It was a Thanksgiving holiday to be remembered after a family in Fort Worth, Texas, reunited with their daughter who was kidnapped when she was just a baby over 50 years ago, thanks to a DNA match from 23andMe.

Melissa Highsmith, now 51 years old, was only 22 months when she was kidnapped by a woman hired by her mother to babysit her. Highsmith, whose name was changed from Melissa to Melanie, has lived in Fort Worth and never had a clue that she was abducted as a baby.

Highsmith didn’t know that her family was looking for her until she got a Facebook notification that her family was trying to reach her. She told reporters that she thought she was getting scammed at first. Her biological father sent her a text message on Facebook, telling her he had been searching for his daughter for over five decades.

The family reunited after they found Highsmith using a DNA match on the online ancestry service, 23andMe, with one of her children.

When she got the message from her father, Jeffrie Highsmith, Melissa said she went to the person who raised her and asked her if there was any truth to the Facebook message. She confirmed that Melissa was indeed baby Melissa, who had disappeared in 1971. That confirmation made it real for Melissa.

Melissa was only a baby in 1971 in Fort Worth, Texas, when her mother, Alta Apantenco, advertised in a local newspaper for a babysitter. She got feedback from a woman who was interested in the job. Apantenco was a working mom and needed extra help to care for her daughter.

When the babysitter arrived to pick up Melissa, Apentenco’s roommate handed her the baby, but the “babysitter” never brought the baby back.

The family reported Melissa missing to the police, and they kept searching for her for over fifty years. They even throw a birthday party for their missing daughter every November. Recently, the family opened a Facebook page dedicated to finding baby Melissa.

In September this year, they received an anonymous tip that their daughter was around Charleston. They used the DNA test results from 23andMe, her birthday, and a distinct birthmark on Melissa to confirm that she was their long-lost daughter.

The long overdue reunion happened on Saturday at a church in Fort Worth where they were celebrating. Melissa finally met both her parents and two of her four siblings.

One of her siblings, Victoria Garner, said she was overjoyed to meet her sister finally and was still in disbelief that they had found Melissa.

Another sibling, Sharon Highsmith, expressed disappointment with law enforcement, who she says mismanaged the case. 

The family was delighted to welcome Melissa and make up for the lost time.

Sharon Highsmith also said her family had used a clinical laboratory scientist and genealogist, who helped them interpret the DNA results and mine data from public resources to find Melissa.

Details about the babysitter are unclear, but she cannot be criminally prosecuted as the criminal statute of limitations expired twenty years after Melissa turned 18.

The Fort Worth Police Department was happy that the family had reunited. It said that despite the expiration of the statute of limitations, it would keep investigating the case.