. It's
35:12
Speaker 1: been my experience, in my view, that most guilty people
35:17
Speaker 1: take the fifth. You know, John Gotti took the fifth
35:21
Speaker 1: to Von Stewart. This is Michelle's mother. What if anything,
35:26
Speaker 1: has Smith Junior told you about what happened? Nothing? Absolutely nothing. Nothing.
35:36
Speaker 1: Did you ask him? He can't look me in the eye.
35:44
Speaker 1: I saw him in the courtroom that morning, and my
35:47
Speaker 1: only concern was that I would be able to stay
35:50
Speaker 1: in the twins life. And I hugged him and I
35:53
Speaker 1: asked him I did that on purpose, because I said
35:56
Speaker 1: I didn't do this. I didn't do this. This was
35:59
Speaker 1: all BCF. All I could care about at that point
36:02
Speaker 1: was making sure that I would be part of their
36:05
Speaker 1: life and that he wouldn't shut me out. But he did,
36:11
Speaker 1: so you know that's how that goes. What do you
36:14
Speaker 1: mean he shut you out? Well, he stopped letting me
36:17
Speaker 1: have any visitation, and then he started having me sign
36:22
Speaker 1: document saying that I couldn't call my grandson by his
36:27
Speaker 1: nickname because Michelle named him that and he didn't want
36:30
Speaker 1: me to ever use that nickname. And I had to
36:33
Speaker 1: sign official legal like statement saying that I wouldn't call
36:38
Speaker 1: him Trey. And then he stopped letting me see them
36:44
Speaker 1: for like a day or overnight. I could see him
36:47
Speaker 1: for maybe two hours here and there, and then he
36:50
Speaker 1: moved away and he never even told me he was moving.
36:54
Speaker 1: He just left. Because you know why, Florida doesn't have
36:58
Speaker 1: great at right laws, which I so desperately tried to
37:02
Speaker 1: change and that failed. Also, Von, where are the twins now?
37:07
Speaker 1: They live? They live with their dad in the same
37:10
Speaker 1: place that she dropped them off that day. They live
37:14
Speaker 1: here in Orlando. Do you ever see them? No? Not allowed?
37:23
Speaker 1: Not allowed. I think that a few more years will
37:30
Speaker 1: go by, they'll be eighteen, and then I can legally,
37:33
Speaker 1: I can legally just walk up to them and talk
37:36
Speaker 1: to them at that point, and he can't do anything
37:39
Speaker 1: about it because they'll be of age. And you know,
37:44
Speaker 1: we did pass the grandparent right law in Florida. John
37:48
Speaker 1: Dill was there with me, and it did finally pass
37:51
Speaker 1: the second year, and we took it to court and
37:54
Speaker 1: it got dismissed without me even getting to say one word,
37:58
Speaker 1: and then the appellate court upheld it. So that was
38:03
Speaker 1: a big sale. But boy, I tried. I can live
38:06
Speaker 1: with that, and you're still trying, John deal. What's the
38:11
Speaker 1: status in the case of the search from Michelle Parker. Well,
38:18
Speaker 1: on the civil side, we ran into the problems that
38:20
Speaker 1: he did take the Fifth Amendment. Of course, there's no
38:24
Speaker 1: additional evidence that we've been able to get because it's
38:26
Speaker 1: still an open investigation. So the civil lawsuitor hoping to
38:32
Speaker 1: get him to talk. Really, the plan was always not
38:35
Speaker 1: to get money from him. The plan was always to
38:37
Speaker 1: find out what happened and to at least let's start
38:41
Speaker 1: the investigation, maybe get some more tips gone forward. That's
38:44
Speaker 1: kind of how it stands right now. They're still an
38:47
Speaker 1: open investigation. Michelle is still important to a lot of people.
38:51
Speaker 1: I've heard from folks here intown after hearing the podcast
38:54
Speaker 1: that they went to school with their renew her and
38:57
Speaker 1: they're still praying for her. So it's out there. The
39:00
Speaker 1: family has not forgotten, the people who love or have
39:02
Speaker 1: not forgotten, and we haven't forgotten. We're going to continue
39:05
Speaker 1: to work to try to get answers. Yvon Stewart, what
39:09
Speaker 1: do you think happened? John, Am I allowed to be
39:11
Speaker 1: honest or do I have to cover my butt? I
39:16
Speaker 1: think you can go ahead and be honest as what
39:18
Speaker 1: you know, just to be safe, Okay. I think when
39:22
Speaker 1: she got to his condo that day to drop off
39:25
Speaker 1: the children, he knew that she was going to trade
39:30
Speaker 1: in the hummer and that would be his last thumb
39:34
Speaker 1: on her, that he wouldn't have no more control. And then,
39:37
Speaker 1: of course, an hour earlier, she said on National TV
39:41
Speaker 1: that their relationship was poison and all of the things
39:45
Speaker 1: that you just played earlier that were pre recorded on
39:49
Speaker 1: that People's Court, and I think he lost it and
39:53
Speaker 1: I think he killed her right then and there on
39:55
Speaker 1: the spot. As of today, there aren't no facial charges
40:01
Speaker 1: and they disappearance or death of Michelle Parker Yvonne, what
40:07
Speaker 1: can you tell me about her? Older son, Austin. Austin
40:13
Speaker 1: is so quiet now he has it has changed his
40:19
Speaker 1: whole demeanor. And he lost his mother, his brother, his sister,
40:25
Speaker 1: his grandma because he had to move away, and his
40:27
Speaker 1: uncle's and my husband, his pop Pop, and his whole
40:32
Speaker 1: life changed. And he moved to Pittsburgh and grew up
40:37
Speaker 1: there and he would he came and visited every year,
40:40
Speaker 1: sometimes twice a year. And he finally came out on Facebook.
