Abducted at three, woman discovered after four decades unaware she was missing

A woman who was taken as a toddler has been found alive more than 42 years later, unaware for most of her life that she had been abducted and listed as a missing child.

Michelle Marie Newton, now 46, vanished from Louisville, Kentucky, in April 1983 when she was just three years old. Authorities say she was taken by her noncustodial mother, Debra Newton, and raised under a different name without knowing the truth about her past.

Investigators said Debra left Kentucky with her daughter claiming she was moving ahead of the family to Georgia. When Michelle’s father, Joseph Newton, arrived later, both mother and child were gone. A final phone call was reportedly made between 1984 and 1985, after which all contact ceased.

The disappearance triggered an extensive search, with flyers circulated across parts of Georgia. Debra was later indicted for custodial interference and placed on the Federal Bureau of Investigation list of most-wanted parental kidnapping fugitives. The case stalled in 2000 when authorities lost contact with Michelle’s father, and her name was eventually removed from the national missing children database.

The investigation was reopened in 2016 following a request from a family member. A year later, Debra was re-indicted, and a Crime Stoppers tip eventually led investigators to Florida. According to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, officers identified Debra living under an assumed name in The Villages.

Debra was arrested at her home on November 24. Officers then went to Michelle’s residence to inform her of her true identity, telling her she was a missing person taken as a child. Michelle later said she had no idea she had been abducted and immediately contacted authorities in Kentucky to confirm she had never knowingly lived under a false identity.

A reunion was arranged between Michelle and her father after more than four decades apart. Both were present as Debra was arraigned on a felony custodial interference charge. She was later released on bond posted by a family member.