Florida man charged with murder in ex-fiancée's 2011 disappearance

Orlando police on Wednesday arrested Dale Smith Jr., the former fiancé of Michelle Parker, and charged him with second-degree murder in her disappearance — nearly 15 years after the Florida mother of twins vanished in a case that drew national attention.

Parker, then 33, was last seen on Nov. 17, 2011, after dropping off the couple's young twins at Smith's home. The disappearance came the same day a local television station aired an episode of "The People's Court" featuring the pair in a dispute over an engagement ring, a detail that helped turn the case into a tabloid fixture. Her SUV was found abandoned in an Orlando parking lot the next day, and investigators later recovered her cellphone from a nearby lake. Parker's body has never been found.

A case reopened

Smith was named a suspect within weeks of Parker's disappearance but was never charged, and he has consistently denied wrongdoing. Orlando police said detectives spent the past year taking what Orlando Police Chief Eric Smith called "a fresh, focused look at all the evidence," re-examining witness statements and Smith's own past testimony and running newer forensic techniques on phones, computers and vehicles collected during the original investigation. Detective Phillip McMican told reporters "new evidence has been found in the last year," though police did not disclose specifics, according to CBS News.

Smith was taken into custody Wednesday morning by the department's fugitive unit, and his attorney, Rajan Joshi, met him at the jail the same day. "There was no evidence that came up 15 years ago," Joshi said, according to Orlando ABC affiliate WFTV, adding that he wants to know what evidence investigators are now relying on.

No body, but a charge

Prosecuting a murder without a body or a weapon is difficult but no longer unusual, legal experts say. Mark O'Mara, a Florida criminal defense attorney not involved in the case, told WFTV that advances in digital forensics and cold-case technique have made such prosecutions more viable than they once were: "Now, you really don't need a body." Florida courts have convicted defendants in "no-body" homicide cases before, typically relying on circumstantial evidence, inconsistent statements and forensic analysis of digital devices and vehicles.

In a statement, police said "all evidence leads to Dale Smith Jr. as the person responsible for Michelle's murder." Parker's mother, Yvonne Stewart, who filed a wrongful-death civil suit against Smith years ago, said her daughter "didn't deserve to have her life ended." Parker's brother, Dustin Erickson, said he had been "carrying a lot of bad thoughts for 15 years" that had "got lifted a little bit" by the arrest.

The case had remained active but largely dormant for years, periodically resurfacing on anniversaries of Parker's disappearance as her family pushed for an arrest. It is now headed toward prosecution in Orange County, with Smith facing a single count of second-degree murder and his bond status still unclear as of Wednesday.