40:45
Speaker 1: I think it was year five after her disappearance, and
40:48
Speaker 1: he wrote an astounding, heartfelt paragraph about how much he
40:53
Speaker 1: missed his mom, and it was the first time but
40:56
Speaker 1: he had ever related to anybody. He talked to me
40:58
Speaker 1: about it, and he would ask any questions from time
41:01
Speaker 1: to time, and I would tell them straight up, honest,
41:03
Speaker 1: what I think was going to happen. And the main
41:06
Speaker 1: thing that I wanted him to know was that she
41:08
Speaker 1: would never, ever, ever have just disappeared. And he told
41:13
Speaker 1: me when he lived with Dale, Dale would lock him
41:17
Speaker 1: out of the house and he could hear them fighting,
41:19
Speaker 1: and he would be banging on the door and crying
41:22
Speaker 1: trying to get in for his mother, and he's traumatized.
41:26
Speaker 1: I mean absolutely, something that no child should have to
41:30
Speaker 1: ever live with. And I know he's not the only
41:33
Speaker 1: that's ever had to lose them mother horrible. He's bouncing
41:39
Speaker 1: back now. He's been with us for about a year.
41:42
Speaker 1: He's learning how to fix things like his four wheeler.
41:46
Speaker 1: He's building an airboat. He's got really good friends. He's
41:49
Speaker 1: got a good head on his shoulder. His dad did
41:52
Speaker 1: a great job raising him. He's never been in trouble,
41:55
Speaker 1: there's no no. I'd never seen him like act out
42:00
Speaker 1: in any way. And he graduated from high school. So
42:04
Speaker 1: he's doing very well. Guys, ticklesson to our friends at NBC.
42:11
Speaker 1: A spokesman for the Orlando Police Department says the lead
42:14
Speaker 1: suspect in the case is still Dale Smith, the ex fiance,
42:18
Speaker 1: although no charges have been filed and Smith denies any
42:22
Speaker 1: involvement in Parker's disappearance. Police say currently there are no
42:26
Speaker 1: updates in the case, but also say the investigation is
42:29
Speaker 1: still active and that the department will continue to support
42:32
Speaker 1: the family in search efforts in hopes of locating Michelle.
42:36
Speaker 1: And I know it's something that she loved Lauren Erickson
42:39
Speaker 1: is Parker's sister and keeps a room filled with her
42:41
Speaker 1: sister's belongings. She'll never get to get dressed up and
42:45
Speaker 1: go out and be with her friends and her family
42:48
Speaker 1: what she loved to do. And it's just nothing. Nothing
42:52
Speaker 1: will ever make it right, nothing will ever make it easier.
42:54
Speaker 1: And for the family, the hardest part of all is
42:57
Speaker 1: having to explain the disappearance to Parker's children. Last, to
43:01
Speaker 1: Von Stewart, Michelle's mother, what is your most vivid memory
43:08
Speaker 1: of Michelle? Her giggle and when she would get like
43:14
Speaker 1: she liked to play little practical jokes on people, and
43:16
Speaker 1: she was just so so fun And when she got tickled,
43:21
Speaker 1: she would literally like tears would come out of her
43:23
Speaker 1: her eyes and she would take her hands and she
43:25
Speaker 1: would wipe them away and she would just gut level laugh.
43:29
Speaker 1: She was just and she was just such a gift
43:31
Speaker 1: giving person. She gave people presents all the time. She
43:34
Speaker 1: made sure that everybody, you know, had little things that
43:39
Speaker 1: they liked. She went out of her way to be
43:42
Speaker 1: a good friend to everybody that was her really good friend.
43:46
Speaker 1: Of the investigation into the disappearance of Michelle, according to police,
43:53
Speaker 1: is ongoing If you have information eight hundred four two
43:58
Speaker 1: three eight four seven seven Repeat eight hundred four two
44:03
Speaker 1: three eight four seven seven. Let Michelle's children finally know
44:11
Speaker 1: the truth, know where is Mommy? Nancy Grace Killers amongst us,
44:17
Speaker 1: signing off goodbye friend,