Michelle Parker Missing Since ‘The People’s Court’ Episode Airs [VIDEO]
Michelle Parker, a 33-year-old mother from Orlando, has gone missing since an episode of The People's Court which she appeared on aired Thursday.
Parker was last seen in Orlando with friends the same day the previously recorded episode of The People's Court aired on television. The episode featured her as a defendant against ex-boyfriend, Dale Smith, over a $5,000 engagement ring she lost during a fight.
Authorities in Orlando have ruled out Smith as a suspect, as his father said his son was home during the time Parker went missing.
He (Smith) has fully cooperated, Yvonne Stewart, Parker's mother, told ABC News affiliate WFTV. They have found absolutely no evidence that there's any foul play on his part.
According to Central Florida News, Parker was last seen on Thursday. After she never showed up to her job as a bartender at The Barn in Sanford, Parker reportedly responded to a text from her brother saying she was in Waterford Lakes.
The police said her phone was never in Waterford. They searched the towers, that was a decoy, Stewart told CBS.
The family believes that she was a victim of a random crime or a possible carjacking. Police located Parker's vehicle, a black Hummer, in a place in Orlando she wouldn't likely visit on Friday and have searched the woods surrounding the area of the alleged disappearance.
The Search Continues
On Monday, about 40 area residents helped in the search, passing out fliers for Michelle Parker after a vigil was held on Sunday evening, according to local news reports.
Volunteers from Texas Equusearch, the same group that helped in the search for Caylee Anthony in the Casey Anthony case, are helping in the search for the missing mother of 3-year-old twins and an 11-year-old son.
There's no leads right now. So it's wide open. We need everybody out in the public to look for her and bring her home, Michelle's father, Brad Parker, told Central Florida News.
Multiple Facebook groups, Michelle Parker Missing Person and Find Michelle Lee Parker - Missing from Orlando, Florida, have emerged during the search and have amassed nearly 3,000 followers each.
The People's Court Episode
While the exact date the episode of The People's Court was filmed is unknown, Thursday, the day it aired, was the same day Michelle Parker went missing, according to authorities.
According to police and the Orlando Sentinel, Parker had a tumultuous relationship that was at times violent with Smith, the father of her twins, who also appeared on the show.
The dispute on the episode of The People's Court showed Parker being sued by ex-fiancé Smith for allegedly throwing away her $5,000 engagement ring while drunk. Parker also accused Smith of cheating during their engagement and argued about custody of their children.
He shouldn't have put his hands on me and he shouldn't have put his hands on me prior. He shouldn't have left me three or four times over the past year and a half that we've been together, Parker said on the episode. He gets pretty malicious and vindictive and he's a mean person especially when he's been drinking.
The judge, Judge Marilyn Milian, ruled that both Parker and Smith would split the cost of the ring, though ruling in Smith's favor. In post-ruling interviews on the show, Parker told reporters the relationship is over.
Parker's mother told ABC News that her daughter was ashamed by the episode, which Smith made her appear on.
It was the most humiliating experience of my life. I don't even ever want to see it. I wish I had never gone, Stewart said her daughter admitted in the summer.
Though the relationship was rocky, Parker's mother still rules out Smith as a suspect, saying he cares about his children and Michelle.
He is crying every time I talk to him on the phone, Stewart told ABC News. He loves my daughter. They just didn't get along.
A $13,000 reward is being offered for information about missing Michelle Parker, described as five-foot-six with short, dark brown hair.
© Copyright IBTimes 2024. All rights reserved.