REUNITED AFTER 50 YEARSE

Her family never gave up looking for their stolen baby and finally tracked her down living just 15 minutes from their Texas home

- LAVERN DE VRIES

SHE’D been missing for five decades, making hers one of the oldest missing person cases in the US. Yet every year for 50 years her family gathered around the table to commemorate the day she was born, blowing out candles, cutting the cake and releasing white balloons.

The heartbroken Highsmith family held on to the belief that their missing daughter and sister was out there, somewhere – little knowing that “somewhere” was just 15 minutes away.

In a remarkable turn of events, the Highsmiths of Fort Worth, Texas, recently discovered that the baby who was stolen from them in 1971 was living in the same area. And the moment Melissa Highsmith (53), who was snatched by her babysitter, reunited with them would melt even the hardest of hearts.

Melissa grew up believing she was Melanie Miyoko and was living under her married name, Melanie Brown, when her family discovered her. After a relentless search spanning five decades and several US states, they tracked her down through the public DNA site 23andMe.

At first Melissa didn’t believe she was related to the Highsmiths. She agreed to take a DNA test only when they told her their baby had had a birthmark on her back – she had one too.

The test proved she was the daughter of Jeffrie Highsmith and Alta Apantenco.

For Alta (73), the teary reunion was almost too much to bear. She’d lived with the guilt of losing her daughter for so long and had to put up with accusations she’d hurt or even killed her own baby.

Melissa has also endured terrible suffering since her kidnapping. She grew up in an abusive home and ran away when she was 15.

She’s blessed to be reunited with her family and is making up for lost time, she says.