Melissa Highsmith.Photo: National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (2)
According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, on Thursday, the organization received an anonymous tip of a possible sighting of Melissa Highsmith, who would now be 52 years old, in Charleston, S.C. The tipster said that a person who resembles the age-progression photo of Highsmith was spotted on Daniels Island.
Melissa’s missing person’s poster indicates she was last seen as a toddler at her Fort Worth, Texas, home on Aug. 23, 1971.
“This lady responded to the ad and said that she was really interested, and had a big house, and watched other kids as well, and had a couple of kids of her own,” Jeff says.
“She was supposed to meet my mom at her work for an interview, and she never showed up. The next day, the person that took Melissa called my mom at the restaurant and said, ‘I’m sorry, I got into a car accident, and I couldn’t make it, but I really do want to watch your daughter,'” he says.
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The roommate handed off Melissa, and that was the last time anyone who knew the girl ever saw her.
While Jeff admits he’s never met Melissa — he was born years after she was abducted — he says he’s committed to finding his big sister.
“I feel like I’m stuck with this,” he says. “I have to find her.”
Jeff says the NCMEC has not yet been able to confirm if the sighting is in fact his sister, and PEOPLE’s request for comment from the organization was not immediately returned.
Anyone with information on the case is asked to call 911, the NCMEC at 1-800-THE-LOST, or Fort Worth police at 817-335-4222.
source: people.com
