A Texas woman who was reunited with her family last year after being kidnapped as a toddler 51 years ago has had her identity confirmed by a DNA test.
When Melissa Highsmith, now 53, was only 22 months old, a babysitter removed her from her parents’ Fort Worth home.
On November 26, she was unexpectedly reunited with her original family, which includes her siblings, Jeffrie Highsmith, 42, Sharon Highsmith, 45, Vicitoria Highsmith, 47, and Rebecca Del Bosque, 48.
The Fort Worth Police Department revealed on Thursday that official DNA testing had been completed and had verified Melissa’s status as the missing kid.
Her parents and siblings had been searching for her for more than 50 years, yet she had been living only ten minutes away.
They eventually discovered her thanks to the DNA samples from her kids that were released on the genealogical website 23andMe.
Melissa, who had a terrible childhood and experienced sexual abuse at the hands of her stepfather, has stated that she is certain that the woman she called “mama” was the one who kidnapped her.
She previously told Dailymail.com, “Before I met my new family, I reached out to the mother that I thought raised me and asked her if there was anything she needed to tell me.”
‘She claimed to have paid $500 for me on the street.’
“I was stunned.” My mind was racing. I did not snooze. Melissa stated, “She never told me, but she always said that she had something to tell me that she had wanted to tell me for a long time, and that’s when I informed her I already knew.
Patricia ‘Sugar’ Lewis, who currently resides in Missouri, was the woman who pretended to be Melissa’s mother, according to Melissa’s family members.
Although Melissa stated that “she doesn’t want to focus on the anger,” the time spent apart from her family is priceless time that she will never get back, a lost childhood, and time apart from her parents and siblings.
