Mum arrested after missing girl is found alive 40 years after being abducted
A woman has been reunited with her family 40 years after going missing, revealing she had no idea she was a victim.
Michelle Newton disappeared from Louisville in Kentucky when she was just three years old, and her mother Debra Newton has now been arrested for her alleged abduction four decades on.
Now 46, Michelle has recalled the life-altering moment police told her, 'you're not who you think you are, you're a missing person'.
Back when she was a toddler, Michelle had been living in Louisville with her mother Debra and father Joseph Newton, and as a family, they were planning to move to Georgia. However, in the spring of 1983, Debra upped and left, taking their daughter with her.
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The now 66-year-old told her husband she was moving to start a new job and 'prepare a new home for the family,' according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.
Although she kept in touch with Joseph at first, when he arrived in Georgia he couldn't find his wife or daughter anywhere.
Once they were officially reported missing, police launched an investigation and Debra was added to the FBI's Top 8 Most Wanted parental-kidnapping fugitives.
According to CNN, authorities were forced to drop the case 17 years later, when they were unable to reach Joseph in 2000.
Five years later, when Michelle was in her 20s, she was removed from national missing child databases after her record and the warrant were recalled due to 'inaccurate information'.
The case was later reopened in 2016, when a family member put pressure on authorities and last year the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children upped the ante by releasing age-processed images of Michelle and Debra, showing what they might look like now.
It was this that sparked a crimestoppers tip which led authorities to finding the mother and daughter who were living in Marion County, Florida.
Debra was going by the name Sharon and had built a whole new life for herself, remarrying and retiring to The Villages with her husband, according to Fox 35.
Despite her new identity, authorities used DNA from Debra's sister and found a '99.9 percent match', proving 'Sharon' was the woman who had gone missing all those years ago.
The 66-year-old was then extradited to Kentucky, where she faces a lengthy prison sentence over felony charges.
In Kentucky, there is no statute of limitations for such kidnapping offences - meaning no time limit on her being charged or tried for the crime.
Michelle has since gone through an emotional reunion with her father and other family members she hadn't seen since being a toddler.
Recalling the moment he was able to hug his daughter again, Joseph said: "I wouldn’t trade that moment for anything. It was just like seeing her when she was first born. It was like an angel."
Despite her mum's actions, Michelle has vowed to stand by both parents, telling local news: "My intention is to support them both through this and try to navigate and help them both wrap it up so that we can all heal, and hopefully there's just apologies and [we could] start healing."
Emma Rosemurgey