‘The People’s Court’ Murder: Another Dead Wife?

We are following a bombshell new twist in the case of the Florida father accused of murdering his ex-Fiancé Michelle Parker, who vanished on the very day. The two appeared on an episode of the People's Court. He gets pretty malicious and vindictive, and he's a mean person, especially when he's been drinking. But was Michelle Parker the first woman to meet a tragic end in Dale Smith Jr's life? Smith had been married twice before Parker disappeared in 2011, and now investigators are reportedly taking a closer look at the mysterious death of one of those women, his wife, who died a decade earlier. As investigators revisit the mysterious death of Smith's former wife, his attorney makes a bold push to get the accused killer out of jail. We're on the case presented by law and crime. I'm Christian. While the twist we're talking about today, we did not see coming because not only is Dale Smith Jr now accused of murder in the case of Michelle Parker, investigators are reportedly looking into what happened to a woman who died in 2001, who he was once married to. Now in the Parker case, authorities say they now have text messages and new technology to look into location data that they say proves that Dale Smith Jr is the one responsible for what happened to Michelle Parker. They believe he killed Michelle Parker. She was last seen in 2011 dropping off the twins that they shared. They were just three years old at Dale Smith's home, and it was on the same day that the couple aired on an episode of the People's Court in their relationship, which was toxic, which was tumultuous, was put on national television for everyone to see. And I felt somebody grabbed me and yank me around. And that's just part of the episode. You can still find the full thing on YouTube. Parker was 33 years old at the time. She lived in Orlando. She and Smith. They had these three-year-old twins, and she was also a parent to a third son who she had with another man. Now Parker and Smith, their relationship lasted roughly five years, and it was toxic to say the least, and I'll show you why. Parker said on that episode of the People's Court that Smith was abusive. She said he was a cheater, and then Smith accused her of infidelity as well. Michelle Parker was last seen November 17, 2011, and it took law enforcement more than 15 years to make an arrest in her case. All right, sir. Please state your name. Dale Wayne Smith, the second Dale Smith Jr is currently behind bars. He's been denied bond, but his attorney is preparing to make an argument that he should be free as his case moves through the legal system. And he says that Dale Smith Jr maintains his innocence. Now Dale told law enforcement that he doesn't know what happened to Michelle Parker after she dropped off their three-year-old twins at his house on that day in November. But there is evidence law enforcement says proves that Dale Smith Jr's lie. Also, the new twist is law enforcement is now prepared to take a closer look reportedly into other women who died while in Dale Smith Jr's life, specifically a woman he was married to in 2001. So we're talking more than 25 years ago. He was onto his second wife. Her name was Shannon Collins Smith. She was 26 years old. We found her obituary. This is from an addition of the Orlando Sentinel back in 2001 in April. And the obituary says that this woman Shannon Collins Smith died of a brain injury. And it also lists one of the people she was survived by as her husband Dale Smith. Now, in the wake of Smith's arrest last month in connection to the Michelle Parker case, authorities say they're not going to look into what happened to Shannon's death and whether it was really an accidental death. And I'll tell you what we've learned about Dale's alleged alibi here in just a moment. And where he appears to have been around the time that his second wife passed away. Now, as far as the Parker case, one of the big questions that was raised, when it was announced that Dale Smith Jr. would be arrested more than 15 years after she vanished was why now what new information did law enforcement have that they didn't have in 2011 because Dale Smith Jr. publicly has been a suspect from the beginning in this case. But he's denied having anything to do with what happened to Michelle. So I want to lay out for you some of the examples that law enforcement say they have in this case and why they arrested Dale Smith Jr. in October. And it's all laid out in a 46 page criminal complaint that a judge recently unsealed. It was interesting that prosecutors did not want the public to see this at the time it was released because they said they were still interviewing witnesses and they were still investigating. And in this document, it appears that detectives were worried that Dale was going to flee the country because he had bought an airline ticket. So it appears that they had to move fast and bring him in for an arrest. Now, Michelle Parker was officially declared dead in 2015. But her body has never been found. Law enforcement did find her cell phone and water beneath the bridge. And they also found her Hummer, which was abandoned the day after she went missing. And again, Dale was a suspect from the very beginning, but he told law enforcement that he had no idea where Michelle Parker went after she dropped off the twins. But I'll show you some text messages that law enforcement say allegedly proves that was a lie. So this story that Dale gave police in 2011 was that Michelle dropped the twins off at his house around four o'clock. He then left with the kids to go to his parents' house and he said