After 51 years, Melissa Highsmith and her family are making up for lost time and getting to know one another.
FORT WORTH, Texas - In 1971, Melissa Highsmith went missing when she was kidnapped by a babysitter at just 22 months old, but her family has just solved the case.Melissa Highsmith sat next to her parents and looked at photos of herself that she has never seen before.Her mother, Alta Apantencl, says she thought she would never see her daughter again.
“My father texted me on messenger and he told me, you know, ‘I’ve been looking for my daughter for 51 years,’” she said.“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,” she said. Melissa Highsmith agreed to take a DNA test and on Thanksgiving, she met her brother and later, her parents.Melissa Highsmith’s brother, Jeff Highsmith, said meeting her for the first time was “a dream come true.”Copyright 2022 KTVT via CNN Newsource. All rights reserved.
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