Last Updated on: 29th November 2022, 11:00 pm
Who is Melissa Highsmith? Biography, Wiki
Melissa Highsmith was robbed from her home in Fort Worth, Texas on 23rd August 1971 by what her family said was posing as a babysitter.
She was abducted from her home when she was just 21 months old and was reunited with her family more than 50 years after her abduction.
Melissa Highsmith Age
Her current age is 53 years.
Kidnapped As Baby
Highsmith, 53, was mugged at her home in Fort Worth, Texas, on 23rd August 1971 by someone posing as a babysitter, according to her family.
After decades apart, the Highsmith siblings are telling PEOPLE that a DNA match has confirmed the news they’ve been waiting for all these years: Melissa, who grew up as Melanie Miyoko, was indeed alive, and the long-lost sister, up who they had been waiting for search.
Melissa says she and the woman who raised her just 10 minutes from where she was kidnapped “were never close”.
Melissa says that while the news upset her, it made sense after a harsh upbringing from the person she suspects is her kidnapper. “At first I wanted to be angry,” she says. “And I was angry.”
Melissa says she and the woman who raised her just 10 minutes from where she was kidnapped “were never close”.
Found By Family After 51 Years
For the past few days, he has said he has stopped communicating with the woman who claimed to be his mother. While the Highsmiths say they never gave up hope of finding Melissa, her mother Alta Apantenco, 73, admits finding the 51-year-old woman has been scary.
“My family believed I was alive and I wanted to believe them, but I’d been disappointed so many times that I just said to them, ‘Let me out of this,'” Alta told PEOPLE.
“I said, ‘Go ahead and try to find Melissa, but please let me out of this because I don’t want to get involved. And her persistence paid off.”
After the DNA match confirmed Melissa was her sister Rebecca, 48; Victoria, 47; Sharon, 45; and Jeff, 42, found her on Facebook and agreed to meet.
So far, Melissa has been reunited with her mother and father, Jeffrie Highsmith, 72, and her siblings, Victoria and Jeff. Rebecca and Sharon plan to hang out with Melissa in Fort Worth around Christmas.
“I can’t wait to meet everyone,” says Melissa. “It’s going to be something you have to get used to, having so much family when you haven’t had any.”
The family said they intend to contact the Fort Worth Police Department to discuss the possibility of prosecuting the kidnapper. However, they were reportedly told by authorities that the Texas statute of limitations expired 48 years ago.
Despite the years gone by and the time they’ve spent desperately searching for Melissa, the Highsmith’s credit their trust in helping them find her.
“We give God all the glory. We believe it was, we are people of faith, and we believe it was through prayer,” says Jeff.
“God is an amazing God and He can do anything,” adds Alta.
“He is a trailblazer, a miracle worker, a promise holder, a light in the dark. He is my God.”