Michelle left. She went her separate way. He didn't see her again. He said when he went to his parents' house, Dale and his dad then go to a warehouse to get some roofing supplies for a job. Police say that Dale also brought up to them the fact that Michelle and he were on the people's court that day. And he suggested that Michelle may have been embarrassed by what played out on national television. This episode was about an engagement ring that Michelle was accused of throwing and losing as the two of them were in an argument at a hotel. And then Dale took her to court for $5,000 to get money for that ring. Michelle's family told me that she went on the show because Dale was trying to bring her to court and she did not money for a lawyer and the people's court would pay for everything. That episode aired at two o'clock in the afternoon and that's just hours before Michelle would arrive at Dale's house. And in the criminal complaint police write quote both the raw footage and the aired footage were not flattering to either the suspect or the victim. When police first spoke with Dale, they say they also noticed some marks on his body. And there are some images of these marks but they are in black and white so they're hard to see but police say they believe that these are defensive wounds like scratches they say are near Dale's mouth. And this is a picture of his left forearm and wrist that police say shows a scratch. Then you have a picture of Dale's back which allegedly shows his elbows with abrasions. And there's an interesting note in the criminal complaint that detectives in 2011 apparently did not ask Dale where these scratches came from. So now we have text messages that police say show that Dale Smith's story they believe was not accurate. Police say on the day that Michelle Parker went missing she asked Dale to go to lunch and quote later in the investigation it would be discovered that Michelle asked Dale to go to lunch in Waterford which is a shopping closet area in Orlando and they were going to go to lunch that day around 1230. Now this is very different than what Dale told law enforcement because the story he gave was they don't really talk anymore. She drops off the kids that's really the only interactions they have. She leaves quickly after dropping the kids off at the house but there is now evidence that proves that that just wasn't the case according to this criminal complaint. And the couple also sent some very angry text messages to each other often about the custody of their twins. There's one text that has Michelle texting Dale and she says quote I hope your plane crashes. I F wording hate you. I told you I couldn't do that. You said okay see you Thursday and now at 3 30 p.m. an hour and a half before you have them you tell me you're asking them F you your family just got a lot smaller because your visitation rights will be taken away and this was related to some sort of event that Michelle apparently was going to go to and then Dale was going to take the kids and then he said he couldn't do it and choose upset with that. Michelle was also apparently seeing someone new in the weeks leading up to her disappearance. Dale center this text message on November 7th quote you and your boyfriend have fun lying to me last week saying you didn't have one so I would loan you money. LOL come on now do I look that stupid and lying about moving to Daytona by yourself another good one. I don't believe any of it Michelle so please leave me alone and if you need to talk to me contact my attorney unless it's about me getting my kids oh one last thing can we please get the hummer out of my name then you have November 17th this is the day that Michelle goes missing and Dale Texter at 119 in the afternoon quote I'm sexually frustrated LOL Michelle Parker replies that's your fault you were never frustrated before when while with me and half the time it wasn't me you were bleeping I'm sure you're fine. In a 2026 interview, there's a friend of Smith's who says that within weeks of Michelle going missing, Smith allegedly said, quote, I wish someone would kill this beeworth. So those text messages lay out a potential motive in the murder of Michelle Parker, but authorities also say that location data proves that Dale Smith was not telling the truth. And again, Dale and Michelle dropped the twins off around four o'clock. At least that's what he says. Cell phone tower data, according to law enforcement, shows Parker actually arriving in the area of Dale's home, roughly 45 minutes before that. And the cell phone data also shows that Parker was at Dale's house for more than an hour, which is far longer than previous visits and very different from what Dale allegedly said, where she just drops the kids off and leaves. On top of that, law enforcement now say that Parker's phone and Dale's phone allegedly move together from his house to an area near Orlando called Bell Isle. And Parker's phone then stops and Dale's continues on to his parents house. Parker's phone would be found in water under a bridge in the Bell Isle area of Orlando. Cell data also claims that Dale's phone would show up at his parents house and it would not move from 445 in the afternoon to 945 at night. And he told police that he arrived home from the warehouse trip with his dad around 10 p.m. Authorities say the way they can now analyze location data proves that Smith is the one who allegedly killed Michelle. And it's in a way they weren't able to do apparently in 2011. I do want to note that these are just a couple examples of the evidence that law enforcement now has in this case against Dale Smith, Jr. Let's