Woman reunited with family 51 years after being abducted
A family from the US have been reunited with their long-lost daughter and sister, 51 years after she was abducted as a toddler.
Melissa Highsmith went missing in 1971 when, at just 22 months old, she was taken from her parents’ Texas home by a babysitter.
Now, with the help of a 23andMe DNA test, the Highsmiths tracked down their missing loved one “without help from law enforcement or other outside involvement.”
Melissa was last seen by her family in August 1971, when her mother Alta Apantenco was in need of a babysitter, and hired a woman who expressed interest in the job without meeting her in person.
While Apantenco was at work, her roommate handed baby Melissa to the babysitter who allegedly abducted her and never returned.
Melissa's family never stopped looking for her, and in recent years even created a Facebook page named “Finding Melissa”.
After a recommendation from a genealogist, the Highsmith family used Ancestry and 23andMe to track down Melissa.
The family said their mother was hesitant since she had done DNA tests with six different women throughout the years and they all came back negative.
“Every time my mother got her hopes up. After 51 years, she didn’t want to submit another DNA test. She was tired and she was hurt and guilty from carrying this all these years,” said Victoria Highsmith, Melissa’s sister, told NBC.
“I’m thankful that we got her to agree to submit her DNA ... It is because of that, and my dad submitting, that we were able to find Melissa.”
“Within three weeks we found my sister. It was like, ‘boom, boom, boom,’ we found her,” said Victoria Highsmith.
Victoria also said she is so happy that her mother can now feel vindicated after being accused by police when she had nothing to do with Melissa’s disappearance.
“She has carried this pain and this guilt for 51 years and I have watched her cry for three days of joy. I have never seen my mother so happy,” said Victoria Highsmith.
When the family met up in an emotional reunion, Melissa with her mother, her father and two of her four siblings, shared tears, hugs and smiles.
“I couldn’t stop crying. I was overjoyed and I’m still walking around in a fog trying to comprehend that my sister is right in front of me and that we found her,” said Victoria Highsmith.
“It’s a Christmas miracle! It’s amazing meeting her. It was like looking into myself, she looks like me, like us. She’s overjoyed to be in our lives.”
Image credits: Highsmith family