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.”Michelle Parker’s body has not been found, but police said “all evidence leads to Dale Smith Jr.”via City of OrlandoThe 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.”For SubscribersFOR SUBSCRIBERSApple’s HomeView is part iPad, part Apple Watch and part CarP...