talk a little bit about his second wife and why there are concerns about her death back in 2001. Her name was Shannon Collins and her name is mentioned actually in the Michelle Parker criminal complaint because Smith committed domestic violence against Collins in 2001 according to police. Smith used to be in the military, specifically the Marine Corps. And in 2001, he was court-martialed in sentence to three years in military prison according to the criminal complaint and the charges were related to domestic violence, but also distributing ecstasy. And even though the Orlando Sentinel obituary says that Collins died in April of 2001 of a brain injury, the official cause of death reportedly wasn't accidental overdose of the MDMA at a house party, of course, also known as ecstasy. Now we know that Smith received a dishonorable discharge from the military. And apparently his military record show quote the suspect's performance was unsatisfactory, bearing and severe mood swings when subjected to minimal stress. The suspect was prescribed antidepressants due to his inability to effectively handle any level of stress, necessitating removal from his primary duties. And authorities reportedly now in Orange County, Florida are looking into whether Collins death was truly accidental. He's currently in the Orange County jail. He has been denied bond, but a hearing is scheduled for December 7 to argue whether he deserves to have bond in this case and be out as it moves through the legal system. No, another interesting part of the criminal complaint before I get to Vinnie Politan, host of VPI, he spoke with Dale Smith Jr's defense attorney. And that interview was actually used as evidence in a previous hearing. So we'll talk with him about that here in just a moment. But an interesting part of the criminal complaint seems to show that law enforcement knew they had to move fast on Dale Smith Jr. in October, because one of his sons came to the police station and asked questions that police say they couldn't answer, including if his dad was still a suspect. Then they say, Dale Smith allegedly bought a ticket to Columbia on October 13 for a flight that was going to take off on October 16. He was arrested on October 14. All right, joining me now to talk about this, Vinnie Politan, hosts of Vinnie Politan investigates over on the court TV YouTube channel, always great to have you on here. What do you make of this new development where they are looking into this death Shannon Collins back in 2001? Yeah, it's surprising, first of all, right, because it was ruled a death due to an overdose of ecstasy. She was allegedly out with friends at a night club down in Orlando in 2001. And the question is, was he even around? What's interesting is at that time, that exact time, I was working as a local reporter down in Orlando. So when I saw that this was like an ecstasy overdose at a night club, I'm like, well, that sort of rings true as to what was happening in Orlando right around that time. Then we were recovering stories like that. All that this particular one we didn't cover. I don't remember covering it, but there were other cases of young women walking out of nightclubs and just collapsing. What coming out of their nose ecstasy was being used widely and especially in the nightclub scene in downtown Orlando for sure, because that was part of what I covered every day because I was the nightside reporter. And you know, every once in a while, hey, we've got another person down at a nightclub. We roll up and we try to figure out what's going on. And it was it was the ecstasy. So that part of it has a ring of truth, but is it the actual truth? I guess is what we need to find out. No, it's interesting that I just looked up the obituary for Shannon Collins in the Orlando Sentinel. And it says that she died of a brain injury, you know, and certainly an obituary, something, you know, written probably by loved one, you know, and only so much information you want to put out there. And then it says she survived by Dale Smith, one of the people because she was married to him at the time. But then the medical examiner said that it was a death-related ecstasy. The interesting part of it is, and I think a question that still remains to be seen, we're working on getting military records for Dale Smith, is that there's a possibility it seems like he was in prison at the time that she died, which maybe doesn't line up, but he did serve or at least was sentenced to three years in prison related to domestic violence on Shannon Collins, according to the criminal complaint, and he got a dishonorable discharge in 2003. So that would certainly, you know, at surface level, it seems like an alibi, but obviously we'll need to confirm the details. Isn't that the greatest alibi? Isn't that the greatest. Well, he was in prison. Right. I was in prison for something else. And what's also interesting about that is all that happened, I believe, when they were living in South Carolina. So she's on a base in South Carolina. Right. And she's now in Orlando. So I don't think there would be a reason for him to have been living in Orlando. She would be living there because her husband is now, you know, behind bars in military prison. So, but there's a reason why they're taking another look at it, right? So that's not like an accident. There's got to be a reason. Well, people in the medical examiner, I guess the medical, like I read the medical examiner asked the sheriff's office to open the investigation, which I found interesting because that would be like from a medical standpoint, like something in the autopsy, but I'm speculating like