Valerie M. Elder Smiley

• Missing Since 06/28/2024
• Missing From Chattanooga, Tennessee
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race Black
• Age 41 years old
• Height and Weight 5'5, 210 pounds
• Clothing/Jewelry Description A yellow or beige polo shirt and shorts.
• Medical Conditions Shortly before her disappearance, Smiley started taking a medication for vertigo and an ear infection. Her family stated the medicine altered her behavior: she was sleeping more, didn't have as much energy, repeated herself a lot and didn't seem like herself.
• Associated Vehicle(s) A red 2004 Ford Expedition with the Tennessee license plate number 079BFQD and a "TSU Mom" sticker on the passenger side door.
• Distinguishing Characteristics African-American female. Black hair, brown eyes. Smiley has a tattoo of her name "Valerie" in cursive on the outside of her right calf.

Details of Disappearance

Smily was last seen in Chattanooga, Tennessee on June 28, 2024. She left home at about 2:00 p.m. driving her red 2004 Ford Expedition, which has the Tennessee license plate number 079BFQD and a "TSU Mom" sticker on the passenger side door. A photo of the car is posted with this case summary.

She planned to attend her twin sons' baseball game, but never arrived there. Her husband spoke to her on the phone that day and she said she was on her way home, but she never came back home. She has never been heard from again. Her husband called the police to report her disappearance late that evening.

The next day, police tracked the location of Smiley's cellular phone; it was in Fayetteville, Georgia. A day after that, the phone was thirt minutes away from Union City, Georgia. Her family said she might have gone to Georgia to go shopping but wouldn't have traveled as far into the state as this, and that she rarely traveled that far away from home.

Smiley's family doesn't think she would have abandoned her family, which includes four sons, or Sak's Wing Shak, the restaurant business she co-owned. They believe she may be confused because of the medication she was taking, and may not know how to get home. Her case remains unsolved.