A Kentucky father became emotional when he was reunited with his daughter, who went missing more than 40 years ago when she was just three years old.
Joe Newton and his family never gave up searching for his little girl, Michelle, who was last seen at their home in Louisville back in 1983 when she and her mother, Debra Leigh Newton, disappeared.
‘She’s always been in our heart,’ Joe told WLKY.
For years, he was left without answers – until the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office called him recently to report that Michelle had been found alive.
He then waited anxiously on his porch to meet her, and when he finally did he was able to experience the thrill of ‘walking in and getting to put my arms back around my daughter.’
‘I wouldn’t trade that moment for anything,’ he continued. ‘It was like I was seeing her when she was first born. It was like an angel.’
Joe had last seen his baby girl in April 1983, when the family had been preparing to move to Georgia, where Debra had taken a new job.
She left early with Michelle in tow, but after what authorities described as a ‘final phone call’ with Joe in 1984 to 1985, the two vanished, according to WDRB.
Michelle Newton was just three years old when she and her mother vanished in 1983
After more than 40 years, Michelle was able to reunite with her father, Joe Newton
An unlawful flight to avoid prosecution warrant and a custodial interference indictment were then filed against the suspect – and at one point Debra was among the FBI’s top eight Most Wanted parental kidnapping fugitives, WKRC reports.
But the case was dismissed in 2000 when the Commonwealth of Kentucky was unable to reach Joe, and Michelle was removed from the National Missing-Child database in 2005.
Ten years later, though, a family member urged the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office to re-examine the case, and Debra was re-indicted in 2016.
Still, authorities were left without answers until 2024, when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children released an age-progressed image showing what Michelle and Debra may look like.
After seeing the photo, an eagle-eyed good Samaritan from Marion County, Florida reached out to Crime Stoppers and ‘identified a possible match for a 66-year-old woman using a different name,’ authorities said.
At that point, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office compared a recent photo of the woman in question with a 1983 picture of Debra and ‘confirmed their resemblance,’ according to Fox 56.
Investigators then reportedly tested Debra’s sister’s DNA and the results came back as a 99.99 percent match to the suspect, who was living in The Villages retirement community in Florida.
Authorities were then able to locate Michelle in another state, where she was living under a different name.
Joe had last seen his baby girl in April 1983, when the family had been preparing to move to Georgia, where his wife, Debra, had taken a new job
When she then returned home from work two weeks ago, Michelle was shocked to find police at her door.
They then told her, ‘You’re not who you think you are. You’re a missing person. You’re Michelle Marie Newton,’ she recounted.
The now 45-year-old then replied that she had no idea she was a victim until she realized all that she had missed growing up.
‘This is the kind of case you see once in a law enforcement career,’ Chief Deputy Col. Steve Healey said in a statement announcing Michelle was no longer a missing person.
‘Detectives refused to let the trail go cold,’ he continued. ‘Their work – and the courage of a Crime Stoppers tipster – brought a daughter home to her family after four decades.’
Debra Newton is now facing felony charges of custodial interference
Court records show she has pleaded not guilty to the charges and she is now out on bond
Debra is now facing felony charges of custodial interference, which police say carries no statute of limitations – allowing prosecutors to move forward in the case after all this time.
Court records show she has pleaded not guilty to the charge and is currently out on bond.
She is due back in court on January 23.
In the meantime, Michelle is hoping to reconnect with her family.
‘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,’ she said.