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A woman abducted as a toddler has been found alive and well after more than four decades, and she had no clue she was ever missing.
Michelle Marie Newton, now 46, vanished from Kentucky in April 1983 when she was just three years old.
Her own mother, Debra Newton, allegedly took off with her under the pretense of moving early to prepare a new life for the family in Georgia.
Michelle spent the next 42 years living under a false identity, unaware she was listed in the national missing-child database, or that her mother had once been on the FBI’s ‘Top 8 Most Wanted parental-kidnapping fugitives’ list.
Michelle Marie Newton was reported missing in 1983, when she was three years old. Credit: Missing and Exploited Children/Facebook
According to a Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office press release, Joseph Newton, Michelle’s father, lost contact with Debra in the mid-1980s after a final phone call. Then both mother and daughter vanished.
Flyers went up across Georgia, and Joseph launched a desperate search that spanned decades. But in 2000, the case was dropped when Kentucky officials could no longer reach him.
Michelle’s name was removed from the national missing-child database in 2005.
Michelle’s mother, Debra Newton, was arrested and arraigned on a felony charge of custodial interference. Credit: Jefferson County Sheriff
The case remained dormant until 2016, when a family member requested that it be reopened.
In 2017, a grand jury re-indicted Debra Newton on charges of custodial interference, but still, there were no real leads.
That changed in 2025, when a Crime Stoppers tip pointed investigators to Florida. Police tracked Debra to The Villages, a retirement community where she had been living as “Sharon Nealy.”
According to WFTV9, officers compared a recent photo of Debra to one taken in 1983 and “confirmed the resemblance,” the sheriff’s press release stated, per Metro.
On November 24, police rolled into her driveway, and one friend even joked: “They’re coming for you, Sharon!” A moment later, an officer confirmed: “We’re here for you, ma’am,” as they arrested Debra.
Body camera footage captured the surreal moment, as Debra, now 66, was taken into custody. After that, officers headed straight to Michelle’s home to break the news of her true identity.
“You’re not who you think you are. You’re a missing person. You’re Michelle Marie Newton,” police told her, according to her interview with WLKY.
Body camera footage revealed the moment Debra, known to her neighbors as “Sharon Nealy,” was arrested at her Florida home. Credit: Jefferson County Sheriff
Michelle immediately contacted the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office. She said she had no idea she had been abducted or was living under a false identity.
Soon after, she reunited with her father, a moment Joseph had been waiting for since 1983.
“She’s always been in our heart,” Joseph said. “I can’t explain that moment of walking in and getting to put my arms back around my daughter. I wouldn’t trade that moment for anything. It was just like seeing her when she was first born. It was like an angel.”
Both Michelle and Joseph were present when Debra was arraigned on a felony charge of custodial interference. Debra was released on bond, posted by a family member.
Michelle, caught between the two people who shaped her life in such different ways, expressed a quiet determination to find peace.
“My intention is to support them both through this and try to navigate and help them both just wrap it up so that we can all heal,” she told WLKY.
