Family finally reunites with woman who was kidnapped as a baby 51 years ago

A woman who disappeared when she was just a 21-month-old baby has finally been reunited with her family.

Melissa Highsmith was allegedly kidnapped by her babysitter 51 years ago in August 1971 from her home in Fort Worth, Texas.

Her mother, Alta Apantenco, reportedly came under suspicion by the police who accused her of killing her daughter. However, the family maintained that the baby was taken by a babysitter who had answered their newspaper advertisement seeking help.

Apantenco asked her roommate to hand over the baby to the babysitter as she had to leave for work, and that was the last time she saw Highsmith. The babysitter and the baby were nowhere to be found when she came back. It would be 51 years before the woman could be reunited with her daughter.

Apantenco, her husband, Jeffrie Highsmith, and their relatives continued looking for the missing child. They even created a Facebook page called "Finding Melissa."

They were able to find their daughter after a genealogist suggested that they take a DNA test. They used the home DNA testing kits Ancestry and 23andMe and found a potential match.

Melissa's brother reached out to her through Facebook explaining their story.

"He asked me, I don't think I'm that girl I'm so sorry. He said wouldn't you like to be 100 percent sure? He said I'll pay for the DNA test and I told him I'll take the test but I really didn't think I was that girl. Once I saw the baby picture, and I put my baby picture against it, it's like my twin," she told CBSDFW.

Three weeks after taking the DNA test, the Highsmiths reunited with their daughter.

The family shared their happy news through their Facebook page on November 27. They have even renamed the page to "We Found Melissa." All these years Melissa was living under the name Melanie Walden. She now plans on changing her name back to Melissa and re-marry her husband so her father can walk her down the aisle.