A woman in Fort Worth, Texas, has been reunited with her family 51 years after she was kidnapped as a baby.
They found each other again thanks to DNA testing by the company 23andMe and news channel CNN reports.
Melissa Highsmith was barely 22 months old when she was kidnapped by a babysitter. Highsmith grew up named Melanie in Fort Worth and had no idea she was missing and that her family was looking for her.
The family found her thanks to a DNA match with one of her children and contacted her via Facebook.
At first, Highsmith thought it was a scam. “My father sent a message and told me they had been looking for their daughter for 51 years,” she explained to local station KTVT. “I asked the person who raised me if she needed to tell me anything.”
The woman then confirmed that she was baby Melissa.
Last Saturday, the reunion took place between Melissa Highsmith and her parents after an official and legal DNA test took place, the family reports.
The parents were convinced before the test that it was their daughter after they saw photos of her, since the woman had a similar birthmark as their daughter and because the birth dates matched.
