Melissa Highsmith, missing for 51 years, found in Fort Worth

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https://www.cbsnews.com/dfw/news/melissa-highsmith-missing-for-51-years-found-in-fort-worth/

Melissa Highsmith, missing for 51 years, found in Fort Worth

BY ALEX KELLER, NICK STARLING
NOVEMBER 27, 2022 / 3:52 PM / CBS DFW

FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) — It's an early Christmas miracle for one Fort Worth family. A woman who disappeared over five decades ago was found in Fort Worth this week, her family announced Sunday.

Melissa Highsmith went missing when she was kidnapped by a babysitter at her parents' Fort Worth home in 1971. She was just 22 months old at the time of her disappearance.

Over the next 51 years, Highsmith's family and police searched diligently for her, even following up on recent tips about possible sightings in North Carolina.

In the end, however, Melissa was found living in Fort Worth under the name Melanie Walden.

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[Lovie777]

1. WOW . ..

I would like to read a follow up story on this.

[underpants]

2. Wow is right.

Amazing.

[Sanity Claws]

4. Same here

She might have bounded with the family who kidnapped her. Can you imagine how you would feel if as an adult you learned that you were abducted by the people who raised you?

[Roxi]

5. The person who raised her knew her identity

So it’s possible (likely?) that she was raised by the kidnapper.

I don’t envy that family. Lots of awkward conversations need to be held.

[peppertree]

3. Just beautiful

Reminds me of the Argentine grandmothers who've found their grandkids, decades after they were abducted from their (then murdered) parents during the fascist dictatorship in '76-'78.

I can't imagine the feeling.

[Jilly_in_VA]

6. I recently listened to a podcast about her

This is unreal. Prosecute the kidnapper.