The Guardian by Ramon Antonio Vargas 11/28/2022
Melissa Highsmith, who family say was abducted in Fort Worth in 1971, located in South Carolina, more than 1,000 miles awayMore than 50 years after her babysitter kidnapped her as a baby in Texas, a US woman has reunited with her family, who tracked their missing loved one down with a DNA test and without help from law enforcement or other outside involvement.
The incredible saga centering on the disappearance of Melissa Highsmith concluded in South Carolina on Saturday, according to a report from the Charleston television news station WCIV as well as a news release from her family.
Highsmith was a year old in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1971 when her mother, Alta Apantenco, published a newspaper advertisement asking for a babysitter. Raising Melissa on her own and needing someone to care for her daughter while she worked her job, Apatenco hired a woman who expressed interest in the job without ever meeting her in person.
Apatenco’s roommate handed Melissa over to the babysitter, who allegedly abducted her and never returned her.
Loved ones of Highsmith reported her missing to police and never forgot her in the more than half-century since, even throwing birthday parties for her every November. More recently, they also organized a Facebook page named “Finding Melissa Highsmith” and solicited help in finding their missing relative.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/nov/28/texas-woman-melissa-highsmith-found-south-carolina
