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According to an NBC News article shared by Dateline, new information has come to light about Dale Smith Jr., who was charged with the second-degree murder of his ex-fiancée Michelle Parker and arrested on October 14, 2026. When she disappeared on November 17, 2011, Parker was 33 years old and the mother of three children, two of whom she had with Smith.
She has not been seen since, and her body is yet to be recovered. However, all evidence suggests that she was murdered, and Smith has been charged as the one responsible for it. New information from the arrest warrant affidavit has now been unsealed, which reveals not only what happened on November 17, 2011, but also Smith's sketchy past.
Dateline: Dale Smith Jr. had abused other women in the past
As the NBC News article shared by Dateline reports, Michelle Parker and Dale Smith Jr. appeared on a pre-taped episode of The People’s Court that aired on November 17, 2011, to settle an issue after Parker had allegedly thrown her engagement ring off the balcony. According to the arrest warrant affidavit, the judge's ruling was as follows:
“both parties were responsible for the ring and ordered they split the $5,000.00 damage."
Smith told investigators that Parker left their three-year-old twins at his home after the episode was taped and left approximately 10 minutes later. However, as the affidavit reveals, surveillance footage showed that Parker’s Hummer appeared to remain at Smith’s residence for at least an hour.
According to the NBC News article shared by Dateline, the affidavit revealed that surveillance footage showed Parker arriving at Smith’s building at around 3:18 pm. About an hour later, at 4:18 pm, the phones belonging to Parker and Smith reportedly left his home.
By 4:32 p.m., both phones were moving west, a direction that did not match Parker’s plans. She was supposed to head north to pick up her eldest son, who was waiting for her. That afternoon, Parker’s brother, Dustin Erickson, had also texted her to ask about her plans.
As the NBC News article shared by Dateline reports, her phone reportedly responded to him, saying that she was in Waterford, a local reference to the Waterford Lakes Town Center shopping mall, located roughly 12 miles northeast of Smith’s home. However, the affidavit notes that Parker’s phone never travelled east or north toward the shopping center.
Investigators also pointed out that, according to Erickson, Parker had no reason to mislead him about her location. Parker’s car was then found abandoned at the Walden Palms apartment complex on the west side of Orlando, Florida, the day after she disappeared. Digital forensics revealed that both Parker's and Smith's phones travelled toward Lake Conway, and that's where her phone was ultimately recovered from the water.
The details revealed by the NBC News article shared by Dateline suggest that Smith was with Parker in the car, whereas he had told investigators that he hadn't seen her since she dropped off their twins. Moreover, it also suggests that at some point Parker's car was headed in a direction she hadn't initially planned for.
Not only has Smith's arrest indicated that he is the murderer, but the details of the affidavit have suggested that he had a questionable and violent past. As reported by the NBC News article shared by Dateline, the affidavit states:
“According to Jill Van Mechelen, the suspect would manually choke (strangle) her during these episodes of domestic physical violence. The suspect also made threats to kill Jill Van Mechelen and her father. Jill Van Mechelen reported that the suspect told her on multiple occasions that he would kill her and/or her father and make them disappear.”
Moreover, as NBC affiliate WESH 2 reports, Dale Smith Jr. was found guilty of domestic violence against his first wife, Shannon Smith, in 2001 while he was serving in the military. The report also states that he faced a court-martial for distributing ecstasy. The allegations in the arrest affidavit are, however, not facts established through a criminal trial and should not be perceived as such.
Dale Smith Jr. is now in the Orange County Jail in Orlando, Florida, where he was denied bond after pleading not guilty to second-degree murder charges. Stay tuned for more updates.
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