The Orlando man accused of killing Michelle Parker, his ex-fiancé who went missing nearly 15 years ago, pleaded not guilty Thursday as the document that details what led police to arrest him this week was ordered sealed by the court.
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The written plea for Dale Smith Jr., 55, was filed in an Orange County court. Hours later, Smith stood silent as he appeared for a jailhouse hearing before a judge on a second-degree murder charge.
He was ordered to stay in jail while his attorney, Rajan Joshi, prepares a motion seeking to set bond and secure his release. Few specifics were discussed at the hearing, and the arrest affidavit laying out the police investigation against Smith — which Joshi said is 46 pages — was sealed by the court, though no public reason for that action was provided.
Smith was arrested Wednesday, and Orlando Police Chief Eric Smith, who is no relation to the suspect, then announced the news to reporters, marking an outcome both detectives and Parker’s family had long wanted.
Police labeled Dale Smith as the prime suspect in the crime soon after Parker disappeared.
On Wednesday, Orlando police said new digital forensics tools uncovered location and communications data, including text messages, that investigators believe point to Smith as the culprit and allowed them to make an arrest.
But Joshi, in an interview after the Thursday hearing, called the case against Smith “circumstantial” and said the sealed affidavit offers little new evidence and that he didn’t “see anything incrimination within those text messages.”
He added, “Within the affidavit, there wasn’t anything that was glaringly new that shocked me.”
Parker’s body has never been found.
“I would love for him to tell us where she is,” said Parker’s mother, Yvonne Stewart, following the Wednesday announcement of Smith’s arrest.
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In November 2011, Parker was last seen dropping off the twins she shared with Smith at his apartment complex in east Orange. That was hours after an episode of the TV show “The People’s Court” featuring them was aired. The pre-taped segment featured the couple battling over a $5,000 engagement ring she discarded during an argument and Parker also accusing Smith of physically abusing her.
Parker’s phone and her SUV later were found abandoned as investigators and her loved ones scoured the county searching for her. At the time Parker, 33, had three-year-old, boy-girl twins and an older son, who was 11 and had a different father.
After her disappearance, Smith was the subject of an investigation by the Florida Department of Children and Families, which removed the twins from his custody amid the abuse allegations, including by Parker’s eldest child. The agency cited Smith’s prison record for drug and domestic violence convictions and his dishonorable discharge from the U.S. Marines.
An Orange County judge ultimately returned the twins to him. In 2020, he emerged victorious from a yearslong wrongful death lawsuit by Parker’s family in a bid to extract information on her whereabouts.
Despite the years of suspicion, he successfully evaded criminal charges until Wednesday.
Joshi, who represented Smith when he was first named a suspect, said law enforcement has “been very determined on this case, but the one critique I have for them is they only looked at one suspect.”
At the not-yet-scheduled hearing to decide whether Smith can be let out on bond out Joshi will be able to question investigators before a judge to determine how strong the case is ahead of trial.
“I’m interested in looking through all the discovery and reviewing the case further,” he said.
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