the autopsy or something that like someone's taking fresh eyes and looking at it, but it's not. It seems like a detective said, hey, we should look back at this because he was around at the time, which is it's weird that it came from the medical examiner, I think. Right. And, you know, a report of a brain injury versus potential overdose due to ecstasy. Is there a different way to interpret the autopsy results? And if it's the result of an injury, was it a prior injury that then had impact a little bit later? I mean, that's the possibility as well. If you're talking about domestic violence, then you're talking about the potential of physical injury to the victim. And was this the result of a prior injury? Or is it somehow connected? To me, that's the one way, if he is actually incarcerated at the time that she dies, that he could potentially be connected. If they believe taking another look at how she died, that it was from an injury, rather than from an overdose. And, you know, he did the other reason he went for this three-year stint in military prison was dealing ecstasy, according to police. So that also, you know, lines like a tie into it as well, right? Yeah, no, it's you can kind of see a little bit of the lines, but it's like, where was he? Where was he at the time? We know he's in the Orange County jail at the moment, denied bond, but his attorney who you spoke with is trying to make an argument that he deserves to be out as this continues on. So there's an Arthur hearing coming up. What does that mean? Well, the Arthur hearing down in Florida, you're entitled, you have a constitutional right to bond, right? But when you are charged with a crime like this, which is murder, you don't automatically get it. So now what the defense has done is said, listen, we want an Arthur hearing, which means now the burden is on the prosecution to present evidence. And the burden of proof at an Arthur hearing for prosecutors, and I always point to myself, because I'm a former prosecutor, is the highest level of proof in our criminal system. It's beyond beyond a reasonable doubt. It's what they call it, proof evident. So prosecutors have to put this evidence in front of a judge that would prove that he is responsible for the murder of Michelle Parker beyond, beyond a reasonable doubt. So it's a high burden of proof. The standard of the evidence you could put in though is less strict. So you can put hearsay evidence in, you can put police reports in and things like that. But nonetheless, this is going to be like a mini trial. Prosecutors carry the burden and it's a heavy burden. If they don't Don't meet that burden. then he'll be granted bond and then the argument becomes how much should the bond be if prosecutors do meet this burden in the eyes of the judge, then there can still be an argument that despite that, he's still entitled to bond and then the burden shifts to the defense to try to convince the judge that despite the evidence in this case, there is still a reason to let him out because he is, you know, still presumed innocent. What do you make of his defense attorney going for this? You know, we all read through the 46 pages. He read, you talked to him about the 46 pages, and if he wants this mini trial to put all the evidence out to the public, like, what does that tell you about the defense for Dale Smith? He doesn't believe there's really anything new in it, right? And basically what, and you know, all these years later is when he's charged, but the evidence hasn't necessarily changed. I think the biggest transformation has been the technology and the interpretation of some of the evidence, but I think for the defense attorney, there's two things for an Arthur hearing. One is you try to get your guy out, right? It's easier to prepare for a trial with a defendant who is not incarcerated. That's number one. Number two, if he loses the trial, he never gets out. So, you know, it gets him some level of freedom prior to his trial. Now, with that extreme burden that prosecutors have, they've got to put their evidence out there. They've got to lay their case out. So, now the defense gets a very good idea of where they're going, where it gets a little tricky for the defense is because sometimes defense attorneys try to hold back what they're going to do with trial. They don't want to show their hands. They'd rather do it in front of the jury. How much of that do they reveal in trying to get him out on bond, which could compromise any defense strategy that they would present at the trial? So, that's sort of the balancing act, but I think the goal, and I think what Dale Smith Jr. wants is to just get out. I just get out, I want to get out, you know, because every day that you're not behind bars is one less day you are incarcerated for a crime that could put you there for the rest of your life. When you read through the 46 pages, because Michelle Parker's body has never been found, found her cell phone underneath the bridge, found her car, which was abandoned. Dale Smith Jr., you know, from that, at least, you know, reading through for me, like the cell phones go in a certain location where I think you could say that he's the one who dumped the cell phone, you know, it looks like some cell phone, some text messages were deleted. They certainly were in communication way more than he told police. All of that looks really sketchy. At least from like what I read though, there's no like moment where they feel like she was killed. Like this is the moment, like there are locations where they are, but like for the defense, like where did Michelle Parker die? I think it's still a very big