Abducted Kentucky Toddler Found Alive in Florida After 42 Years

For 42 years, Michelle Marie Newton lived unaware that she had been abducted as a toddler from Kentucky. Now 46, Michelle was discovered alive last month in The Villages, Florida, where she had been raised under a different name by her mother, Debra Newton, who went by the alias “Sharon Nealy.”

The decades-long mystery ended on November 24 when a tip to Crime Stoppers led deputies to Debra’s Florida residence. Body camera footage captured the moment authorities confronted her: a friend jokingly shouted, “They’re coming for you, Sharon!” before a deputy confirmed her arrest.

The Abduction
On April 2, 1983, Debra Newton allegedly took 3-year-old Michelle from their Louisville, Kentucky home under the pretense of moving to Georgia. She cut off all contact with Michelle’s father, Joseph Newton, disappearing with the child. Despite years of searching, the case went cold; by 2005, Michelle had been removed from nationwide missing child databases.

A family member pushed for the case to be reopened in 2016, but it wasn’t until a tip in early 2025 pointed authorities to Central Florida that progress was made.

The Discovery
Once Debra was taken into custody—she had previously been on the FBI’s most-wanted list for parental kidnapping—investigators approached Michelle to reveal the truth. “You’re not who you think you are,” authorities told her. “You’re a missing person. You’re Michelle Marie Newton.”

This revelation led to an emotional reunion with her father, Joseph. “I can’t explain that moment of walking in and getting to put my arms back around my daughter,” he said. “It was just like seeing her when she was first born.”

Looking Ahead
Debra Newton was arraigned on a felony custodial interference charge and released on bond. Despite the years of deception, Michelle attended the arraignment with her father and expressed a desire to maintain a relationship with the mother who raised her. “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 said.

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