Days before Dale Smith’s arrest in connection with the disappearance and presumed death of Michelle Parker, Smith’s son went to the Orlando Police Department to ask whether his father was still considered a suspect, according to new court documents obtained by News 6.
In a motion filed Monday evening, prosecutors asked a judge to keep the affidavit for the arrest warrant for Smith sealed and confidential until Oct. 26, 2026.
Smith was arrested Oct. 14 on a charge of second-degree murder.
Parker was last seen November 17, 2011, when Orlando police say she took the children she and Smith shared to his house. On that same day, an episode of “The People’s Court” aired, featuring Smith and Parker in a dispute over a $5,000 engagement ring.
[WATCH: Arrest affidavit for Dale Smith still sealed; defense attorney on verge of obtaining it]
Smith has long been considered the prime suspect in Parker’s disappearance, but he has maintained his innocence. Parker’s remains have not yet been found.
The latest motion seeks to keep the affidavit confidential because investigators are still conducting witness interviews, according to the filing.
“The Orlando Police Department strategically decided to refrain from doing certain witnesses’ interviews until after the Defendant was taken into custody so as not to incentivize the Defendant to flee prosecution,” prosecutors wrote in the filing.
The motion states that members of OPD are scheduled to complete the interviews—“which require travelling to two different out-of-state destinations”–on Oct. 25.
The filing also includes more information about the days leading up to Smith’s arrest.
[FULL TIMELINE: Disappearance of Orlando mom Michelle Parker]
On Oct. 2, Smith’s son came to OPD “inquiring about the status of the case and whether his father was still a suspect,” according to the motion.
“Dale Smith’s son is trying to get closure on his mom’s disappearance,” Rajan Joshi, Smith’s defense attorney, said in an interview with News 6’s Mike Valente Tuesday. “He went to the Orlando Police Department to get information.”
Joshi said Smith’s son and a friend — who Joshi said also has a missing mother — went to the department to inquire about the investigations into their respective mothers, but that Smith’s son left after Joshi said investigators “turned [the conversation] into an interrogation.”
News 6 reached out to OPD following the interview with Joshi Tuesday afternoon, but a response has not yet been returned.
One day before Smith’s arrest, OPD learned that Smith had bought an airline ticket to Colombia with a departure date of Oct. 16, 2026, “and a return date, which could be easily cancelled, of Oct. 19, 2026,” according to the motion.
Joshi said he believes that this provision of the motion was written in a way that makes Smith’s plans appear “nefarious,” when in reality, it omits key context.
“I’ve got copies of his passport right here, stamped with all the times he’s gone and come back,” Joshi said, referring to Smith’s previous trips to Colombia. “He’s romantically involved with somebody in Colombia, and he was planning to go on Friday like he always does, come back on Sunday. It was any other visit to Colombia.”
Valente followed up by asking if weekend trips to Colombia were “routine.”
“It happens,” Joshi said. “Yeah.”
The state’s motion was filed on the same day that News 6 and two other local media outlets moved to intervene in the case “for the limited purpose of opposing the continued sealing of judicial records.”
“This is why I want the whole truth to come out,” Joshi said, pointing to the claims with which he took issue in this motion. “This is why I not only want the affidavit, but I want the truth to come out to the public because the public has been misled on this case for so many years.”
The motion from the three media outlets argued that “no criminal investigative purpose is served by keeping [the arrest warrant affidavit] sealed.”