Criminal charges may not be possible in Melissa Highsmith abduction, Fort Worth police say

Fort Worth police say it might not be possible to charge anyone in the disappearance of Melissa Highsmith, whose family found her close to home 51 years after she was kidnapped.

Generally, under Texas state law the statute of limitations on a kidnapping charge is five years. For aggravated kidnapping, the statute of limitations expires 20 years after a victim’s 18th birthday.

There is no federal statute of limitations for kidnapping, but it’s unclear whether authorities might be able to charge anyone under federal law. To make a federal case, investigators would need to prove it met criteria such as the kidnapper crossing state lines.

The Highsmith family announced in November that DNA testing and the help of an amateur genealogist led them to a Fort Worth woman who went by Melanie and they were reunited with her over Thanksgiving weekend.

On May 4, Fort Worth police announced that an official DNA test confirmed Melissa’s identity.

Melissa was 21 months old when her mother reported she was abducted by a babysitter in 1971. Melissa has lived in Fort Worth most of her life and never knew she had been kidnapped, she told the Star-Telegram.

The Vanished Podcast, which interviewed the Highsmith family for a two-episode series that aired in November, connected them with Lisa Jo Schiele, who helped the family interpret DNA results from genealogy websites, according to a post on the podcast’s Facebook page.

In a statement in November announcing its plans to conduct an official DNA test, the Fort Worth Police Department said it was “overjoyed to hear about how the Highsmiths’ use of 23andMe led them to Melissa.

“The FWPD Major Case Unit will be working with the Highsmith family to continue the investigation into Melissa’s disappearance,” the police department said. “Even though the criminal statute of limitations expired 20 years after Melissa’s 18th birthday, the Fort Worth Police Department is committed to completing this investigation to uncover all of the available information concerning Melissa’s abduction that occurred 51 years ago.”

In their May 4 statement, police said the investigation continues. “The Fort Worth Police Department Major Case Unit continues to ask for the public’s assistance with any additional information concerning Melissa’s abduction that occurred over 51 years ago,” the department said. “Our Major Case Unit can be reached by calling 817-392-4439.”

Growing up, Melissa Highsmith thought the woman who raised her was her mother, she said.

“My whole life was a lie,” Melissa told the Star-Telegram at a rally for cold cases April 29 in Fort Worth.

She said that she didn’t have a happy childhood. She described her home life as abusive and said she ran away at 15 years old and “worked the streets” to survive.

For 17 years after running away from home, Melissa didn’t have a relationship with the people who raised her and was not in contact with them, she told the Star-Telegram.

The Highsmith family approached her just before Thanksgiving about taking a DNA test.

“So when they came to me and said you are our sister or you are our daughter that we’ve been looking for all this time, it was quite a shock,” Melissa told the Star-Telegram. “All of my life, things didn’t seem right and I didn’t know why.”

At that point, Melissa got back in touch with the woman who raised her, who confirmed to her “you are baby Melissa,” Highsmith said. Since then, the woman who raised her has gone silent, she said.

This story was originally published November 29, 2022 at 2:09 PM.