After five decades, one of the oldest missing person cases has been solved. Melissa Highsmith found her family through a DNA match on the ancestry service 23andMe, the Highsmith family announced on Sunday.
“Our finding Melissa was purely because of DNA, not because of any police/FBI involvement, podcast involvement, or even our family’s own private investigations or speculations. DNA WINS THIS SEARCH!” Sharon Rose Highsmith, Melissa’s sister, wrote on Facebook.
Melissa Highsmith was 22 months old in August 1971 when she was allegedly abducted from her home in Fort Worth, Texas, by a woman her mother hired as a babysitter, per CNN.
At the time of Highsmith’s disappearance, her mother, Alta Apantenco, was separated from her partner, Jeffrie Highsmith. Apantenco moved to Forth Worth, Texas, as a single mother and began working as a waitress. She placed an ad in the newspaper looking for someone to watch over daughter while she waited tables.
She hired Ruth Johnson, who picked up the toddler from Apantenco’s roommate, who described the babysitter as seeming “nice” and “dressed to impress” in white gloves, a bonnet and sunglasses, per the New York Post.
The woman never returned with Highsmith, and no one was ever able to reach her. Apantenco called the police when her daughter was taken, but for half a century, no strong leads or evidence was ever found.
However, a DNA test from 23andMe connected Jeffrie Highsmith to Melissa Highsmith’s children. The family immediately reached out to her on Facebook, and at first, she thought it was a scam.
“My father texted me on messenger and he told me, ‘You know, I’ve been looking for my daughter for 51 years,’” said Melissa Highsmith, per CBS News. “The person that raised me, I asked her, ‘Is there anything you need to tell me?’ and it was confirmed that she knew that I was baby Melissa so that just made it real.”
According to CBS News, Melissa Highsmith never knew she had been kidnapped. She was raised under the name Melanie Walden, and was found still living in Forth Worth.
“I didn’t feel loved as a child. It was abusive, and I ran away at 15 years old. I went to the streets. I did what I had to do to get by. ... I worked the streets,” Highsmith said, per ABC affiliate WFAA.
So far, no information has been released about the kidnapper, but Highsmith believes the woman who raised her to be the same person who took her from her mother’s Fort Worth apartment in 1971, according to WFAA.
Highsmith, now 53, is finally getting to know her family.
“I’m just elated, I can’t describe my feelings. I’m so happy to see my daughter that I didn’t think I would ever see her again,” Apantenco told WFAA.
