Dale Smith Jr. charged with murder in Michelle Parker disappearance
Orlando police say a renewed review of phone data and witness accounts led to a murder charge nearly 15 years after Parker vanished.
By Deshawn Carter · Sports Writer
3 min read
Dale Smith Jr. murder charge: Orlando police arrested the 55-year-old on Oct. 14 and charged him with second-degree murder in the 2011 disappearance of his former fiancée, Michelle Parker. Parker’s body has not been found, and Smith has pleaded not guilty, according to ClickOrlando.
The arrest came nearly 15 years after Parker, then 33, vanished on Nov. 17, 2011. Police say she had gone to Smith’s Orlando home to drop off the twins they shared. Smith was 40 at the time.
Investigators say a renewed examination of phone records, witness accounts and other evidence changed their view of Parker’s final movements. Orlando Police Chief Eric Smith, who is not related to the defendant, said the department expanded its team over the past year and revisited testimony and conflicting statements, the Associated Press reported through ABC7.
What did the renewed phone-data review show?
Smith initially told investigators that Parker left about 10 minutes after dropping off the children, according to an arrest-warrant affidavit reported by NBC News. But surveillance video showed Parker’s Hummer entering his neighborhood at about 3:18 p.m., and investigators say the vehicle remained there for at least an hour.
New analysis of cell-phone data first collected in 2011 indicated Parker’s phone stayed near Smith’s home for more than an hour, court records cited by ClickOrlando say. Investigators also say phones belonging to Parker and Smith left the area at about 4:18 p.m. and traveled west toward Lake Conway in Belle Isle.
Police later recovered Parker’s phone from Lake Conway, according to ClickOrlando. Her Hummer was photographed near the Mall at Millenia at 8:55 p.m. that night and was found abandoned at an apartment complex the following morning.
Detective Phillip McMican said investigators can interpret evidence involving vehicles, electronic devices, phones and computers more effectively now than they could in 2011, according to the AP report.
The TV episode aired on the day Parker disappeared
Parker and Smith had appeared in a pre-recorded episode of The People’s Court over a dispute about a $5,000 engagement ring. The program was taped in June 2011 and aired on Nov. 17, the day Parker disappeared, NBC News reported.
The court ruling ordered the former couple to split the cost of the ring, according to the arrest affidavit cited by NBC News. The broadcast is part of the case timeline, but police had not publicly identified a motive when the arrest was announced, the AP reported.
Newly unsealed records say detectives believe Smith choked Parker to death, ClickOrlando reported. That is an allegation in the investigation, not a court finding. The search for Parker’s body continues, police said.
- Charge: Second-degree murder.
- Plea: Not guilty, according to ClickOrlando.
- Case status: Parker has not been found, and no conviction has been entered.
This story draws on original reporting from NBC News.