A Florida man has been charged with killing the mother of his children nearly 15 years ago, after his ex-fiancee went missing just hours after their pretaped appearance on "The People's Court" was broadcast, police said.
Orlando police announced the arrest Wednesday of Dale Smith Jr., 55, on a charge of second-degree murder. The body of 33-year-old Michelle Parker has not been recovered, but all evidence leads to Smith as the person responsible for her death, police said.
Smith's attorney, Rajan Joshi, said during a hearing Thursday afternoon that he didn't believe the state could meet its burden of proof to convict Smith based on the information presented in the criminal complaint. A judge ordered Smith to be held without bond pending a detention hearing, which wasn't immediately scheduled.
Joshi said later Thursday during a phone interview that the prosecution's case has many challenges that he plans to explore. The defense attorney said the investigation focused almost exclusively on Smith from the beginning and ignored other potential leads.
“Michelle Parker worked at a bar. She was a very attractive young lady,” Joshi said. “They (police) did not go out and investigate other possibilities that could have happened to her. This is one of those cases where they go and they immediately target the usual suspect, which is the ex.”
Orlando Police Chief Eric Smith, who is not related to Smith, said during the news conference on Wednesday that the case never stopped being a priority. Smith was the last known person to see or hear from Parker before she went missing on Nov. 17, 2011, when she dropped their children off at his home, the chief said.
“Over the past year, we expanded our investigative team looking into this case and took a fresh, focused look at all the evidence,” the police chief said. “We reexamined testimony and conflicting statements made by the suspect and used advances in digital forensics to uncover and analyze additional evidence.”
Police gave few details about what evidence they had against Smith, but Detective Phillip McMican confirmed that police had collected new evidence in the past year, as well as new insights into old evidence thanks to technological advancements.
“Vehicles, electronic devices, phones, computers — we’re able to better interpret that evidence today than what we were able to do back in 2011,” McMican said.
Police continue to search for Parker's body. Her vehicle was found abandoned a day after her disappearance, and her cellphone was later recovered from an Orlando-area lake.
Investigators have not publicly stated a motive for Parker’s murder.
On the day of Parker's disappearance, an episode of “The People's Court” featuring her and Smith was broadcast. Smith had sued Parker, claiming that a $5,000 engagement ring that he bought for her was lost when she threw it at him during an argument. Judge Marilyn Milian ultimately ruled that both parties were responsible for the ring's loss and ordered Parker to pay $2,500 to Smith for half of it.
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