NEED TO KNOW
- Michelle Newton had no idea her family — and authorities nationwide including the FBI — had been searching for her since 1983
- In November 2025, her mother Debra was arrested for allegedly kidnapping her at age 3 and then vanishing with her
- Now 46, Michelle has learned the truth about who she really is
In late November, Michelle Newton got the shock of her life when police officers showed up at her door to relay some surprising news.
The officers said, “You’re not who you think you are,” she told Louisville, Ky., station WLKY, the first to report on the unbelievable story. “You’re a missing person. You’re Michelle Marie Newton.”
The 46-year-old learned that her mother had allegedly kidnapped her when she was just 3 years old and that her father, Joe Newton, had been looking for her ever since.
Raised under another name, Michelle had no idea that she had been missing all these years.
Shortly after, she was reunited with the father she never knew she had.
“I wouldn’t trade that moment,” Joe told WLKY. “It was just like seeing her when she was first born. It was like an angel.”
Their emotional reunion came after her mother, Debra Newton, 66, was arrested on Nov. 24 in The Villages, Fla., and charged with custodial interference, according to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office arrest warrant obtained by PEOPLE.
Debra, who had remarried and went by the name Sharon Nealy, was arrested after someone recognized her in a Crime Stoppers notification about the decades-old case, PEOPLE previously reported.
Michelle and her mother left Louisville on April 2, 1983, for what Debra allegedly told her then-husband, Joe Newton, was a new job in Georgia, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release on Monday, Dec. 14, WLKY, WFTV9 and FOX35 Orlando reported.
They were never seen again, which led to a nationwide search for the pair. At one point, Debra was even named one of the FBI’s Top 8 Most Wanted parental-kidnapping fugitives.
Michelle’s family — especially her dad — is thrilled to have her in their lives again.
“She’s always been in our heart,” Joe told WLKY. “I can’t explain that moment of walking in and getting to put my arms back around my daughter.”
The search for Debra and Michelle continued until 2000 when the case was dismissed after prosecutors were unable to reach the father, WFTV9 reported.
In 2005, Michelle was removed from the nationwide missing child databases, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office. In 2016, a family member asked officials to reopen the case, but authorities were still unable to find Michelle.
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In 2024, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) released an age-progression picture of what Michelle would look like at age 45 in hopes of locating her.
NCMEC
The big breakthrough came in 2025 when a Crime Stoppers tipster allegedly recognized Debra as a woman who was living in Florida, per WFTV9.
Debra was arraigned in court in Louisville and was released after a relative posted her bond, CNN reported. Michelle and her father were both present in court for the proceedings, per the outlet.
Michelle reportedly told WLKY that her 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.”
It is unclear whether Debra has an attorney who can comment on her behalf.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to PEOPLE’s requests for comment.
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