Woman kidnapped by babysitter as toddler took an Ancestry test 51 years later—found 3 DNA matches living just 20 minutes away
Sometimes, life has ways of bringing people back into your life unexpectedly for the better. A woman was kidnapped when she was just 21 months old by her babysitter. Melissa Highsmith had no idea that the woman who brought her up was not her biological mother until one day she decided to take a DNA test. After five decades of being unaware of her real family, she found 3 DNA matches living 20 minutes away from her, per WFAA. The family was reunited during Christmas in 2022.
The mom, Alta Apantenco, had advertised for a babysitter for her 21-month-old daughter back in 1971. She appointed a sitter by the name of Ruth Johnson, who was going to pick up Melissa from her apartment. Alta went to work and her roommate handed over the baby to Johnson. But after that, none of them got a chance to see Melissa again for over 50 years. Police and the FBI kept looking for the missing child, but didn't find many leads. After some time, the authorities simply hoped that whichever family had Melissa was taking good care of her. Unfortunately, the woman who raised Melissa was not very nice to her and gave her a really hard time. She had bought the baby for around $500 back in the 70s and gave her a really difficult life.
Things were so hard for Melissa that she was forced to run away from home when she was just 15 years old. She also had no idea that the woman who was raising her wasn't actually her mom. "I didn't feel loved as a child. It was abusive and I ran away at 15 years old. I went to the streets. I did what I had to do to get by... I worked the streets." Melissa's dad, Jeffrie Highsmith, explained that Melissa contacted the woman on Facebook after she came across her missing child posters. "'Do you have anything to tell me?' She said, 'Am I this little girl?'" Melissa wrote in the message.
"The mother confessed. I bought you for $500 on the street, she said in 1972. Melissa thinks she's the one who kidnapped her from the Spanish Gate apartment in Fort Worth, Texas," Jeffrie went on. The family was also surprised to know that Melissa was living only 20 minutes away from them all this time. It all started when Melissa registered herself on 23andMe. Alta's ex-husband got an email that linked him to Melissa. "He was going through his DNA and these three names popped up and he didn't know who they were. But it has his DNA and it had her DNA. It was two boys and a girl. He didn't understand and he called his daughter Rebecca, who had been working on it. Then my son reached out to her with a friend request and she accepted it."
"And he was telling her all these things about Melissa being kidnapped and she said, 'I'm sorry, I don't think I'm that person,'" Alta continued. But Melissa's brother persisted and she agreed to take the test. "He asked me; I don't think I'm that girl. I'm so sorry. He said, 'Wouldn't you like to be 100% sure?' He said I'll pay for the DNA test and I told him I'll take the test, but I really didn't think I was that girl. Once I saw the baby picture and I put my baby picture against it, it was like my twin." The family was elated to reconnect with each other. "She's alive... I cried like a baby," Jeffrie expressed. "I’m just elated, I can't describe my feelings. I'm so happy to see my daughter that I didn't think I would ever see her again," Alta pointed out. Melissa planned to get married to her husband again so her father could walk her down the aisle.