A woman who was abducted as a child more than 40 years ago is finally back with her family and the person accused of taking her has been charged.
Michelle Newton was 3 years old when officials said her mother, Debra Newton, took her from her family in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1983, CNN reported.
Her mother said she was relocating to Georgia when she moved from Louisville.
Joseph Newton, Michelle’s father and Debra’s husband, told WLKY in 1986, saying that the family had planned to move to Georgia, but his wife took their daughter early. By the time he went to Georgia, they were gone.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said the father and mother had a “final phone call” sometime between 1984 and 1985, but then the mother and daughter disappeared.
A custodial-interference indictment warrant was issued.
At one point, the case was removed from national missing child databases because of inaccurate information, but years later, in 2016, a family member asked detectives to take up the case again, CNN reported.
Last year, despite four decades passing, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children issued a new, age-progressed image of Newton, hoping that someone would recognize her.
Earlier this year, Debra Newton, now 66, was found in Marion County, Florida, but was going by a different name, CNN reported.
But a tip to Crime Stoppers helped break the cold case, WFTV reported.
A US Marshals Task Force detective compared images from 1983 and now and “confirmed a resemblance,” a news release said.
A DNA test using a sample from Debra Newton’s sister confirmed the identity.
Michelle Newton didn’t realize she wasn’t who she thought she was. She said she was told by police officers, “You’re not who you think you are. You’re a missing person. You’re Michelle Marie Newton.”
She had been living under a different identity and called the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office to tell them who she was.
Joseph Newton told WLKY about the reunion.
“I can’t explain that moment of walking in and getting to put my arms back around my daughter,” he said, adding, “I wouldn’t trade that moment for anything. It was just like seeing her when she was first born. It was like an angel.”
Debra Newton was arrested at The Villages in Marion County, Florida, WFTV reported. She faces a felony charge of custodial interference, according to CNN.
As for the future, Michelle Newton is not siding with one parent over another.
“My intention is to support them both through this and try to navigate and help them both just wrap it up so that we can all heal,” she told WLKY.
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