Parents of Melissa Highsmith want answers from Fort Worth police
FORT WORTH, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) – It's a moment the Highsmith family never thought would come, but never stopped hoping would happen – the moment Melissa Highsmith hugged her family again 51 years after she was abducted as a baby.
"My heart is full and bursting with so much emotion and I'm just really, really, really happy," said Melissa Highsmith.
Melissa Highsmith was only 22-months-old when her mother says she was kidnapped by a babysitter in Fort Worth.
"I guess I gave up, I mean after 51 years you don't ever expect to see a child again," said Alta Apantenco, Melissa's mother.
For decades, Apantenco never knew what happened to her daughter.
The family says they now know she was sold to a woman who mistreated her. Melissa eventually ran away at 15-years-old and had three children of her own. But Melissa, who was known as Melanie, was living right here in Fort Worth.
Now, her family wants answers.
"I'm extremely angry with the system, I'm extremely angry with the woman who took her," said Jeffrie Highsmith, Melissa's father.
Melissa's father says a few years ago the Fort Worth police department collected DNA samples from Melissa's parents.
But he says nothing more was done.
He says if not for the determination of his children and their use of a DNA website, they would've never located Melissa.
In a statement, Fort Worth police told CBS 11 it's still investigating Melissa's disappearance, saying:
"Even though the criminal statute of limitations expired 20 years after Melissa's 18th birthday, the Fort Worth Police Department is committed to completing this investigation to uncover all of the available information concerning Melissa's abduction that occurred 51 years ago."
The Fort Worth Police Department also says it'll do a DNA test to confirm Melissa's identity.
"I expect that the Fort Worth Police Department will do their job and it's unfortunate that it took my two daughters and son to dig in to this geneology," said Jeffrie.
Despite their frustrations, the Highsmith family is now reunited, receiving the greatest Christmas gift of all.
"Our family is whole again we're complete again," said Jeff Highsmith, Melissa's brother.
In a statement, John Bischoff of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children said:
"This case is a perfect example of why we never give up hope here at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC)...we are overjoyed by the news that Melissa Highsmith has been reunited with her biological family who has been tirelessly searching for her for so long. This is a wonderful reminder to the public and to other families who have missing loved ones that answers are possible, even after five decades."