Aurora woman's sister found 50 years after being kidnapped
CHICAGO (CBS) – It's a reunion one family called an early Christmas miracle.
A woman who disappeared over 50 years ago was found in Forth Worth, Texas. While most of her family is with her now, one of her siblings lives in Illinois.
CBS 2's Asal Rezaei spoke with the woman's younger sister who lives in Arizona.
She told CBS 2 she has spent decades trying to find her sister. She said they never gave up hope and that's exactly what brought her sister home.
The story of how Melissa Highsmith disappeared has haunted her family for 51 years. Her younger sister Rebecca Del Bosque, who lives in Aurora, has been relentless in the search.
"I put her name in and she popped up and I saw her picture and I know it was her," Del Bosque said. "I was on the phone with my sister and we both started crying."
She's talking about her younger sister Sharon Highsmith. Sharon spoke to CBS 2 on Zoom from Madrid, Spain. They've both spent years trying to find her.
"My dad matched with one of her children on 23 and Me," Highsmith said. "My sister matched with two of her children on Ancestry.com."
Finally, with help from a genealogy enthusiast, they got a break in their case.
"We never gave up hope," Highsmith said. "But then we found he, it was like 'No way! What? It really happened! It's wild. It's totally wild."
Highsmith was just 22 months old when her babysitter picked her up from their home in Fort Worth, Texas in 1971. The babysitter disappeared with Melissa. She grew up in Fort Worth, never knowing she'd been kidnapped.
Our sister station in Dallas met with Melissa and her parents after their emotional reunion.
"I just couldn't believe it," said Highsmith's mother Alta Apantencl. "I thought I would never see her again."
Father Jeffrie Highsmith said, "They said 'Dad, she's alive,' and I started crying and after 51 years, it's so emotional."
And while Melissa settles into her new reality, a sister she has yet to meet is getting ready for what is sure to be her most special holiday season yet.
"My heart right now is just full and bursting with just so much emotion," she said.
"That's what I'm looking forward to most just like buying something for her and coming in looking her in the face and hugging her and loving her and just sitting next to her and having a big sister the first time in my life," said Del Bosque.
Melissa, the woman who's been found, is the oldest of her four siblings. Many of them will be meeting on Christmas for the very first time.
