Orlando arrests Dale Smith Jr. for 2011 murder of Michelle Parker

Orlando police have made a move after fifteen long years by arresting Dale Smith Jr., 55, for the murder of Michelle Parker. The woman vanished in 2011 just hours after a prerecorded episode of "The People's Court" aired showing her and Smith fighting over a $5,000 engagement ring.

Smith faces charges of second-degree murder connected to Parker's death even though her body has not been found yet. Authorities stated that all evidence points directly at Dale Smith Jr. as the person responsible for killing Michelle. This arrest marks a massive shift for investigators who had watched this cold case sit unsolved since she was last seen on Nov. 17, 2011. That day she dropped her twins off with Smith before disappearing into thin air.

In the televised court show, Parker described Smith as someone who "gets pretty malicious and vindictive." She claimed he wanted his ring back so she took it off and threw it at him. Friends of the couple had previously called their relationship tumultuous. Her brother Dustin got a text saying "Waterford" when he asked where she was. Family members said that would never happen because Parker never responded with one-word texts.

Her abandoned Hummer sat near an apartment complex west of the Mall at Millenia for several days until found by police. The decal promoting her airbrush-tanning business had been removed from the vehicle. A dive team later located her iPhone in a lake roughly four miles from her home.

Detective Phil McMickin explained during a news conference that Smith was interviewed many times before now. "The suspect was interviewed more than once, and since then has taken part in depositions related to this case," he said. He noted that very specific questions were asked of him numerous times over the years where he gave different answers to those same questions.

Police credited an expanded investigative team for finally closing the case after years of work. They used advances in digital forensics and reexamined old evidence with a renewed, focused effort over the past year. Fox News Digital has reached out to Smith's defense attorney regarding this development.