Kentucky officials announced on Monday that Michelle Newton, who disappeared as a child in 1983, was found alive and reunited with her biological family more than 40 years after she went missing, WDRB reported.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said Newton, who had been living under a new identity in another state, contacted authorities after discovering her “true family history,” according to the outlet.
Newsweek reached out to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office for additional information and comment.
Why It Matters
Newton’s missing persons case remained unsolved for over four decades.
“This is the kind of case you see once in a law enforcement career,” Jefferson County Chief Deputy Colonel Steve Healey said in a news release obtained by WDRB.
Newton was 3 years old when she disappeared from Louisville in April 1983, WDRB reported. She disappeared with her mother, Debra Newton, who said she was relocating to Georgia “to begin a new job and prepare a new home for the family,” according to the outlet.
Debra was once among the FBI’s top eight Most Wanted parental-kidnapping fugitives and was named in a custodial-interference indictment and an FBI Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution warrant, according to a news release obtained by the outlet.
The case was dismissed in 2000 after the state could not reach Joseph Newton, Michelle’s father, WDRB reported. Michelle was taken off national missing child databases in 2005, according to the outlet.
Debra is now facing a felony charge of custodial interference, WDRB reported.
The case was reexamined in 2015 when a family member asked the sheriff’s office for help, WDRB reported. The sheriff’s office worked with former Commonwealth’s Attorney Tom Wine to reindict the case in 2016, the outlet reported.
About 10 years later, a Crime Stoppers tip from Marion County, Florida, “identified a possible match for a 66-year-old woman using a different name,” according to the outlet.
The sheriff’s office said a U.S. Marshals Task Force detective examined a recent photo of the woman and with a 1983 photo of Debra and “confirmed their resemblance,” the outlet reported. DNA testing using a sample from Debra’s sister came back with a 99.99% match to the woman in Florida, according to the news release.
What People Are Saying
Jefferson County Chief Deputy Colonel Steve Healey, in a statement obtained by WDRB: “Detectives refused to let the trail go cold. Their work — and the courage of a Crime Stoppers tipster — brought a daughter home to her family after four decades.”
Joseph Newton, Michelle Newton’s father, in comments to WLKY: “She’s always been in my heart. I can’t explain that moment of that woman walking in and getting to put my arms back around my daughter.”