A woman in the USA learns that she was missing after 42 years. The police arrested the mother.
December 19, 2025, 11:28December 19, 2025, 11:28
Thomas Wanhoff / t-online
She disappeared as a three-year-old child in the state of Kentucky in April 1983. Her father was looking for Michelle Marie Newton, also with a nationwide wanted list. But it was only now that the now 46-year-old woman was found. She lives.
This childhood picture of Michelle Newton was used to search for her.Image: National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
As US media reports, the mother is said to have kidnapped the girl. She is said to have faked a move to Georgia. When the father arrived there, his wife and daughter had disappeared, reports People magazine, among others.
42 years later, police officers appeared at the door of the missing people. She told local news station WLKY about the visit in November. “You are not who you think you are,” they told her, “you are a missing person. You are Michelle Marie Newton.”
“It was like an angel”
Apparently her mother had kidnapped her and raised her under a different name. The girl was unaware that she was missing and that her father Joe was looking for her, People reports. After she was found, she immediately contacted Joe Newton. “I wouldn’t trade this moment for anything,” the father told WLKY. “It was like I was seeing her for the first time after she was born. It was like an angel.”
Her mother, Debra, was arrested on November 24th. She is accused of violating custody rights. She had been living in Florida under the name Sharon Nealy. A tip put the police on their trail.
On the most wanted list
Michelle and her mother left Louisville, Kentucky, on April 2, 1983. Debra had allegedly told her then-husband Joe Newton that she was taking a new job in Georgia, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. She hasn’t been seen since. Debra Newton was even temporarily placed on the list of the most wanted people in the USA. The investigation was initially discontinued in 2000. The breakthrough only came when a member of the Crime Stoppers organization recognized the mother and informed the police.
“She was always in our hearts,” Joe told WLKY. “I can’t describe that moment when I came in and was able to hug my daughter again.”
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