Missing
Carol Ann Smith
Carol, approximately 1994
Date and time person was reported missing : 06/06/1994
Missing location (approx) :
Roanoke, Virginia
Missing classification : Endangered Missing
Gender : Female
Ethnicity :
White
Age at the time of disappearance: 37 years old
Height / Weight : 5'7, 119 pounds
Distinguishing characteristics, birthmarks, tattoos
: Caucasian female. Brown hair, green eyes.
Information on the case from local sources, may or may not be correct : Carol was last seen at her home on Richards Boulevard in Roanoke, Virginia on June 6, 1994. Neighbors saw her watering flowers in the yard at 7:15 a.m. This is the last time anyone outside her family saw her.
Carol's husband of twelve years, David L. Smith, says he had been away from home on a business trip between May 25 and May 27. When he returned from his trip, he found an unknown pair of men's boxer shorts in their bedroom, and concluded Carol had had an affair while he was gone. He tried to speak to her about it on June 5, but she refused to discuss it.
At 8:00 a.m. on June 6, after the couple's two children left for school, David confronted Carol again. She made a telephone call and just two minutes later, a green full-sized American-made car with a male driver pulled up at the house. The last thing Carol said to her husband was, "You don't have to worry about me." She took a small bag of clothing and several hundred dollars in cash and left in the green car. She has never been heard from again.
David said he didn't know the vehicle's driver and couldn't describe him. The police weren't notified of her disappearance until five weeks had passed; Carol's sisters were unable to get in touch with her, and finally David told them she had left him. Her sisters then reported her missing.
David filed for divorce a month after Carol disappeared. In court documents, he said he didn't report his wife missing because figured she would return and wouldn't have wanted her parent to know she had left. Carol's sister stated she spoke to Carol by phone on May 28, the day David returned home from his business trip, and Carol said nothing about any affair.
Investigators stated they don't believe Carol left of her own accord, as she had strong ties to her family and her community and there has been no tEthnicity : of her since her disappearance, and no activity on her bank account. Her family describes her a devoted mother who wouldn't have abandoned her children.
David gave permission for police to search his house and truck; they dug up his recently poured concrete patio, but found nothing. In 1997, authorities excavated an area behind the Pulaski Correctional Unit, where David was the warden, but the search also turned up no evidence.
Some accounts give May 28, 1994 as her date of Carol's disappearance. Her case remains unsolved.
Other information and links : ncy
Roanoke County Police Department
540-562-3265
September 2021 updates and sources
Virginia State Police
The Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star
WDBJ 7
The Roanoke Times
Virginia First
Facebook pageheader for Carol Smith
Interactive Missing Person Search Map
