Ruth Johnson

The identity of a Texan woman who was reunited with her family last year has been confirmed by a DNA test since being kidnapped as a child 51 years ago. Melissa Highsmith, now 53, was taken from her parents' Fort Worth home by a babysitter in 1971 when she was only 22 months old. Jeffrie Higshmith, 72; Alta Alpantenco, 73 and siblings; Sharon Highsmith, 42; and Jeffrey Highsmith, 42; Jeffrey Highsmith, 47; on November 26, she was miraculously reunited with her biological parents, Jeffrie Higshmith, 72; Jeffrey Higshmith, 72; and sisters - Rebecca Del Bosque, 47; Jeffrey Highsmith, 47; and Jeffrey Highsmith, 42.

Melissa Highsmith, 47; Jeffrie Higshmith, 72; Alta Alpantenco, 73 and siblings; Vicitoria Highsmith, 42; and Jeffrey Highsmith, 42, were miraculously reunited with her biological parents on November 26-five decades after she was kidnapped in 1971 when she was just 22 months old. Melissa whose name was changed to Melanie was barely surviving as her family spent decades looking for their family member. She shared with DailyMail.com some of the pain and agony she suffered at the hands of the woman she felt was her mother and her stepfather, who had no idea she was adopted until a week ago, and that her entire family was looking for her. I thought she was my true mother, but I think she regrets having me.' No one was close... there was no family... no love was found. 'I was brain damaged and mentally retarded,' she told me throughout my life. Melissa: Even though her teachers told her that she did not enroll in these classes, her mother put her in special ed classes as she was a child. She said that her two older and older siblings, as well as her younger brother, had lived with her. She recalled her older brother, who she said she wasn't close enough, being treated differently than her and her younger brother. 'My dad was really cruel to us.' My little brother was able to move in with my grandma, but then it was just me and my stepfather,' she said. My mother was emotionally abused and my stepfather was sexually assaulted.' She told DailyMail.com that she never got pregnant and that, as she was 15 years old, she ran away from home.

Jeff Highsmith, 42, told DailyMail.com that he was six years old when his parents told him of his sister's abduction. He said he was too young to understand at the time, but around thirteen years ago, he began to do his own study and became obsessed with her disappearance. 'It was a horrible tragedy and we never expected to find her and we just moved on, but it haunted me and consumed me,' Jeff said. The siblings arrived in the Forth Worth, Texas area on Thanksgiving eve at a Starbucks after decades of dead ends, cold leads, and unanswered questions.