Police in Florida have released a new surveillance video in hopes of finding more information on the disappearance of a mother in 2011 who was last seen dropping off her children at her ex-fiance’s home.
Michelle Parker, then 33, vanished on Nov. 17, 2011 after dropping off her two youngest children with their father, Dale Smith Jr., in Orlando.
Her black Hummer was later found abandoned and missing the decals that promoted her airbrush-tanning business, according to Fox 35. Parker’s cellphone was discovered underwater near a bridge in Belle Isle but she has never been found.
Parker’s disappearance was the same day that an episode of the “The People’s Court” aired, in which she was featured for settling a dispute with Smith over a $5,000 engagement ring.
In the video released Monday by Orlando police, Parker’s Hummer is seen waiting at a traffic light -- near where the vehicle was found -- five hours after she dropped off her children.
Orlando police Detective Mike Moreschi told the Orlando Sentinel that authorities are not sure who is in the vehicle at the time of the video, but the business decals were already missing from it.
Authorities have named Smith as the main suspect in Parker’s disappearance, but for the first time, according to the newspaper, they acknowledged that another person was involved.
"This was a two-person situation," Moreschi said Monday.
To date, Smith has not been charged with any crime.
In March, Parker’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Smith claiming that he was “negligent, or otherwise committed a wrongful act and caused the death of Michelle L. Parker," Fox 35 reports.
Her mother, Yvonne Stewart, made a plea Monday for those with information to come forward, the Orlando Sentinel reports.
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