LOUISVILLE, Ky. (FOX 56) — A Kentucky family has been reunited with their daughter 40 years after her abduction.
Michelle Newton disappeared from Louisville in 1983 when she was only three years old after allegedly being abducted by her noncustodial mother, Debra Newton.
She turned 45 in 2024, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children released an age-progressed image showing what she may have looked like in hopes someone would recognize her.
“Michelle’s whereabouts remain unknown to this day, and we have not given up hope,” the organization wrote in October 2024.
The case had gone cold for decades, until a Crime Stoppers tip provided the breakthrough investigators needed.
According to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, a Crime Stoppers tip from Marion County, Florida, “identified a possible match for a 66-year-old woman using a different name.”
The sheriff’s office said a recent photo was compared with a 1983 photo of Debra Newton and “confirmed their resemblance.” Investigators reportedly tested Newton’s sister’s DNA, and the results came back as a 99.99% match to the suspect in Florida.
Debra was subsequently arrested at the end of November 2025 and charged with custodial interference.
Michelle was found alive, in another state, living under a different name. She told investigators she had no idea she was a victim until she realized all that she’d missed.
“This is the kind of case you see once in a law enforcement career,” Chief Deputy Col. Steve Healey said in a news release. “Detectives refused to let the trail go cold. Their work — and the courage of a Crime Stoppers tipster — brought a daughter home to her family after four decades.”
Debra is back in Louisville and facing felony charges in connection with her daughter’s abduction. She’s currently out on bond.
According to the Louisville FOX affiliate, WDRB, she was arraigned on Dec. 9 in a Jefferson County courtroom, with Michelle and her father in attendance. The pair were reunited thanks to the help of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.
Court records show she entered a not guilty plea and is due back in court in January.