question. Absolutely. It absolutely. And it's a nobody case, right? So you're not going to have an autopsy. You're not going to have a cause and manner of death from a medical expert coming in there and explaining it to the jury. And then the jury said, well, okay, well, someone knocked her over the head or someone did this, you're not going to have that. So that's that's a built-in challenge in all cases like that. Doesn't mean they can't be one. We just saw with Neuresh Bot a case like that where prosecutors were able to track all of that. They had a lot more in the Neuresh Bot case than prosecutors have here. And part of the reason is is when the alleged crime took place because Neuresh Bot more recent, there are cameras everywhere. You're being tracked everywhere. He's driving a Tesla. This case, a little, a lot different because of the technology. There's limited ability to track every movement. And I think there are some gaps and some openings in all of it. But I think it's a provable case. But, you know, I've been in a courtroom in Orlando before Chris in a case where I thought there was a very strong circumstantial case. And that jury said not guilty to a woman, a woman who had a child name, Kaley Marie Anthony, that's all I'm going to say. So people remember that one. Yeah. They all remember that one. So, you know, Florida juries, as much as, you know, Florida is a very, you know, it's kind of law and order. They also hold the state to their proof. So you can get a level of skepticism from from jurors down there. It's not a bad place to be a criminal defendant necessarily. So, I think that's that comes into play as well. So it's not a layup of a case for prosecutors. But there's enough to to build that circumstantial case where everything's pointing in one direction. And then you have that one big factor that sort of hangs over everything, right? Which is the airing of the people's court episode, airs just like an hour before she drops the kids off or picks up the kids or drops off the kids at his place or drops them off. And the timing of all that is that a coincidence that at the moment this people's court episode airs for the country to see than all of a sudden within hours she vanishes. Like that's to me, that's a big coincidence. Yeah, it doesn't prove anything. But that sort of filters the rest of the evidence that the jury's going to hear. Well, and you look like I'm not a regular viewer in the people's court. But like you watch this episode, it did not look good for either of them and please note that. And it lays out that this was a toxic relationship. Now we have these text messages that have been put out where they're going back and forth and saying nasty things to each other. But then also there's this like angle where there have moments where Dale Smith said he was sexually frustrated that day to Michelle. Like you have, you know, the ups and the downs, which we do see in domestic relationships that are often. But like that episode didn't look good for either of them. There's no doubt about it. I got to ask you before you go, though, you were, you were technically now evidence in this, in this case. After Dale Smith was arrested, his attorney, who's been his attorney from the very beginning in this and as a figure in this story, you were the first one to speak with him. Don't get the sense he's doing a lot of interviews after that. And what you said to him, like, why do you think prosecutors took what you said and played that in front of the court? Yeah, well, they wanted him to not talk anymore. Prosecutors don't like him getting Dale Smith Jr's story out there. They don't like the defense speaking. So they're looking for a some form of a gag order to prevent him from doing interviews and talking about the evidence or talking about his client. So they played the whole interview inside the courtroom. So how many minutes was that? It was a good 20 minutes. It was a long interview. It wasn't a short one. He gave us a lot of time and a lot of insight into how he was looking at this case. And the judge got to see it and everybody else got to see it. I'm glad they did. But I don't think you'll be hearing from him anymore in this case. So mom's going to be the word, I think, from pretty much everyone surrounding all of this as we get ready. But this is a case where I know that her family has been waiting years and years and years for justice. They suspected him. He was named as a suspect from the beginning. Yeah, it seems like nothing happened. And now finally, you know, let the jury make the decision, right? Let the at some point as a prosecutor. And I'm glad prosecutors went forward here. If he's the suspect, he's the one you believe did it. And you've got the evidence that we've seen so far. You got to just try the case. You got to try the case. You can't just let it linger and hope for some other piece of evidence to fall in your lap. You try the case. You make the arguments and you you try to convince the juries of what you are already convinced of. And that's what we're going to see. This is going to be a huge case. But this hearing that's coming up is a condensed version of that trial. So you're going to see and hear all the evidence. So to me, that's I'm going to be glued watching that. Yeah, I think we all are. We'll be covering it for sure. Vinnie Politan, host of VPI, Vinnie Politan investigates. You can find it over on the court TV, YouTube channel. Always great to have you on here. Vinnie, thanks for doing this. Great to see you. Now we'll do it around the case, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Chris Stewart. See you next time.