{"id":280763,"date":"2022-12-02T17:34:55","date_gmt":"2022-12-02T23:34:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=280763"},"modified":"2022-12-02T11:07:43","modified_gmt":"2022-12-02T17:07:43","slug":"kidnapped-baby-reunited-family-51-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/kidnapped-baby-reunited-family-51-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Kidnapped as a baby, she’s been reunited with her family after 51 years"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A woman who was kidnapped as a baby in 1971 has miraculously been reunited with her family<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At 22 months old, Melissa Highsmith was kidnapped<\/a> by a babysitter. After that, she spent most of her life in Fort Worth, not knowing that her real family was searching for her. And despite decades having passed, her family continued to look for her.<\/p>\n

Highsmith’s mother, Alta Apantenco, was working as a waitress and needed someone to watch her daughter, so she placed an ad looking for a sitter. A woman answered, and Apantenco’s roommate handed Highsmith over to the babysitter while she was at work. She never had the chance to meet the babysitter face-to-face, which led to immense guilt.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mom did the best she could with the limited resources she had. She couldn\u2019t risk getting fired. So, she trusted the person who said they\u2019d care for her child,\u201d Sharon Highsmith, one of Apantenco’s other daughters, said. \u201cFor 50 years, my mom has lived with the guilt of losing Melissa. She\u2019s also lived with community and nationwide accusations that she hurt or killed her own baby. I\u2019m so glad we have Melissa back. I\u2019m also grateful we have vindication for my mom.\u201d<\/p>\n